Indoor Arena Dust Control
We also offer dust control solutions for roadways and parking lots. Contact us today for more information.
There are an infinite number of blends of footing materials that are used by equestrians in indoor arenas. The common problem in all footings is that they start out great, but over time quickly develop nuisance dust because the footing is pulverized by the hoof action of constant riding and pounding. Footings are a very individual thing. Some may prefer a “Palomino” mix of sand and stone dust, while others want a blend of wood, sand, and stone dust, and still others want only crumb rubber or chip rubber and sand. There is no limit to the formulas of footings for each individual facility. The common denominator is that over time they ALL break down, and dust becomes a problem. Even rubber products will break down and eventually become airborne dust particles.
The Problem:
The US Department of Labor has some staggering
statistics about the ill effects of dust and respiratory
illnesses caused by it. Nearly every riding arena has
sand of some type somewhere in it; either as part of the
subsurface or base, or as part of the footing itself.
Sand contains silica, and silicosis
is a well-documented INCURABLE disease that is cause by
inhalation of airborne silica, or sand. Wood fibers also
are a very real health problem. Consider that when the
maximum permissible dust levels in the average woodshop
are exceeded, OSHA or local health authorities are not
only permitted but are required by law to shut down the
facility until the dust is mitigated.
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Customer Testimonials
The Solution:
While there are many types of dust, all dust is the
result of the material becoming so finely pulverized
that it can become airborne and consequently inhaled.
The easiest way to mitigate dust problems is with the
addition of water to weigh down the particles and
prevent them from floating. Water is a viable solution
for dust problems in many areas, but it does not come
without costs. You must have the water or purchase it,
then dispense it with a sprinkler system, and then that
sprinkler system must be maintained, which means pumps,
pipes, hoses, and potential plumbing problems. Also, if
you live in a frigid environment, water can mean dealing
with frozen footing in the winter.
Enter MAG®, a proven humectant or hygroscopic agent that
draws in moisture naturally. Harvested from the Dead Sea, MAG® is the only neutral pH dust control agent
that comes in food grade purity and is backed with a
lifetime warranty when purchased directly from an
authorized and trained equine footings dust
stabilization distributor.
One pound of MAG® can hold up to four
times its weight in water under ideal conditions. MAG®
will draw in moisture continuously and indefinitely and
suppress dust permanently in any type of footing in any
indoor arena.
MAG® must be purchased through an authorized dealer for a lifetime warranty. Dealers are trained to evaluate your footing and make recommendations specifically for you. In addition, they are a resource for questions, application instructions, and maintenance requirements. We will NOT warranty or assist owners who apply other Magnesium Chloride products to their arena!! If you intention is to use our application instructions to apply something other than MAG® to your arena, be aware that it will not work! Do not waste our time or your money providing you with instructions and guidance only to put an inferior product on your arena.
Customer Testimonials
Request a Quote Here.Method:
Applying MAG® to an indoor ring is all
art and little science. Recognizing that footings are
very individual, the objective in all footings is to
maintain a consistent level of loose material to provide
the desired amount of give.
The objective of proper dust control using MAG® is to “sneak
up” on the correct amount and NOT OVERAPPLY. When
applying the product, always apply conservative amounts
over a period of weeks, allowing ring use to mix the
product into the footing to achieve the desired level of
dust control.
DO NOT WATER!!!
The worst thing that you can do when using MAG® is to water your ring. Once you commit to using MAG®, it is very important that all watering for dust control is halted. The reason is simple: You are applying a dust control agent at the surface, and gravity and hoof action will help it to penetrate the footing, coat all the particles of footing and hold them down on the arena floor where you want them. By watering after you have applied MAG®, you are rinsing the product off the top and into the subsurface.
How Much MAG® do I need?
The amount needed varies depending upon your arena, but generally speaking, we find that it takes 2 to 4 pallets of MAG® to achieve complete dust stabilization. Once the ring is completely stabilized you NEVER need to water again. In fact, watering the ring after it is stabilized with MAG® is counterproductive and only rinses the dust control agent into the base where it does you no good. We recommend a maintenance dose of approximately one pallet per year to touch up around doorways where traffic and rain may remove the treated footing, and also to combat dust arising from other materials that are added to the indoor arena such as contaminants from boots, hooves, and manure.
Is it Safe to Use?
MAG® is very safe to use and handle. The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) uses a document called a
“Material Safety Data Sheet” (MSDS) to standardize
information about all materials. On this form OSHA uses
an industry standard for toxicity called an “LD50”,
which is the amount of material that is required to kill
at least 50% of the test subjects. While this is a
morbid thought, it is the standard that the government
has established and is recognized industry wide. The
LD50 for strychnine, a rat poison, is 16 (milligrams per
kilogram of body weight). The LD 50 for aspirin and
calcium chloride is 1000 mg/kg. The LD50 for table is
salt 3,000, and the LD50 for MAG is 8,100! That means
that MAG is 2.5 times less toxic than table salt, is
about half as toxic as baking soda and is very
comparable to vitamin C, ascorbic acid.
There is a side benefit to MAG® stabilization that has not been
mentioned: freeze proofing your ring. You will never
again be forced to shut down in winter because the water
saturated footing in your indoor froze up, and you could
not ride in it because it is like a frozen moonscape.
MAG will keep the same consistency in your footing
throughout the year including those sub-zero days when
you were not able to ride because the indoor was hard as
a stone.
Is MAG® the same as the liquid stuff being offered?
No! MAG® is not a liquid – it’s dry flake form! Recently, others have begun to try to capitalize on the enormous success of our MAG®. Some companies now offer a modified liquid product which appears to be a blend of unknown waste corn or agricultural chemicals and claimed to be mixed with an unknown source of magnesium. Do not be mislead by others claiming to offer the performance of our MAG magnesium chloride in liquid form. It’s impossible to have the same performance of a dry product in liquid form, even if you were to liquefy MAG® and then mix it with something else. These are not MAG® which is a registered trademark of the Dead Sea Works LTD and ONLY MAG® offers the absolute performance guarantee for dust control in your footing. ONLY MAG® products have the benefit of experience of more than 15 years of use in Europe and New England.These unknown liquids are new to the market, are unproven, and there is NO TOXICOLOGICAL DATA on them as to long term effects on equine health in legs and hooves over a long period of time. Know what you are buying and be sure to demand a certificate of analysis which certifies the minimum MgCl2 content. Our MAG® is guaranteed to be 100% MgCl2, hexahydrate while liquids chemically cannot contain more than 33% MgCl2,. There are NO agricultural or distiller’s waste products in MAG®; it is a pure natural product that is extracted from the Dead Sea – a source of life giving minerals. The costs of these liquids seem to average $0.15-$0.30/ft2, which is equal to about $2000 per treatment and $3000 per year on the average indoor. That is more than five times as expensive as MAG®! Don’t be fooled by imposters who are claiming to perform the same as our MAG®!