# constructing a homemade outdoor riding arena?



## Razeal

Alot of people in NZ have outdoor arenas. There are so many options and it really depends on whats available to you. Shredded rubber is getting quite popular but good old sand is still a favourite. 
It all comes down to good irragation, location and base. Pumice or metal is quite often used as bases as it compacts well and still has good drainage.
Must be exciting for you! 
My paddocks are nice and flat, great in summer etc but an arena would be great in winter! All the best


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## kristy

Price range?


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## Hilary

*cost of riding arena?*

Hi Krisy...looking to spend $500. to $1000. not sure if this is realistic? hey thanks for your time Hilary.


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## kristy

Ok, I built an arena for you, some what. I LOVE barn management and construction, so I liked doing this.

For a correctly built arena it's very difficult to build under 1,000. I'm not including labor and machine rental with these figures. But, it's close to possible to build a nice arena that will last if it's carefully thought out.

The size I went with was 50x70 feet. I'm not sure if you're crazy about this size. Any bigger and I couldn't fit it in your price range from the prices I saw. If you want a specific size, I can calculate it for you.

So, 50x70 equals 3,500 sq ft. 
For the footing I found a website (wcfootings.com) that had recycled tire-like material for footing. I enjoy this footing when it is mixed with something harder so it isn't like a trampoline. The footing cost:
1.50 lb/sq ft at $0.25/pound which equals $291.00 for 1750 sq ft. Notice I cut the total square feet of the arena in half because I mixed the footing with a cheaper material - sand. 

So, with that said, 
Sand covered 100 sq ft /ton on an online conversation chart. Therefore you'd need 17.5 tons of sand which I found sand at about $8.50 - $15 per ton, so I said $10/ton to be safe. Sand totaled about $170.00 for the other half of the arena. 

Layers need to be built under the footing to protect from rain and weather. A strong filter fabric made for arenas should be about $0.10/sq ft, totaling $350.00.

Your sub-base is the most important part. Compacting it is key and the thicker, the better. (Up until about 18 inches.) But, you do what you can!

For gravel it totaled about $0.05/ sq ft. This equaled $175 and was doubled to get 2 inches depth. Deeper would be ideal. If you could go without fencing, I'd buy more gravel. This over all totaled $350.00.

And to fencing. I used 1inch 8ft x 12ft wood (priced online from home depot) for about $11/board. You have a 114ft fence to build around this size arena (making room for a 6 foot entrance). So, these estimates are for a fence with 2 rows of wood going horizontally. Like this but of course, nice flat wood:









It would require 20 boards horizontally and 10 boards vertically to make your post. The post would be placed every 6 feet apart. The top of the fence would stand 5 feet high assuming you post goes 1 foot into the ground. The 10 boards would be cut in half to make the post. (saving you from buying 20 post instead) The fencing for two rows horizontally equals 330.00. For just a single row horizontally, it would cost 220.00. The fence could be done in numerous ways, this is just a basic idea. 

Total for everything plus a double fence: 1491.50
Total for everything plus a single fence: 1381.50

My calculations may have mistakes somewhere, so sorry if they do! And of course, I'm sure prices vary but this gives you some what of an idea.


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## Hilary

*wow Kristy*

I'm really impressed thanks a bunch...so when can you come and construct the arena for me...no seriously you've given me some great idea's, have a brilliant day-Hilary.


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## Desert Rat

You will be mony ahead if you use the powder river type stock panels. The lighter grad panels whitch are great for round pen use down here are about $80.00 fro a 16' panel. They pin together and are real versital.


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## Ranger25

I don't want to be negative because Kristy went to a lot of work to get those figures but I am wondering if those prices include loading hauling and delivery of the materials. A lot of times the transportation costs add a lot to the base cost of materials. Good luck! I'm hoping to do something similar in the future.


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## kristy

Nope. It doesn't.


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## Acdon

Hilary said:


> Hi Guys,
> Has anyone out there made their own outdoor riding arena? Want this to be my springtime project, if anyone can throw me hints,idea's,advice etc would be greatly appreciated....and many thanks to everyone who responded to my best horse hay topic, very helpful..Hilary.


Hi! Also some times a cheap alternative is shade cloth


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## greenhaven

Kristy was very kind in spending all that time figuring! I enjoy that process, personally!

Prices vary from region to region, however, as does the availability of materials.

I used to board at a barn that used non-electrified Electrobraid as their outdoor arena fencing, and it seemed to work out just fine for them. This would translate into cost saving in material and labor, as it is super easy to install and your need for posts is reduced. Electrobraid posts can be spaced up to fifty feet apart and still be effective.

Now I will say that the barn also had a nice Coverall indoor arena, and that is where the majority of riders rode.


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## squirrelfood

Consider fence rails made from old tire tread bolted to posts. Cheap AND durable. Worked for me.


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## PaintHorseMares

Ranger25 said:


> I don't want to be negative because Kristy went to a lot of work to get those figures but I am wondering if those prices include loading hauling and delivery of the materials. A lot of times the transportation costs add a lot to the base cost of materials. Good luck! I'm hoping to do something similar in the future.


Also, unless you have at least a bobcat, you're going to have to pay someone to do the footing. In general, labor ends up being 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a project.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## PaintHorseMares

Desert Rat said:


> You will be mony ahead if you use the powder river type stock panels. The lighter grad panels whitch are great for round pen use down here are about $80.00 fro a 16' panel. They pin together and are real versital.


I agree and this is what we use. You can't do it for $1000 but the ease of installation, versatility, and reconfigurability is well worth the cost. Also, you can sometimes find used panels that may be a little beat up for cheap.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Kristyjog

We built this arena for about 1500 this doesn't inude the sprinklers. Its square wood posts, no climb wire fencing and a top board. Its 100x150. We do own a tractor to dig all the holes and work the arena. We are lucky that our ground is naturally good footing so we didn't have to haul anything in.


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## squirrelfood

Looks like you could use a new barn, though.....:smile:


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## jaydee

Are you allowing for leveling the ground - or are you fortunate enough to already have a flat area?
If your land drains well then just putting sand/rubber/fibre on top of it is OK but if it doesn't then you'd have to have a layer dug out and filled with gravel to lay the sand on and maybe a membrane too to prevent rocks from constantly working their way up


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## Reiningcatsanddogs

I just got a 250x150 arena for Christmas, though it is an on going project. 

First off, we had two 250 x 600 paddocks already fenced off in addition to our pasture, so it was simply a matter of adding one line of fencing across one of the paddocks to create the arena. Saved a boatload of money. The remaining part of the paddock, I am using for an obstacle course; bridges, boxes, tires, spooky things etc. and a 50' round pen. I got a two-fer. 

We chose to go with wood and the 250' of fencing cost about $500 for materials. We have a tractor with an auger so we drilled our own holes. 

Because our horses are pretty well behaved under saddle and respect fences, we only put up two boards, the top being at their shoulder height at about 4'6". Tall enough that my non jumpers wouldn't even think of jumping out and that my one small jumper would think long and hard. 

Our footing is actually just the ground tilled up with a box blade. Eventually we would like to add sand but at roughly $7000 in our area for an arena this size, that will be a project for the future. 

We have a sandy clay loam naturally and live in an area where we do not get much rain, so this is working well for now. Untilled, the ground is nearly as hard as concrete so by tilling down 4" we retained the solid base while maintaining a rather "fluffy" top. 

The downside of this is that when we do get a rain, it takes a couple of days to dry out and be useable, but it also has good natural drainage down to the creeks so the water doesn't just sit and pool. It also needs to be gone over with a rake harrow to soften things back up before riding. 

This may not be everyone's dream arena, but for running poles or barrels and just general riding with a tight budget (saving up for a big barn), this works for us.


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## Kristyjog

Squirrelfood that's not our barn thank goodness, its the neighbors  we have a brand new 6 stall.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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