# Building a Barn 2021 - Riding Arena Costs? Building Process?



## BethR (Feb 17, 2021)

I know less than nothing about the cost of building an arena, but I can tell you that the price of lumber is up a staggering 250 percent from one year ago; you may wish to wait until prices stabilize somewhat.


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## COWCHICK77 (Jun 21, 2010)

I had a quote done this winter for an arena. I had planned on a 150 × 300 roping arena. The quote only included the dirt work to level the ground(not perfectly level for drainage), base rolled, washed sand, trucking from the nearest pit 30 miles away and laser leveling. 
$22,500.

Since then I have decided to sacrifice some of the size, 150×250 to put it on the same parcel as our house and close to the barn. With that it will require more dirt work to level and get the drainage correct. 
The trucking cost has increased due to fuel prices. The trucking alone is half the cost in the estimate. Since we own trucks, I'm seriously considering buying a belly dump and hauling it myself then selling it when I'm done. 
I'm not sure how much footing is adequate for a jumper/dressage arena but I was looking at 3-4 inches of sand on top of my base. Mine will be an all purpose arena for us, roping, barrel racing, cow work and reining so I need to be able to slide stop.
I imagine even with a slightly smaller arena, increased fuel prices and more dirt work I'm looking at a few thousand more.

The arena itself I had planned to order a Red River Arena kit out of Texas. When I first started pricing the kit with the extended length, it was going to be about $16,000. That includes, chute, stripping chute, boxes and return alley, gates, panels, and posts. Since everything has become expensive that has increased significantly as well unfortunately. You won't need all of the roping paraphernalia, a basic arena through them, that size, would be about 2/3 of that cost Maybe?

At this point if I get the dirt work and sand in this year I'll be happy. 
Maybe we will order a basic riding arena then add the chutes, boxes and return alley when we can.

I don't mind spending the money for the dirt work and the footing. Considering where I live and the winters, it's the difference between using an outdoor arena for only 4-5 months or up to 9 months out of the year.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

From start to finish, and this is smaller arena, 100 × 120', base which was pit run, drains, washed sand, 3" deep, machine work for prep and leveling, posts, rails, gate and paint is $20,000


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

It really depends on what kind of ground you have and what prices are like for materials in your area. Assuming the area is cleared, you still may have to bring in substantial fill to level it off and get it above the ground around it so water drains off. Then drainage material, then top material. I recommend hiring someone to do this right rather than guessing at it. It will be worth the cost in the long run. We didn't, and as a result, are always trying to fix what we have by adding sand, scraping bumps and filling in low spots... and even then, we can't ride if it rains a lot. Fencing is very dependent on what you want to use and what prices are like in your area. 

One thing we did is use our riding ring as a paddock. This has pros and cons. It provides us with a dry lot / sacrifice paddock in winter months or anytime we don't want to put the horses out on pasture. It is connected to our barn where we have dutch doors so the horses can go directly out to the paddock and we don't have to halter and lead them anywhere (in fact, we just leave the doors open and give them the option so they have 24/7 turnout with access to the barn). The paddock connects to all of our pastures with gates that can be opened and closed so we can move the horses around easily. The horses love sleeping in the sand.

Cons of doing this are obvious, but we have to stay on top of manure removal (which is fine, we do that anyway), and we cannot feed hay on the ground in this area because there is sand (we use hanging nets and a wooden hay feeder). 

We used a solid fence for this paddock / riding ring, and ran the electric fence on the inside to avoid the horses pushing on it. This was important to me because the rest of our pastures are fenced with electric (5' high) which is not reliable in the event of a power outage or snow storm (the snow drags the fence down when it's heavy and wet). This way, I have an area that is safe to ride in, but also safe for the horses if the electric fence is not functional. 

If I had tons of money I would have a separate riding arena (we have enough land, but it would have to be cleared and more fill brought in), but this works for us as a compromise.


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## addctd2horses (Jul 10, 2020)

We haven't done this lately, but I got a bid to upgrade the indoor arena base and it was $5,000- 10,000 just to upgrade what was already there. The issue is as soon as you say it's for HORSES, they double the bid of what it would be for any other use. It's the same when you build a building for them. I joke that when I have to rebuild our barn, I'll say it is a hay building for cattle, then finish it myself. There's no way otherwise to get a reasonable bid.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

We are hoping to put in a regulation small dressage ring this summer, and have gotten a bid or two. The big company did a brief eyeball and told us $42K. My eyeballs kinda popped.

The small local guy said he could grade it for us and bring in materials and we could spread them ourselves, so it would just be his time (grading and hauling) and the materials. Our site is not flat but not extreme either, and is well drained so would not need extensive drainage work. A nearby friend with a flat site did an arena of the same size last year, bare bones, and it was about $10K, with $8K being just the materials, and a local guy with a small tractor doing the work. I think ours is going to be around $15K or so.

So much depends on things like how much work needed to prep the site, how close the quarry is, ease of access, and how pro you want to go.


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