I’m trying to gather ideas for arena gates. I prefer to not have see-through gates for several reasons. One- we live in a windy area, and the wind will blow footing around and dry out the areas closest to the gates. Two- horses are always more spooky when they have a solid wall and then suddenly a break in the wall where they can see the world. I ride a lot of greenies and we have an outdoor arena for exposure to the world. My indoor needs to be a place where there can be pure concentration. We are limited in funds and cannot afford custom gates at $1000 a pop (we have 3 openings). Our kickwall is just basic 2x8 boards five feet tall.
Noble has gates they call “cow cutter” gates that you can put plywood in, so they end up mostly solid. I’d prefer something a little more aesthetically pleasing than that if possible. Does anyone have any ideas? My husband is going to try to find a welder who could weld U channels together to insert 1" tongue and groove wood into, but I’m not sure that would stay square and not sag over time. Nobel will not create U channels on their cow-cutter gate, I already asked. The openings are about 138 inches wide, so just under twelve feet.
I am cursed with the issue of having a champagne taste on a beer budget. Otherwise we would have just hired our arena builder to do the kickwall and gates for us. 
What is the wind exposure on these doors, and how large are the openings?
ETA just saw that they’re 12ft wide. How tall?
Openings are 138 inches. We can get wind as strong as 70 mph, but most commonly we have sustained winds in the spring and fall at 20-30 mph. The two outside openings are on the East and West ends, the wind usually comes from the South/SW or from the North, so they won’t get direct hits. The North gate is protected by an aisle way and stalls.
Would it work to get regular pipe gates and hang on the inside some lighter plywood or rubber mats on them to fit the gates?
Tractor Supply here sells rubber sheets in rolls, different widths and thickness and could cut you some to fit.
Maybe even some of that wind mesh would work to make them solid looking and be much lighter than any other you may put on them:
Reality check:
II is no small task to cover a 12ft wide opening with something that 1) won’t sag, 2) will last in the elements, 3) can withstand wind load, 4) can be easily opened with one arm, and 5) looks good. For less than $1k, you can meet any two, maybe 3 of those requirements, so pick which ones you HAVE to have. You won’t meet all of them. (It’s an adage in the procurement world: You can have any two from the following list: Fast, Cheap, and High Quality. You will never get all 3).
Me? I would probably get some dark shadescreen material (which you can get in bulk-- look at the Farmtek website), and tack that onto a frame that fits the doorway. This will reduce the amount of arena footing blowing around, and will at least lessen the visual distractions (not sure I understand the real-world training value of that, but, hey, your farm). And then over the next year, save up for real doors that will last and look great.
not on a gate but this is wind screen that is on our round pen… it is used material daughter was given when the baseball team at her school replaced their wind screening so cost was zero.
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I never thought of the windscreening! That’s a great idea, I’ll look into it. We were going to get some of that for the sides (between the roofline and the kickwall later on down the road, so it wouldn’t look that out of place, either.
You can use some very cheap ground cover material like windscreens they sell most places for gardening.
That would work just draped over a regular gate and tied on with plastic slip ties.
It doesn’t stretch pretty like real windscreen, but is very cheap woven plastic that works the same way to let air thru and can’t see thru it, especially if doubled.
check to see what UV rating the ground cover material has as it may not be designed for direct sunlight contact
