Ideas for cheap, portable dressage arena

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

Our county 4-H program would like to have a portable dressage arena. We don’t have a lot of money to spend so whatever we come up with needs to be cheap.

In the past, for competitions held at locations without a regulation arena available, we have at different times used chalk on the ground or jump poles placed flat on the ground to form corners and then at intervals along the sides. Last year for our fair, we borrowed an arena that was made of supports fashioned from 4x4 posts on a plywood base with a beveled top; PVC pipes (3 or 4" diameter) were then placed on top of the supports. Initially, we thought we could make something like that, but when I priced out the materials, it didn’t turn out to be that cheap. :no:

My understanding is that pvc chain is a no-no in official circles, but the fact that it would be storable in a fairly small space is appealing. Of course, it isn’t all that cheap either.

Just wondering if there are any other ideas out there for a cheap, portable dressage arena that we haven’t explored yet?

G&T

[MEP]

A group of us were thinking about a cheap(-ish) and easy to set up arena. We already have some cones and thought that plastic chain, which could be purchased at home improvement centers might work. We could attach some kind of anchor system that would fit down into the top of the cones. Haven’t priced out the chain - it might be too expensive, but also might be something you could buy in bulk on the internet. Don’t know if that helps, but may be something to look into.

[Equibrit]

http://www.mcmaster.com/

Chain type 1854 in the search box for the page number.
Cones type 1874

Make holes through the top of the cones with a hole saw in your drill, thread the chain, or just use “s” hooks, and voila!

[Bravestrom]

I have a good idea for the letters - I use 1 gallon plastic jugs - use plastic paint to spray on the letters - printed letters on to labels and put the labels on file folder - cut out with knife - stencils.

Then I fill the bottles with water - then in the fall I pour out the water and store them for winter.

[ESG]

Get concrete blocks (the rectangular ones that are about 18" high, with two holes in them) and paint them white (or black would be different and cool! :yes: These are your supports. They’re $1.38 each at my local Lowe’s.

Then get 2" white PVC pipe and place in the holes. Those are your sides. It’s a little pricier at $5.51 for a 10" piece, but still cheaper than anything else you can get. And the schedule 40 PVC is a little heavier and lasts longer. Portable, storable, no maintenance. And probably only a few hundred dollars, total. And the best thing is, if you break something, your supplier never runs out, and is never far away. :winkgrin:

For the letters, get the empty 5 gallon paint buckets from either Lowe’s or Home Depot. Then stencil letters on the sides, with the open end of the bucket facing up. Then you can weight them with sand or rocks or whatever, or put artificial flowers in, if you really want to get fancy. The dollar store usually has nice ones. :yes:

[kmw2707]

Concrete block is probably kinda heavy to be portable.

Our dressage assos. used bathroom size waste baskets, the rectangular ones. Cut a hole near the bottom on each short side about 2" diameter. Use 2" pvc pipe for the rails. Flip waste baskets upside down and place poles in holes to form the rails.

[slc2]

i’d be uncomfortable with the safety issues of concrete block.

while plastic waste baskets are usually of a soft plastic, rails aren’t always and can shatter and cause problems. i think that lightweight wooden poles are a good suggestion. we just clear brush and use the poles from that.

[N2Equus]

Being a 4H group, use your resources. People will donate all sorts of things. Go to your local plumming supply house and see if the will donate 2" PVC pipe. If there is more than one in town see if they will each supply half. Find someone to donate cones. Even if they are orange you can paint them white. Cut holes in the sides of the cones to set the PVC pipe in. Instant dressage arena!

Don’t use the chain. Imagine freaked out horse becoming intangled in that stuff and running with yards of chains and cones attached to him.

“Rope, concrete or unbreakable
chain fencing is not allowed.” USEF rules. IMO all chain is breakable. The question is at what force? Do you want to take the chances with beginners doing dressage?

USDF - 5. It is strongly recommended that arena fences be made of wood or plastic board (i.e. not chain), especially for FEI level championships.

[Equibrit]

Have you seen this site? http://equicross.us/starter_kits.htm

[swgarasu]

Geez, I feel old. I remember riding most of my tests in chain arenas…

[Equibrit]

@DreamHtr;3286444

It’s against the rules for a reason.

It is? 4H has rules for dressage arenas? (the chain generally breaks if challenged!)

[baylady7]

In light of the chain arenas being no longer allowed, many GMOs will likely sell their old chain arenas for cheap- try that route,

[Painted_Up]

i got some white step in posts, from the fence section at Lowes. they aren’t spendy, cant remember how much, they have a metal spike in the end and u just stick it in the ground. the are about 3ft tall with several slots for what i think is suppsed to be like hot wire tape. they are alomost the same things u see in the horse mags for the portable corral. you could attach chain or rope or whatever to them.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=105121-48849-A-48&lpage=none

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

Thanks for all the ideas!

Thanks for all the ideas - I especially appreciate the link to the site for chain and cones at prices as good as I have seen. Also some great ideas for supports that I would have never thought of - bathroom waste baskets - very interesting possibility. I think I am going to have to head to a dollar store and a big box home store and just prowl around and see what other inspiration I might find.

I think I will avoid concrete blocks from the portability standpoint plus I just don’t like the idea of them around horses’ hooves and legs.

Given the funds and the storage space, I’d choose almost anything else besides chain for the sides, but chain could possibly win out just because it would be easiest to store. In a perfect world, I’d avoid it from the safety standpoint as well, but our 4-H world is far from perfect. A chain (green) and cone (oranges) arena was used at our state fair last year and is what several adjacent counties use so I figure chain is acceptable in 4-H - at least until there is an incident proving it unsafe.

I’m also thinking it might be worth posting a “dressage arena wanted” ad on some of the local web sites - I can see someone who is shutting down a facility or getting out of dressage possibly being willing to donate to 4-H. As far as soliciting large scale donations of materials as was also suggested, we tend to find most business are willing to donate fairly small items or give small (5-10%) discounts - and while these are appreciated, the donation of anything worth more than about $50 is exceedingly rare.

Thanks again to all who posted and additional ideas still welcome!

G&T

[egontoast]

Fill beer bottles with sand for markers and run recycled barbwire around the perimeter.

For a fancier look, glue macaroni on the beer bottles and spray with gilt paint. String patio lights along the barbwire for added klass and night time appeal.

Pipecleaners are handy for making letters or you can fashion the letters out of papier mache and spray paint them. Another possibility is to fashion them out of cookie dough and give them away as prizes. YUM!

[audgesmom]

g&t you have a pm

[specialops]

White small garbage cans…plastic, upside down. Put PVC poles through them (obviously you cut the holes in them) and go from there.

[Ghazzu]

Boy, am I out of the loop!
When did plastic chain become a no-no?

[Ghazzu]

OK, I looked over the current rulebook (and updates) and I don’t see any prohibition on plastic chain–where can I find this in print?

This is what I found:

“Rope, concrete or unbreakable
chain fencing is not allowed.”

All the plastic chain I’ve ever dealt with has been quite breakable.

[Sonesta]

The concrete blocks nowadays are not heavy like those of old. They knock over very easily with no damage at all. Next time you are at Lowe’s or Home Depot, go check them out. Seems they are thinner and much lighter (just another example of saving money in manufacturing by giving you less, but in this case works out fine for our use).

Didn’t know they had a rule against concrete (although it sounds more like they are talking about concrete rails). Guess when we start having some small schooling shows (planned for next year) we will switch to the plastic waste buckets.