My spendy ones grew old and died. Crumpled into little bits, parts blew away in the wind. I like the 4 sided pillar shape best. Cant be the type you pound into the ground. What is economical? Upside down white 5 gallon buckets with lid on, remove handle, filled with a bit of sand, stick on letters? What else?
I used dollar store white garbage cans, filled with dirt and stuck fake flowers in and used electrical tape to make the letters! Work great!
Cement blocks??
I know you like rectangles, but years ago I bought “second” traffic cones, put on letters and they survived 25 years. My arena was in the pasture and they were safe for the horses. And they stack easily for storage.
If you decide to go with 5-gallon buckets, talk to your local burger joint or bakery. Burger joints get their pickles in super-sturdy 5-gallon buckets, like even thicker and more hardy than the ones you can buy at a hardware store. And they are not reusable as pickle bucket, so most burger joints just end up recycling or trashing them. Bakeries get a lot of ingredients in buckets, too.
[QUOTE=jn4jenny;8297319]
If you decide to go with 5-gallon buckets, talk to your local burger joint or bakery. Burger joints get their pickles in super-sturdy 5-gallon buckets, like even thicker and more hardy than the ones you can buy at a hardware store. And they are not reusable as pickle bucket, so most burger joints just end up recycling or trashing them. Bakeries get a lot of ingredients in buckets, too.[/QUOTE]
I bet they still smell like pickles too. Arena would smell like sun baked pickles! Looked on CL last night. Various recycled food quality buckets. Some square/rectangle liquid vessels too. Just don’t want anything too ghetto if I can help it.
[QUOTE=Kathy Nebel;8297230]
I know you like rectangles, but years ago I bought “second” traffic cones, put on letters and they survived 25 years. My arena was in the pasture and they were safe for the horses. And they stack easily for storage.[/QUOTE]
How tall? I saw white ones on amazon. Like idea of wide base and height. Could sand bag at bottom so doesn’t blow over. Rubber idea is good too. Not that my horses fly often but Ive been know to catch arena groomer on dressage arena or things on rare occasion.
[QUOTE=keysfins;8297156]
Cement blocks??[/QUOTE]
thanks. Good idea! Not sure if they’d be too short to see much over dressage arena (think its foot or so high)? Maybe heavy to move when I take down dressage arena and groom entire arena.
[QUOTE=Color of Light;8297756]
How tall? I saw white ones on amazon. Like idea of wide base and height. Could sand bag at bottom so doesn’t blow over. Rubber idea is good too. Not that my horses fly often but Ive been know to catch arena groomer on dressage arena or things on rare occasion.[/QUOTE]
Mine are probably about 18" tall. They are the orange cones you see in traffic work zones. They can take a beating. I bought them from a supply house that sells the real ones – not the plastic imitations.
I second pretty much everything here (except maybe the cinderblocks, but only because I would hate to have to move those suckers).
Large logs with the letter carved in.
We have used something like these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-14-9-in-Warm-Copper-Leonardo-Square-Plastic-Planter-SQ100B-WC/204403434
Flipped over the little “feet” keep our plastic poles from rolling off, even if bumped. It actually looks nearly like the real thing. Get some stick on letters and your good to go.
Depending on how hard the wind blows and how heavy your poles are, it may not work. However we haven’t ever had an issue with it blowing around (but we only set it up a few times a year)
I picked up 2gal black plastic pots from a local nursery, stuck a piece of PVC through the hole in the bottom, and filled the pot with concrete. To keep the letters in the right places, I drove a piece of rebar into the ground and slid the PVC on top. I “splurged” for self-adhesive vinyl letters from Wal-Mart (<$10). The best part is that they rotate (without coming up) when hit with the drag (the PVC spins around the rebar). 
[QUOTE=Keg-A-Bacchus;8297149]
I used dollar store white garbage cans, filled with dirt and stuck fake flowers in and used electrical tape to make the letters! Work great![/QUOTE]
This is what I did!
[QUOTE=Equibrit;8298119]
Large logs with the letter carved in.[/QUOTE]
Wow! That sounds pretty cool and very creative! Do you have pics?
[QUOTE=Displaced Yankee;8298356]
We have used something like these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-14-9-in-Warm-Copper-Leonardo-Square-Plastic-Planter-SQ100B-WC/204403434
Flipped over the little “feet” keep our plastic poles from rolling off, even if bumped. It actually looks nearly like the real thing. Get some stick on letters and your good to go.
Depending on how hard the wind blows and how heavy your poles are, it may not work. However we haven’t ever had an issue with it blowing around (but we only set it up a few times a year)[/QUOTE]
Plastic poles?? Do you mean for a dressage court fence?
These might work for letter pillars. I need 12 that would be visible outside my dressage court fence.
[QUOTE=lecoeurtriste;8298415]
I picked up 2gal black plastic pots from a local nursery, stuck a piece of PVC through the hole in the bottom, and filled the pot with concrete. To keep the letters in the right places, I drove a piece of rebar into the ground and slid the PVC on top. I “splurged” for self-adhesive vinyl letters from Wal-Mart (<$10). The best part is that they rotate (without coming up) when hit with the drag (the PVC spins around the rebar). :-)[/QUOTE]
Very creative! I just cant pound anything into the base of my arena.
[QUOTE=Color of Light;8299380]
Plastic poles?? Do you mean for a dressage court fence?
These might work for letter pillars. I need 12 that would be visible outside my dressage court fence.[/QUOTE]
Ah I see, you already have the fence, you just need the markers. I missed the part where you just need the stand alone pillars.
Yes, we rest plastic poles on top to make boundaries of a dressage arena (within our large but not rectangular outdoor arena).
[QUOTE=Color of Light;8299373]
Wow! That sounds pretty cool and very creative! Do you have pics?[/QUOTE]
No - just an inexpensive idea - if you flatten one side you could carve the letter there and on the top - or burn it in. They would probably be easy to roll out of the way to drag ? Nothing much that would degrade like tape paint etc…
A friend of mine had concrete garden type statues with letters hung around their necks. I always wanted to do this with gnomes !
