Indoor Mirrors -- how to angle?

[DressageLin]

So I lucked into a dance studio closing and I bought the huge mirrors for a song. Paid a glass company to move them into an empty stall in my barn. Now I’m plotting the hanging strategy with the glass company. They have installed in other riding arenas supposedly, but I’m in a very not-dressagey area, so I still want to give guidance. I’ve read a bunch of COTH threads and countless articles. So many articles describe angling the mirrors slightly. My question is HOW? Does anyone have photos or a clear explanation? I’m also a math idiot, so a description of 5 degrees is not helpful. (Although my husband, who is not a math dummy, says that is about 6" angled forward from top. That sounds like a lot of angle).

The mirrors are 10x6’. They will be mounted above my 4 foot kickwall on plywood in a channel and glued using mastic. Now, how should we go about angling these? Is the plywood angled? Seems like it would have to be if the mirrors are glued to the plywood, right? Help me stop over-thinking this. Thanks!

[Willesdon]

Am I being a bit thick here, but if you tilt the mirror doesn’t that stop you seeing all of yourself, or at least doesn’t that distort the image? Most indoor schools I’ve ridden in have mirrors that are flat.

The mirrors I personally find most useful are the ones on the short side, where I can see me riding towards it.

[fordtraktor]

You will see a LOT more if the mirrors are tilted.

Honestly, how we did it is that I had my trainer get on her horse and we picked the angle based on the reflection, with my contractors there to measure when we got it right. Might be an option for you?

[sascha]

Paging @clanter as I think he has the perfect formula based on height of rider guard/bottom of mirror/distance from inner edge of rider guard to wall they will be mounted on. Years ago I had the same question for a deep but not that high rider guard and then a few years later a flush rider guard/wall that was higher. The first ones were mounted flat to the wall but the ones with the much higher rider guard had to be angled.

@Willesdon it depends on the height they can be mounted at. If you have to mount them above a certain height, they have to be angled down or you’ll not be able to see the bottom half of the horse.

[DressageLin]

But then how did you actually implement the tilt. Two piece of 2x4 at the top and one under the bottom? How do you support the tilt once you find it?

[DressageLin]

Will be placing mirrors on both short sides on either side of my large sliding doors.

[sascha]

I had a carpenter cut 2 x 4s at the correct angle so the edges of the mirrors were in contact with their backing their whole height. The skinny end of the wedge at rider guard level and the thick end of the wedge at the upper end of the mirror.

[DressageLin]

Super helpful! Thanks!

[fordtraktor]

I believe the bottom is mounted flush with the kick wall, and the top has at least an extra 2 x 4 framing? It’s been a few years…I’ll check tonight after work.

I can’t speak to glass mirrors because I used the LiteMirror shatterproof film panels, but my kick walls are tongue and groove so the panels snug behind the tongue part. I think that would be even easier with thin glass mirrors if you use T&G as a top board? It will really depend on your actual setup.

[Willesdon]

@sascha

@Willesdon it depends on the height they can be mounted at. If you have to mount them above a certain height, they have to be angled down or you’ll not be able to see the bottom half of the horse.

Thank you. I am now enlightened. Always good to learn something.

[Argo]

Our mirrors are glued to sheets of plywood and sit landscape-oriented on a wooden edge. The tops have 2 chains (one at each end) attached to the back of the plywood that are anchored to the arena wall. We can adjust our tilt using the chains if ever needed.

[DressageLin]

That’s clever. That may be tricky for our wall of mirrors.

[Argo]

We have 7 mirrors hung like this across 56’, the whole short side.

[Joan_from_Flatlands]

We used mirrored closet doors from Home Depot years ago. They are on rollers and can slide in an out of there is an oopsie. They are slightly angled and cover most of the short side of the area. Indoor is 70x144 and you can see your work in them in more than half of the arena. Super for watching lateral work.

[DressageLin]

Wow! Could we swap email addresses that you could send a few photos? Are they all mounted to a single frame to keep them in alignment? Would love to hear/see more.