Arena mirrors - improvised or on a budget!

tobiano1984

tobiano1984

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I'm sure I posted about this last year when I first thought about it...but can't find the thread now.

Anyway - I really want to get some mirrors up in my arena, but really don't have the budget to spend 1000s on it (more like a few 100). So wondered if anyone out there has either found a cheap supplier, or improvised with wardrobe doors, gym mirrors etc? Photos would be extremely welcome! It is a livery yard so still want to make it look smart and not too thrown together... I do have a handy OH who will be happy to put them up (he WILL be happy)

My arena is 25x50, post and rail fenced. Thinking I'd like long mirrors in 2 corners and then horizontal mirrors across the middle of one short side.

Thoughts and ideas most welcome, particularly from those who have managed it on a budget :-)
 
Oooh following with interest. I managed to score 2 huge wardrobe doors recently but haven't had time to work out how to mount them yet. We have post and rail fencing round the school too, so planning on getting some long timber to bolt to fence, prop against the bank if need be and then make some brackets to hold the mirrors. exciting!
 
Another one following....my friend had an idea of using mirror that you can buy on a roll of 'foil/material' over perspex or wood frame but unsure how this would work. Haven't done it but just something she thought of.
 
tobiano1984 said:
I'm sure I posted about this last year when I first thought about it...but can't find the thread now.

Anyway - I really want to get some mirrors up in my arena, but really don't have the budget to spend 1000s on it (more like a few 100). So wondered if anyone out there has either found a cheap supplier, or improvised with wardrobe doors, gym mirrors etc? Photos would be extremely welcome! It is a livery yard so still want to make it look smart and not too thrown together... I do have a handy OH who will be happy to put them up (he WILL be happy)


My arena is 25x50, post and rail fenced. Thinking I'd like long mirrors in 2 corners and then horizontal mirrors across the middle of one short side.

Thoughts and ideas most welcome, particularly from those who have managed it on a budget :-)
Click to expand...


My school mirrors were £ 200 each - I brought 3 of them gradually not all in one go

http://www.simplyarenamirrors.co.uk/#!buy-mirrors/c1yc8
 
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A word of caution, arena mirrors are only useful if you can actually see yourself in them - I'm a bit shortsighted and don't wear contacts or glasses to ride in so can't see myself in them unless we are up close , which means I'm too close to see my horse in them! So I only use them to check my hats on straight and my stirrups are level!
 
Ive often thought about this, I sort of came up with a solution once, however, I am not sure how practical it would be in reality.

Ikea wardrobe doors: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S69811709/

They are cheap and I had these doors on my wardrobe at Uni. However, they are glass, so you would need to cover them in a plastic sticky sheet (think the type you used to cover exercise books in etc) to stop it from shattering.

They are very tall, but about one persons width. They would be great for down the long side for shoulders/quarters in etc.

Or, you could build a frame where they were held onto wooden posts, maybe two of them high so that you get a lot of coverage. They are quite heavy however as they are backed with wood. Im sure they could be attached by a bracket or a DIY handy hubby could figure it out.

Like I said, not sure how practical it would be, but they are the right sort of price at £35 each, so maybe something could be done.
 
I've just looked on eBay as I have long considered this. You can get 1m square plastic mirrors for 20quid. How many of those on your average short side. I'm not sure how tall they would need to be.
 
Not sure about the safety aspect here. Assuming that arena mirrors are safety glass so if you are fired into them off a horse, they probably won't break into large pieces that could kill you.

Wardrobe doors, not so much?!
 
Depends on the wardrobe ;) mine are slightly bendy (!) and have a plastic coating on the back. They bumped back home from the place I collected them in a horsebox with no ill effects.

The old wardrobe I had from b&q had a totally different glass in the door & would be totally unsuitable, granted.
 
anything thats plastic or polished metal will look like fairground mirrors and be useless.

they MUST be safety backed correctly-what if you come off and hit it? or your horse kicks out and catches it? you dont want an arterial bleed for the sake of saving money..................

TBH i looked at all the options and in the end bought 4 mirrors for £1050 and then paid a capable friend £1250 to install them. this saved me £1500 over getting the company to install them and it was the most practical and safest option.
 
I've got a set of 4 outdoor arena 8' x4' mirrors, purchased from and installed by a reputable company. They are great. They are bolted to my arena fence with additional wooden posts to brace them.

They are designed to be weatherproof and shatterproof. They are backed onto galvanised sheet metal, and have a built in adjustable tilting mechanism so you can customise the angle of reflection (eg more on the rider, or more on the horse).

I wouldn't like to be looking at a weather forecast of 90mph winds bearing down on wardrobe mirrors. I've seen my mirrors flex slightly in gale force winds, but in 3 years they are undamaged. Also heavy frosts etc need to be considered.

Wardrobe mirrors are designed to be viewed close up, so do not need to be manufactured to the close optical tolerances that arena mirrors have to be. A tiny imperfection will make the image grossly distorted when viewed from further away.

Tempting though it is to try and save money, I don't think that it is worth compromising on mirrors. Also of they did shatter in use, that would make a mess on your arena, and be buggery to clear up.
 
^^^To add to my above post, here are some photos showing how my purpose made and installed mirrors look from the front and, more importantly, the back.

image.jpg4_zpsoxhqrpqs.jpg


image.jpg1_zpsmizfi4dz.jpg


I don't like being a kill joy, but I definitely recommend getting proper mirrors. Just one is a great start, and you can always add more later :).
 
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