diy arena mirrors

T

twodonkies

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 January 2011
Messages
70
Visit site
My OH is quite handy and was thinking of buying arena mirrors then fitting them ourselves. We have a hay barn which runs alongside one short end of our arena for about 2/3 of the way and approx. 6 ft from arena kickboard edge. It seems an ideal surface to mount them on apart from fact its corregated steel rather than flat. We could build frame, have seen aluminium brackets, to mount to barn side then attached mirrors. Anyone had any experience of doing this themselves. Cannot afford to pay company as will cost couple of grand for length of 12-15 metres. Any tips
 
Hi there, just to post this to your query, we made two mirrors from IKEA, the whole project cost €250 and the mirrors are great, I tried to post photos but doesn't look like there's options to do this
 
Threetrees said:
Hi there, just to post this to your query, we made two mirrors from IKEA, the whole project cost €250 and the mirrors are great, I tried to post photos but doesn't look like there's options to do this
Click to expand...

what mirrors did you use and how did you mount them
 
Hi I used IKEA full length mirrors http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/50038213/ and built a sturdy frame ( I can't seem to post photos) last summer 2014. So far the mirrors have withstood storms and frost, they are 196cm x 78cm so they only give a view of the horse's top outline, riders hands and lower leg on the opposite long side 30m away, so you won't be able to see your face etc. The mirrors have some type of optical distortion so you can't mount them one on top of another or you'll get two views of the same horse ( not half and halt if you get my meaning) they only work if used in a strip. The mirrors have an aluminium frame that allows TECH screw use which is very important when mounting and getting the mirror into the correct position, it comes down to one or two turns of the screw to get the mirror to reflect the horse and not the sky! My OH would agree that I'm not that handy, so its not a huge technical challenge but we got it done and we're very happy with them. One important point is I mounted them approx 1m away from the arena for SAFETY as I'm not sure if they're shatter proof and there is a stud rail if front of them. Hope this helps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top