Outdoor Arena prices

[pinkypug1]

Any ball park figures for a 20x40 arena?? Area it will go on is a Flat hard stoney area of a paddock prob won’t require much scraping back and sits high so water generally drains away quickly.

It also has post and rail on 2 so needs fenced on one short side and I was just going to use sleepers on 4th long side so I can add a few rustic fences/ditch etc on the grass and jump in/out of the arena

Surface doesn’t need to be world beating just for 2 horses to be ridden in a few times a week and some jumping up to 1m or so. Anyone done a good job on a budget?

 

[tatty_v]

That’s exactly what I want and I was quoted £30k. Sadly that was too much for us so it remains a dream!

 

[pinkypug1]

just a bit too much to spend for a happy amateur rider with no big dreams of lifting too many trophies ?

 

[CLA85]

Yep. Built it ourselves for £12k 5.5years ago, its 20x40m, fenced post and rail on 2sides. (I wanted a no fence dressage arena, but because of the land and the hill, the drop was huge on one side which I didn’t fancy falling out of! Actually it’s a good compromise.) no idea about jumping in and out of it, generally if that happens my dressage has gone majorly wrong! It doesn’t freeze, is never soggy although can get a bit dusty in the summer if we have lots of dry and windy weather. We do have our own digger, and tractor/trailer so no costs there. Built on weekends and evenings, and took us about 6months! But, like you, I couldn’t justify the £40k my neighbour was quoted. We are both pretty clued up with general building works, but this was our first ever arena build. It has stood up to everything I’ve thrown at it, and the surface is better than 2 of my friends ones, which have the same surface but not so good drainage - I was mildly obsessed with drains! There are a couple of things I would do differently if I did it again, but nothing major. Do your research, and go for it, it’s not rocket science!

 

[tatty_v]

just a bit too much to spend for a happy amateur rider with no big dreams of lifting too many trophies ?

Exactly my thoughts!

 

[TheMule]

I was quoted approx 28k by a couple of arena companies but built it for 18k by using local digger guy and sourcing materials/ project managing it myself

 

[tatty_v]

CLA85 and TheMule, I would love to hear about your builds as it’s definitely something we’re looking into. How did you design your drainage and choose your surface?

 

[TheMule]

CLA85 and TheMule, I would love to hear about your builds as it’s definitely something we’re looking into. How did you design your drainage and choose your surface?

Drainage for arenas is pretty standard- there are plenty of self-build guides if you google it. We drained ours into a soakaway and it has just gone through a very wet winter very well. I used silica sand and carpet fibre based on my own experiences of riding on different surfaces. I had the local farmer power harrow the fibre into the sand as it was much cheaper than buying a pre-mixed surface. I save on fencing with post and brown broad electric tape on 3 sides and just board on the hedge side.

 

[CLA85]

Ok, it’s been a few years but my vague memory is as follows.

Drainage for arena is generally a herringbone pattern, coming out through one main drain to a soak away, we doubled this up due to the conditions of our land and also piped the field that it is cut into. The approach is pretty standard, remove all soil until level, and I mean laser level accurate (borrow one/hire one/buy one you will not do this without a laser level), dig out herringbone drainage, woven membrane layer, over whole surface and into the drainage channels, perforated pipe and backfill with clean gravel to prevent pores getting blocked. Fence as required, then subbase layer of 4inches, we used limestone. Then non woven membrane on top, this layer MUST be treated with kid gloves, like you would a pond liner, any gaps or holes here will work their way to the surface and eventually lift the membrane, compromising drainage and eventually making it dangerous to ride on. You can either cloth tape them together or heat seal them, and attach to gravel boards. Then surface, we went with 4inch silica sand with 2inch rubber on top, we didn’t have a lot of choice due to planning constraints, and we couldn’t have a purely sand based surface due to the wind around here, actually it was cost effective and has stood up the abuse I give it.

If I did it again I would do a few things different:-
1. Bigger fence posts, just feel it would look better and probably stand up to time and rot better.
2. We had to build a retaining bank to landscape the edge of the field, with hindsight I probably wouldn’t have bothered and I’d have just stuck a load of railway sleepers in.
3. Bitten the bullet and built a 20x60 !!!! Yeah I no #firstworldproblems. But it does annoy me more than I thought that I can’t ride a full test through. I have to squish it up!
4. Put a roof on it! Hahaha!

Good luck! We cursed our wonky site a lot, swore at membranes, the quantity of stone we used and spent weeks at a time looking confused at laser levels. But actually for a couple of amateurs, built on weekends, on a budget, I’m damn proud of it, and there has never been a day I couldn’t ride on it.

 

[pinkypug1]

Thanks for the replies. Lots of research, saving, and sweet talking the hubby ahead!! ?

 

[Translationsneeded]

We did ours ourselves (with the help of a local contractor) and it was just under £20k. The surface was about £7 of that though and there were cheaper options (but do your research on surfaces and suppliers!)

 

[tatty_v]

Ok, it’s been a few years but my vague memory is as follows.

Drainage for arena is generally a herringbone pattern, coming out through one main drain to a soak away, we doubled this up due to the conditions of our land and also piped the field that it is cut into. The approach is pretty standard, remove all soil until level, and I mean laser level accurate (borrow one/hire one/buy one you will not do this without a laser level), dig out herringbone drainage, woven membrane layer, over whole surface and into the drainage channels, perforated pipe and backfill with clean gravel to prevent pores getting blocked. Fence as required, then subbase layer of 4inches, we used limestone. Then non woven membrane on top, this layer MUST be treated with kid gloves, like you would a pond liner, any gaps or holes here will work their way to the surface and eventually lift the membrane, compromising drainage and eventually making it dangerous to ride on. You can either cloth tape them together or heat seal them, and attach to gravel boards. Then surface, we went with 4inch silica sand with 2inch rubber on top, we didn’t have a lot of choice due to planning constraints, and we couldn’t have a purely sand based surface due to the wind around here, actually it was cost effective and has stood up the abuse I give it.

If I did it again I would do a few things different:-
1. Bigger fence posts, just feel it would look better and probably stand up to time and rot better.
2. We had to build a retaining bank to landscape the edge of the field, with hindsight I probably wouldn’t have bothered and I’d have just stuck a load of railway sleepers in.
3. Bitten the bullet and built a 20x60 !!!! Yeah I no #firstworldproblems. But it does annoy me more than I thought that I can’t ride a full test through. I have to squish it up!
4. Put a roof on it! Hahaha!

Good luck! We cursed our wonky site a lot, swore at membranes, the quantity of stone we used and spent weeks at a time looking confused at laser levels. But actually for a couple of amateurs, built on weekends, on a budget, I’m damn proud of it, and there has never been a day I couldn’t ride on it.

This is really helpful, thank you. My OH and his dad built an arena 20 years ago but I sensed things might have moved on a bit since! We’re using where we’d like to put it as a grass arena for now, it’s pretty flat (not laser flat but not lumpy!) and v well drained so I am hopeful it will happen ?

 

[CLA85]

Sorry don’t know how to quote posts but our surface was similar in cost to translationsneeded. We obviously had no labour costs and only machinery cost was fuel. It’s amazing how unflat a surface can be. When we started I guessed there would be about 2ft difference from one end to the other (Down the long side) turned out there was nearer 6ft! You are really lucky to have a flat site to start with. Happy planning and building!