Yet Another Arena DIY

I've been writing about my DIY dressage courts for at least ten years. Over the years, I've upgrade from orange cones that disappeared when the wind blew to much sturdier jugs of water, and I supplemented my fence poles with PVC pipe and extra long two by fours. For this iteration, I've added markers for the quarterlines. Here's a 10-Step Dressage Arena DIY on a budget.

Step 1 - Prep your Arena
Strip your arena of all materials and drag it smooth. Then, if you're really lucky, you'll thoroughly spray every square inch with ArenaKleen, a dust control product made by Dirt Glue Enterprises. The ranch owner has been using this product for years, and it is FABULOUS. I've written about it many times; here's the last post I wrote in July of 2020. This summer's application will last until summer of 2024.

Step 2 - Acquire Your Dressage "Pylons"
If you're like me and can't afford fancy dressage letters, buy some one-gallon water jugs instead. I prefer the square ones so that there are sides upon which to place my letters. Print out the twelve letters: A-K-E-H-C-M-B-F with an R-S-V-P. (There's a link at the bottom.) I use a paper cutter to trim down the letters to the right height, but scissors will also get the job done. You'll also need clear packaging tape to cover the letters and adhere them to the water bottles.

Step 3 - Attach the Letters
I cut the letters in stacks of four so that they are all the same height. That's just the elementary school teacher in me. We hate things that aren't cut straight or evenly. Once I have the letters trimmed to fit the water bottles, I very carefully pull out a length of tape that is long enough to stretch across the letter with several extra inches on each end. I gently lay the tape across one letter, and then pick it up and center it over the gallon jug so that one of the letters falls on one "side" and other letter falls on the other "side" of the jug. This allows the letters to be seen no matter from which direction you ride. Once the first piece of tape has been applied, I cover the rest of the letter with tape so it is stuck down firmly and pretty weather tight. Since we don't need to run sprinklers, and since it rarely rains, this batch of letters will last until next summer.

Step 4 - Measure Out the Court
The ranch owner and I have redone this dressage court so many times that we now have it down to a science. We use a 100-meter tape measure, some cones, and a pile of heavy stones and bricks to mark each corner. Since the arena isn't quite long enough to house a standard 20 x 60 meter court, we've shortened it to 20 x 50 meters. We always start by measuring out the 20 meters of the short side at A before moving on to the long side with E. When we have the first corner placed - it should form a right angle, we measure out the hypotenuse, the diagonal, which for our purposes is 176 feet and 8 inches long. From there, we adjust the angle of the corner until it is as close to 90 degrees as we can get it. Then we do the same thing for the opposite corner, but once you know your first right triangle is accurate, the second one is a lot easier. ​

100-meter tape measure and the picture of the triangles' measurements.

Step 5 - Place Your Letters
Once we have the measurements correct, we leave the tape lying on the ground. This is very important because with the tape on the ground, placing the letters is super easy. When we measure the first short side, we place A at the 10-meter mark, and when we do the other short side, we place C in its place. Since our court is 10 meters short, we place K, H, M, and F at the 6-meter marks, but we subtract 2.5 meters from in between the rest of the letters. With the tape on the ground, we simply drop the letters at the 6, 15.5, 25, 34.5, and 44-meter marks. Then we drag the tape across the arena and do the other long side. After we did this the first time, I created a "map" so that we don't have to remember all of those numbers from one iteration to the next.

These are the measurements I use for a 20 x 50-meter court.

Step 6 - Place Your Rails
Once the letters are in place, adding the rails is easy. Ours are such a mismatched group of wood fencing poles, 2x4's, and PVC pipes that we try to create a pattern to maintain some symmetry. If we use a PVC pipe at F, we use a matching one at K. By the time we're done, it's a bit of a kaleidoscope of plastics and wood, but it is more than serviceable. It's also extremely safe. If a horse goes rogue, there isn't anything more dangerous than a cavaletti pole to crash into. The water bottles have been kicked and knocked over more times that I can count. The worst thing that happens is that they spring a leak. 

Fence poles, 2x4's, & PVC pipe

Step 7 - Add Quarterline Markers
This is a brand new addition to my court. Since I've been using the quarterlines more than ever before, I decided to stop guessing at where the 5- and 15-meter lines were and marked them. I bought a 4-in x 10-ft-PSI Corrugated Solid Pipe from Lowe's. It's more flexible than regular PVC pipe and easier to cut.

Step 8 - Measure and Cut
I decided to make my quarterline markers 6 inches long, so I used a Sharpie and a tape measure to mark out six inch each chunk. I discovered that the bottom saw worked best for cutting the chunks apart.

Step 9 - Turn It Into a Sleeve
The bottom rail of the arena is pipe, and since our dressage court is not exactly in the same place each time, I didn't want to use spray paint to mark the quarterlines on the fence. Instead, I wanted some kind of sleeve that could be slid left or right depending on where centerline ended up being. Once I had the four, 6-inch tubes cut, I put them into a vise one at a time and used the hacksaw to slice each sleeve open. I also used a bit of sand paper to smooth off all of the cut edges.

Step 10 - Mark the Quarterlines
Since some of my wooden poles are the same color as the dirt, eyeballing the quarterlines while riding is hard to do without some contrast which is why I needed to mark them in some way. To place the quarterline markers, I laid out the meter tape one more time, and wrapped each marker around the fence at the 5- and 15-meter marks. Surprisingly, they're really easy to see when riding. Since ​this PVC pipe is unaffected by extended exposure to the sun's heat and ultraviolet radiation, the markers should last longer than any of the other components of my DIY dressage court. 

They're easier to see in person.

Up close.

With the dust control product, the well-packed base, the decomposed granite footing, and the piecemeal dressage court, we have a pretty kickass place to ride. Come on over!

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