Use Recycled Materials to Save Money for Your New Arena

Since the day I started riding, I always wanted to have my own barn. One of the main amenities of a boarding barn though is the (covered) arena  - having a crappy outside arena with bad footing, dusty in summer, frozen in winter makes continuous training impossible. A proper arena with good footing is a worthwhile investment but a real nice arena can be very expensive. Whether you build it yourself or you hire contractors to do the work for you is one big factor to double your costs.

While you can definitely save money by doing much of the actual construction yourself, but the best way to cut down on these costs – and to do your bit for the environment – is to use recycled materials wherever possible. I have found a nice infographic at Mainland Aggregates Ltd. which does a quick comparison of the cost of new materials and the cost of recycled materials used in the construction of an arena. With that, I keep on dreaming of my own arena - or hoping to win the lottery soon.

Anybody experiences on building your own arena? How much did it cost? Can you ride it all year round?