Outdoor Arena Lighting
When we bought our place it was 40 acres with one big pasture, watering that came from hoses from the house, and no real riding space. It had two acres in the middle of the 40 acres that was/is chain linked around the house and outdoor buildings (chicken coop, garage, sheep pens, and dog runs), in other words, the driveway was a part of the pasture. To leave the house and go anywhere, you had to open and close two sets of gates all while praying that the horses where not right by them! Slowly we have been putting our own touches and improvements to really make it our own.
We first fenced off the driveway, then took down some of the chain link and put panels, added feed runs, put in water lines to the horse pens, dog pens, and chicken coops, individual sheds with runs, an arena with a round pen that attaches to it. We are now in the process of putting in automatic waters in the pens and pastures, and the next item on my wish list is lighting for outdoor……but HOLY COW!!!! Have you seen the pricing for putting electrical and lights? Anything dealing with construction is extremely expensive. I have been trying to find alternatives to the the normal lighting for arenas and while we where in Guthrie, OK at the AQHA Versatility Ranch Horse World Championships in June this summer I saw solar lights that they used in the warm up arenas and thought what a great idea! Of course, while I am sure 100% they are worth every penny, they were a little out of our price point. So, I got to looking around and my first stop as usual was Amazon.
They have a lot of different options and I honestly did not know what we would want. However, after looking at the options, I narrowed it down a bit. There is one feature that I really want:
1) Remote Control! From what I have seen, it allows you to use different lighting settings (Brighter Mode when you are riding, Dim Mode, and Motion activated). I want the ability to turn off the motion activated lights…..let’s face it, I don’t want the lights to go on and off all night every time a cotton tail or squirrel goes running through the area at night!
2) Enough lighting. This particular product lights up 2,200 sq feet per light. While this sounds great, I am going to buy one more additional pack just in case! There is nothing worse then those dark, horse eating corners in the arena while you are trying to ride!
3) Waterproof - should go without saying since these will be in a Outdoor arena.
4) Charging time: This product takes 6-8 hours to charge and has 8-12 hours of running time (I am sure it depends on your light intensity setting).
5) Timers: It has a timer setting on the remote! 2h-8h and every thing in between! How awesome is that?!
These are on the list of things to purchase before summer starts back up in 2024! If you are interested in the exact product I have been looking at, follow the link below (You get 2 lights & it has a 25% coupon offer as well - just make sure you click on it!):