DIY Arena Tire Drag

Horses and the equipment that go with them can be expensive.  As most horseman, we try to find ways to save money.

Of course we still spend all that saved dough like a hole in our pockets but I like to justify that by spending it directly on my horses instead!

Currently, at work we have a grass outdoor arena and a huge sand round pen to exercise our horses. A indoor arena is a luxery we dream about but have to adjust our exercise rides around the outdoor elements.  Our struggles like many who attempt outdoor work is that hard ground is a twisted ankle waiting to happen especially when its hard sand ruts. Using a arena drag is a must to help break up the ruts and smooth out the ground. Although we could purchase a drag at a Rural King or Tractor Supply, we wanted to find a way to save money and create something with our resources we could get our hands on at a reasonable cost. FREE!  or at least close enough 💃   and that makes me do the happy dance!

I came across this picture when looking for ideas on google and then of course Pinterest because Pinterest has everything when it comes to DIY Projects. The link came to a dead end so using the picture as a guide was all we had to work with.

This looks easy enough.... and it really was.  We needed something that would be easy to make, inexpensive resources, could be relocated and stored easily, quick to hook up to our ATV and have enough weight to get the job done.

This is the end result we came up with and were giving high fives when we saw our project working! You should have seen the deep ruts in that roundpen.  The round pen looked great once finished.

Here is the list of supplies we used

Supplies:

On hand free 👇

A large heavy tire

rope

2 x 4 to use in front to stabilize tire and back to smooth out sand

Purchased at Lowes: 👇

10 foot chain

2 eye hook bolts 

3/8 x 5" bolt with washers and nuts

chain link connectors for the eye hooks

We added on the back 2x4 as an after thought and used rope hanging around and plan on moving the two eye hooks lower to help raise the tire up in front. We are beyond thrilled that using resources we had on hand only spent $35 for all our supplies.

Taking pictures for this project was a afterthought.  When we make adjustments on the eye hooks I will take better detailed photos to update.

Hope this helps with creating your own drag and would love to hear feedback on how you made yours.

Ride Pretty,
Ivy