Outdoor lighting for horse arenas and equestrian facilities are becoming more sophisticated every day. In the old days, horse arenas and outdoor rodeo arenas were lighted with outdoor flood lights, halogen lights or simply mercury vapor barn lights.
These forms of outdoor arena lighting did not have the lumen output or performance to properly illuminate arenas, holding pens, stables or horse training areas. In fact, all of these light sources are outdated, ineffective and inefficient. The foot-candle specifications for lighting equestrian and rodeo arenas are 50fc for Class 2 and 30fc for Class 3. 
Most equestrian facilities have large creosote light poles that can be easily retrofitted with modern arena lighting metal halide fixtures. Sometimes these lights have brackets designed to mount on walls or buildings. Metal halide is a type of light source that is energy efficient and produces a very bright light with good color rendering. It is part of the high intensity discharge or HID category of outdoor lighting fixtures. Metal halide fixtures are fast becoming the new standard in outdoor arena lighting. By using metal pole adapters and metal halide box floods existing outdoor horse arenas can be updated and brought to life. This can often be accomplished without modifications to the existing electrical wiring. All our horse arena light fixtures come standard with multi-tap ballast. That means you can hook up the arena lights to 120 volt, 208 volt, 240 volt, or 277 volt systems. A typical 1000 watt metal halide fixture wired to a 120 volt system pulls approximately 8.5 amps. That same light only pulls 4.25 amps at 240 volts. It’s always a good idea to discuss modifications to your arena lighting with an electrician or someone who is familiar with calculating electric loads before ordering.
To make your selection of outdoor arena lighting simple and easy we have put together some basic lighting kits. The heavy duty mounting brackets are designed for use with 6” to 12” wooden poles. All the fixtures can be rotated and pivoted on site to properly aim the lights as needed. We recommend that you use the following guidelines for selecting a wooden pole lighting kit:
250 watt fixtures are designed for a 20 foot or less mounting height
400 watt fixtures are designed for a 20’ to 30’ foot mounting height
1000 watt fixtures are designed for a 30’ or more mounting height
Of course, if wooden poles are not what you had in mind for your upscale equestrian facility, commercial lighting poles and fixtures can be used for a more architectural and refined look. These professional outdoor commercial arena lighting kits are more durable, offer steel and fiberglass lighting poles, and are better suited for larger equestrian facilities.
Several outdoor arena pole types, mounting heights, and wattages are listed below:
- Round Straight Lighting Poles
- Round Tapered Lighting Poles
- Square Tapered Lighting Poles
- Straight Square Lighting Poles
- 20 foot Outdoor Horse Arena Light Kits
- 25 foot Outdoor Horse Arena Light Kits
- 30 foot Outdoor Horse Arena Light Kits
- Custom Decorative Lighting Pole Kits
- Decorative Custom Lighting Pole Kits.
Whether you have an established equestrian facility or working on your plans for a new outdoor horse arena, the cowboys at Residential Landscape Lighting & Design can give you a hand. They have experience with all types of outdoor lighting facilities, from simple parking lots to custom rodeo arena lighting.
