Build a Horseshoe Pit
Ever want your own horseshoe pit in your backyard? Horseshoe pitching is a fun family game, but it can be hard to find a place to play. Luckily, it's easy to make a pit at home. All you need to do is gather the right tools, build a solid frame, fill the pit, build a backboard, and create foul lines.
Steps
- Gather your materials. Here's what you need to build two regulations-size horseshoe pits that will face each other (if you only want to build one pit, halve the materials):
- Two 6-foot-long treated wood 2x6s (38mm x 140mm), cut in half
- Two 8-foot-long treated wood 2x6s (38mm x 140mm), cut in half
- Six 3-foot-long treated wood 2x6s, and four 2-foot-long 2x2s (optional, for 2 backboards)
- Several bags of sand (enough to fill two 36x48 inch boxes at least 3-4 inches deep)
- Two 3-foot-long steel posts (about 1-inch diameter)
- 16-24 Exterior (deck) screws (2.5 inches long, approx.)
- Landscape cloth or similar, to cover bottom of pits (optional)
- Concrete (optional)
- Something to mark the pit dimensions on the ground with, such as flour, lime, spray paint, etc. (optional)
- Tools: Saw, electric drill with screwdriver, sledgehammer, measuring tape, shovel
- Decide where you're going to put your pit(s). If you're building one pit, place it so that you'll have plenty of room to stand back and throw. (National Horseshoe Pitchers Association rules say that the foul line should be 27 feet or 37 feet away from the stake, but just decide on a distance you're comfortable with.) If you're building two pits, from the back of one pitching area to the back of the other, you'll need {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of length (but this includes 2 feet of clear space behind each box). The width will be {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}.
- Make a frame for your pit. Take two of the 36" boards and two of the 48" ones, and make a rectangle. Screw the pieces of wood together at the corners with the deck screws to make one frame. Repeat to make a second frame, overlapping ends in the same direction so that the two frames have the same dimensions.
- Place each frame where you expect to dig a pit. Their fronts should be {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} apart, and a short edge should be facing the front.
- Mark the outside perimeter of each box on the grass with flour, lime, spray paint, etc. so you will know where to dig. Lift the boxes and set them aside.
- Dig into the grass. The grass is going to get ruined in the pit area anyway, so dig a few inches or more down into the ground in a rectangle shape, so that the frame top sits a tiny bit lower than the grass. A somewhat bowl-shaped hole will make it easier to keep the sand in place later.
- Place the frames in the craters.
- Put a stake into each pit. The 1-inch diameter stake in each pit should be {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} from the "front" of each frame (assuming the front faces the other frame).
- NHPA rules dictate that {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of the stake should be exposed above the ground, and that the stake should be tilted forward by a a few inches. If you were to make a triangle out of the ground, the stake, and a ruler, the stake should hit the ruler at {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}.
- You can hammer the stakes into the ground, or you can pour a concrete base around the bottoms and bury them. The second way takes more time, but it will result in a more stable stake.
- Cover the bottom of the pit with landscape cloth (optional). You don't have to do this step, but it will keep sand from "sinking" into the dirt below.
- Fill in the pit. You can use sand, dirt, or blue clay (which you'd have to keep wet). Sand and clay are generally considered better for horseshoes, because the metal won't skip or slide as much.
- Build a backboard (optional). A backboard behind your stake will stop your horseshoes from going way beyond where you intended, as well as helping to keep some of the dirt, sand or clay inside the pit. Build one by joining the three 3-foot-long 2x6 boards, and attach the 2-foot-long 2x2 boards to the back. Bury the legs of the backboard.
- Mark the foul lines (optional). Using whatever you used to mark where the frames would go, you can also mark foul lines.
Tips
- Over time, the sand will seem to "disappear" both by being knocked out of the pit and by sinking into the soil below. Digging the hole a bit deeper, and lining the bottom with landscape cloth or similar material will make it last longer.
- Professional pits sometimes are filled with a product called "blue clay" instead of sand. It has a wonderful "bounce" when horseshoes hit it, but it is pretty expensive.
- For the least expensive alternative, it is possible to forget the boxes entirely, and set two stakes {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} apart, then just roughen up dirt around each stake to a depth of about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. It's minimalistic, but it works (for a while, at least).
Warnings
- Horseshoes can hurt, please stand clear of others throwing. Never walk behind a thrower, either, because a horseshoe can sometimes take off during the backswing!
Things You'll Need
- Two 6-foot-long treated wood 2x6s (38mm x 140mm), cut in half
- Two 8-foot-long treated wood 2x6s (38mm x 140mm), cut in half
- Six 3-foot-long treated wood 2x6s, and four 2-foot-long 2x2s (optional, for 2 backboards)
- Several bags of sand (enough to fill two 36x48 inch boxes at least 3-4 inches deep)
- Two 3-foot-long steel posts (about 1-inch diameter)
- 16-24 Exterior (deck) screws (2.5 inches long, approx.)
- Landscape cloth or similar, to cover bottom of pits (optional)
- Concrete (optional)
- Something to mark the pit dimensions on the ground with, such as flour, lime, spray paint, etc. (optional)
- Tools: Saw, electric drill with screwdriver, sledgehammer, measuring tape, shovel
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