How to create a horseshoe pit A great way to enjoy your home and

How to create a horseshoe pit
A great way to enjoy your home and enjoy family time is with outdoor backyard games. One of those
fun games is horseshoes.
As a surprise birthday gift for my father-in-law, we decided to make horseshoe throwing pits – a classic
backyard family game. I started doing my research and found that horseshoe pits come in all shapes
and sizes. There are also some great YouTube videos that give some great advice and step-by-step
instructions. Here is how I decided to create them for our family.
Supply List:
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1 Horseshoe Kit – comes with throwing shoes and metal stakes
8-9 Pressure Treated 4x4’s
16 6” common nails
8 bags of play sand
12 24” steel lawn stakes (found in masonry department)
2 5-gallon buckets
1 bag cement mix
2 tubes of construction adhesive
Tools used:
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Hammer
Drill
Miter saw
Spade shovel
Garden rake
Level
Tape measure
I cut 4 of the 4x4’s into 5 and 3 feet sections to make the base of the boxes and pre-drilled each of the
corners:
The then lined up the corners and hammered in the 6” common nails in each corner:
Once those are completed, I chose to cut the next 4 4x4’s into 1) 3 foot section, 2) a 39” section and 3)
the remaining 21” section. From the picture, you can see where I placed those 3 sections. I also cut
another 4x4 into 2, 29” sections for the middle section of the back section of the pit (not really visible in
the picture):
Once all the cuts are completed, I drilled ½ inch holes, lined up through each of the pieces to line up and
drive the lawn stakes through the pit and secure it to the ground.
I took the horseshoe kit stakes – which admittedly are too short – and cemented them into cut-off 5
gallons buckets. I also let them sit overnight:
Now came the fun part: digging out the soil.  I place the boxes so that the poles are precisely 40 feet
apart – which is regulation length. You then can either spray paint or edge the boxes and start digging.
Be sure to dig out a place for the cemented poles, tilting the poles a few decrees towards the opposite
pit:
Once the ground is dug out, place the 5x3 feet box into the ground ensuring it is level and backfill the
empty spaces. I then used a piece of scrap 4x4 to pound in the stakes and used the construction
adhesive to glue in between each section of the sides and backdrop:
Last, I poured 4 bags of play sand into each box. It’s best to mix in some dirt with the sand to get a
balance between being “sticking power” and “ground rolling.” You then have a completed horseshoe pit
course:
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