Arena lights

We own a small equestrian training center and recently built a 50' x 100' x 16'h covered riding arena. I am interested in some lighting options or suggestions. I wil have to run a sub-panel to the arena, but that's no problem. I would like low cost lighting ideas. I had a suggestion of several 500watt halogen fixtures, they are cheap, work well in all temps, but they draw a tremendous amount of "juice". I also had a suggestion of hi-pressure sodium bulbs, but the dealer I was getting info from quoted approx. $150 per fixture. That's a little high. Any and all ideas will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

The answer really depends on how much light you need and what the arena will be used for.
The quartz fixtures are junk in my opinion.They cost too much to operate and have a very short lamp life.The high pressure sodium gives off more of a yellow light which some people are not happy with.You should consider 175watt mercury vapor fixtures mounted to your building columns.(assuming they are not spaced too far apart)

 

we use 175 w metal halide fixtures at the chem plant where i work. outside at night these babies really throw off some beautiful light. in my experience, sodium is too yellow, and the merc. is a bit purplish, the metal halides throw off a much cleaner truer light. most catalogs give you the particulars on the output and spacing you'l need. we use explosion proof here due to the atmosphere, but im sure you can find standard outdoor fixtures for mh lamps. the cost might be a little more, but the quality of light with the reliability of the lamps, (on all night, every night) seems to be worth it to me.
FATKID