What is a good size for a small riding arena?

[Bec]

Oooohh, gotcha. I will have to re-evaluate what is feasible and go from there.

 

[BeardedChick]

You will not be sorry if you make it a slightly bigger and a more ridable size.

Why not ask an instructor at the barn?

50' is really small for lessons and serious work on 3 gaits. I ride medium size (arab type) horses, english and western.

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

Yes it is a little small, and if you have plenty of room going bigger is great. But when you dont have enough pasture because you went bigger, then you may be sorry. Just my opinion.
Here is a pic of our show mare, "Misty" we show her in Flat Shod and Speed Racking.

 

[arlosmine]

riding teacher here- your ring should be at least 60' wide...66 is better. 50' is very hard to canter an average horse in. The length is less critical- 100' would be the min. Try for the 60!

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

Racking horses dont canter, but maybe I just dont know what im talking about Ive only ridden since I could walk, and trained and shown racking horses since I was 12. Maybe your horses need something different.

 

[BeardedChick]

Bec -

Jessica Jahiel has a good article about minimum circling size - it's oriented to round pens but it applies equally well to small arena working circles.

http://www.horse-sense.org/archives/20020527183434.php

Another article about arena sizing:

http://www.horse-sense.org/archives/20020527183755.php

Here's a Cherry Hill article:

http://www.horsekeeping.com/horse_facilities/arena.htm

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

If you want to use all your pasture for an "official sized" riding arena thats fine. Bec just asked whats a good size for a "small" riding arena. And for a small riding arena 50 x 100 would be fine. If shes got enough room, without using her pasture space up, I say go for the "official" size of what kind of riding you do. But Id hate to have a big arena and have to buy all the biggest part of the year because Im short of pasture.

 

[patandchickens]

Make the riding ring larger -- at least 60 by 120, preferably more (see below for reasons) -- but leave it open for grazing when not being ridden in!!

That way you can have your cake and eat it too

Make the fence fairly high and strong and horse-proof -- 4-board would be good, if you can swing it -- to minimize horses playing bitey games with each other from opposite sides of the fence. Alternatively, instead of leaving it open constantly for them to wander in and out, open it for controlled grazing so that the horses are generally either all in or all out. Either way works fine and maximizes your grazing while still giving you a ring to ride in!

Two reasons why you will REGRET a small ring: first, it will not take very long at *all* for a path, then a rut, to get worn in the 'track' along the rail. Not only does this create bad footing (harmful to legs/feet, dangerous when muddy), it makes riding difficult and makes it difficult for the kid to learn to steer the horse independantly as the horse will tend to just plod round in the rut. With a larger wider ring, you can use cones or suchlike to define a ring *within* the fencing, and move it a yard or two to one side or the other every month or two, so that instead of constantly groovin' in a single rut the wear is distributed over a wider swath of grass. This can make a BIG difference.

Also, when your daughter gets old enough to be doing 'real' canter (as opposed to the sort of "world's slowest" type, done by oldsters and lesson horses and western pleasure types) even 60' width is awfull narrow and places considerable demands on the horse's balance and the quality of the footing. (Mud, or baked-dry ground, are very slippery, and I've seen horses fall over around corners a number of times over the years in such conditions when making tight turns...)

And finally, if your daughter ever gets interested in crossrails and jumping, even 65x130 (basically 'small dressage arena' size) is aaaaaawwwfully small. One can start out that way over crossrails if one has to, but it won't be long before the size of the ring seriously limits what she can do/learn.

Fences are expensive and aggravating enough to build that I would REALLY REALLY advocate making it comfortably big enough now. Enlarging it later is not really a good option to plan on.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[BeardedChick]

Fences are expensive and aggravating enough to build that I would REALLY REALLY advocate making it comfortably big enough now. Enlarging it later is not really a good option to plan on.

I enlarged my small arena last year and it was a pain in the bum. Went from 60x110 to 70x180 and it's amazing how much bigger and more comfortable it feels - especially for canter work.​

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

Leaving your riding area open for them to graze in it is fine. But we always scratch our ring up.Which doesnt leave much if any pasture. Its alot better on the horses than riding in a hard sloid pasture. We never allow it to be rutted out. We work it to keep it as smooth as possible. Just saying 50' across is fine for a SMALL riding arena. And she said her daughter already knew how to ride. I dont have any expierience with "dressage" horses. My expierience is all in Racking horses, Walking horses, and Quarter horses.