From: Colleen
Hi Jessica, My husband and I are in the process of selling our home and buying one out in the country, where I can have my horse at home. I want to build a fenced in riding area, but am not sure what size I need. I've used a 40ft round pen, and that's definitely not enough room. So I was thinking either an oval or rectangular "arena" shaped area. I'd like enough room to move comfortably at a canter, without feeling like I'm falling into the center (like I feel in this round pen), and possibly enough room on the sides to stick a small jump or two. I can picture exactly what I want - they had one at the stable I rode at as a child, but I have no idea what the dimensions were, and that was at the opposite end of the country - lol. When they had local shows there, they made a smaller dressage rectangle in the center, so it was larger than the normal dressage riding area. I know you just answered a similar question about the round pen area, but I would really appreciate your help on this. Also - any suggestions on affordable materials to build it from? Wood is so expensive and high maintenance, but I don't want just wire fencing, as I want something easily visible to the horse. Maybe a wire fenced area, but with PVC piping on top so it stands out? I've heard of folks using the PVC piping before for fencing, just wasn't sure how well it worked. Thanks so much, Colleen
My advice is that you make your arena rectangular, not oval, and to make it as large as you possibly can.
A rectangular arena is much more versatile than an oval one - corners are very useful for riding and training. If you ever want to get rid of the corners in your fenced, rectangular arena, you can put panels or rails across the corners temporarily, effectively rounding them off. It's much harder - and takes much more lumber and much more work - to create corners inside an oval.
Now, as to the size of your arena: A standard dressage arena should give you all the room you need to do dressage or flatwork. We tend to think of dressage arenas in terms of their official dimensions - the small arena is 20m x 40m (66' x 132') and the standard arena is 20m x 60m (66' x 198'). Indoor arenas are generally close to these dimensions, or slightly smaller in width, because it has traditionally been much more costly to build a wider clearspan structure . This is why a good many arenas will actually measure out at 60' across rather than 66' - and why so many horses that manage very well at home in the outdoor (full-width) arena find themselves struggling when an indoor show or clinic is held in a narrower arena, and the horses find it much more difficult to perform the smaller circles and turns. If you're creating an outdoor arena, you won't have the same cost constraints.
Unless you have very little space available, I wouldn't even bother with the small size arena for outdoor use - I'd suggest that you begin with the standard size.
I say "begin", because if you look closely at the next outdoor dressage arena you see, you'll notice that the overall riding area itself (bad, base, and footing) is larger than the 66' x 198' section within the dressage arena boundaries. The dressage arena rails are generally placed 6' or 8' to the inside of the arena edge (or fence), leaving a section 6' or 8' wide that goes all the way around the outside of the arena boundaries and markers. This allows riders to finish their warmup here, just before the dressage test begins. Even a minute or half a minute of trotting around the outside of the arena allows the horses to become acquainted with the footing - and to get a close look at the judge's box, the arena markers, the flowers, etc., before entering at A.
In practical terms, this means that adding that 6' trot-around space will make your arena pad dimensions 78' x 210'. If you have room for that, you'll find that it's a very useful size arena to have for dressage and flatwork.
If you're planning to jump on a regular basis, I'd suggest that you set up something considerably wider and longer. You can certainly put up a couple of small jumps on the long sides of a standard dressage arena, but it's limiting, and the extra wear-and-tear along the track will require a lot more maintenance to keep the footing even and safe. If you anticipate jumping only a few small, hunter-style jumps, an arena that's roughly 100 x 200 will let you set up your jumps without having to put them right up against the rail. This is better for your arena, and it's better for your riding and your horse's training. Ideally, your jumping arena, like your dressage arena, would have enough space for an open track around the periphery.
Beyond that, you can go as large as you like - and as large as you can afford. For general riding and jumping, and if you anticipate riding in groups, 150 x 250 is a good size. If you think you're eventually going to get really serious about your jumping, 200 x 300 is not too large - and if you think you might want to take up roping, it'll be just barely large enough! Any of these spaces will, of course, accomodate a full-size dressage arena on the inside, and a 200 x 300 riding space would accomodate three standard dressage arenas side by side. ;-)
These are just suggestions - the size is up to you. I will say, though, that in all my years of traveling and teaching, I have never heard anyone, anywhere, in any country, say "I really wish I'd made my arena smaller." ;-)
Now, on to the question of fencing!
How you'll need to fence your arena will depend in large part on how you plan to use it. Think about ALL the ways you may end up using your arena: Flatwork, jumping, dressage, turnout? Whatever fencing you use should be sturdy, safe, and - you are absolutely correct about this - highly visible to the horses.
If you're planning to use the arena for turnout, you should use the very best, most solid, most visible fencing you can find.
If you're going to use the arena just for dressage, you may not need any fencing at all - other than the very low fence of the dressage enclosure itself.
If you plan to use it for general flatwork, or if you anticipate that other people will be riding in your arena someday (your friends? your children?), you'll probably want a taller, more substantial fence.
If you plan to use your arena for jumping, it's generally a good idea to ensure that your fencing is at least as tall as the highest jump anyone could possibly decide to jump in the arena, because it's not at all unusual for a horse to jump out over a 3' arena fence, especially if the fence looks quite a lot like something that you might be just about to ask the horse to jump. Being ridden down to a jump placed right next to a low fence can confuse a horse, and you can hardly blame the horse for choosing to jump the nice wide 3' "jump" in preference to the 3'6" or 4' or 4'6" comparatively narrow jump next to it.
I'm trying to remember whether I've ever heard anyone say "I wish I'd built my arena fence lower" - and I don't think I have. ;-)
As far as fence materials are concerned, you'll need to list your various preferences, talk to the local fence builders, visit your local building-supply and farm-supply stores, and go from there. I agree with you re the high cost and constant maintenance that come with wood fencing. If I were going to put a permanent, highly visible fence around a riding arena, I would want something very safe, very durable, and very low-maintenance, so I would probably think use one of the high-quality high-tensile polymer (HTP) fences such as Centaur or Spur. The new polymers are much less susceptible to being damaged by ultra-violet light - they're safer and last longer than their predecessors. PVC board fence would be another possibility, but I'd use that only if the arena were strictly for riding - no turnout - because the HTP fences are a lot better at absorbing bumps and crashes without sustaining damage or damaging horses.
Woven wire with a top board for visibility would also work. You could certainly use PVC for the top board, or HTP rail, for that matter, but since good woven wire ("V-mesh" or "diamond mesh") is expensive to install, the prices may end up being very similar. Of course, if you're strong and have had a lot of experience digging post-holes and stretching V-mesh fence, you could save a lot by doing the installation yourself.
If you're in a hot, dry region, pipe fencing would be another possibility.
Whatever you choose, be sure to make your fence something that you'll enjoy using and looking at every day, because that's exactly what you'll be doing. If you put in a fence that you feel you need to apologize for, you'll be unhappy, and you won't get any happier with the fence as time goes by. If you put in a fence that you really like, it will make you happy every time you ride in it or walk past it or see it from the house. ;-)
Jessica
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