20 x 40 and jumping

[TheChestnutThing]

For those of you who have your horses at a yard with a 20 x 40, can you jump in it successfully? I have only ever been at a yard with massive arenas.

I'm having to look for alternative livery and most of the yards in my area only have 20 x 40 arenas. I have one horse jumping in british novice and another in discovery. Both are large horses 17.1 and 16.3.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I think you'd struggle, if you had a 14.2hh then you may make it work.. You would be able to do grids and singular, or a couple of jumps but you would really struggle to do any sort of meaningful course.. I also think you would see more soft tissue injuries in your horses jumping at that height with relatively tight turns if you were schooling over multiple jumps.

I'm not an expert though, just someone who had an 18.3hh and would have had no hope in a 20x40 - although he wasn't as well schooled as yours will be.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I can't properly jump in a 20 x 40. I can put a few jumps up but it's a struggle with a bit striding big jumping horse!!

 

[Ambers Echo]

I can do gymnastic exercises and schooling exercises - but I can't put a course up. 3 jumps is about my limit. On a big striding 16.2

 

[paddi22]

you can put a course up if you do it cleverly. a lot of yards around me have 20x40 arenas and run shows with no issues.

 

[Ambers Echo]

Id like to see a full course up at Disco height in a 20X40! Any pics of how they do that?
I had a lesson with Nicola Wilson in a 20X40 and she squeezed in 3 jumps that we could jump both ways. So a course of 5-6. So yes it's not impossible to do some quality jumping but I can't imagine a proper course.

 

[Tiddlypom]

There was a full course up in a 40m x 20m arena that we all had to jump on swapped horses when I took my Riding Club grade 3 exam. About 90cm height.

I think that folk have got so used to massive arenas that they've forgotten that years ago arenas rarely came larger than 40m x 20m, and riders did a bit of everything in them.

 

[AntiPuck]

I've only ever done single fences in it, it just doesn't feel large enough for my young, unbalanced 16.2, and the sharp turns at speed would concern me. I don't even like her flat schooling in there due to the repetitive strain of the small circles.

Wouldn't be half as concerned on a more balanced horse, but it would still be less than ideal.

 

[paddi22]

when we were jumping as kids, nearly all arenas, (and especially indoor ones) were tiny. we did big courses on them, and the adult riders did full height courses too. I agree with tiddlypom. massive arenas are a fairly new thing, decades ago it was only international arenas that were big.

The affiliates courses near us as kids ran all the heights including gran prix. it's a case of good course building. I'm not a course builder but we set up courses all the time in our 20 x50. if you set up jumps like the pic below you can save space in parts of the course

 

[Birker2020]

https://www.fei.org/stories/lifestyle/teach-me/3-showjumping-exercises-small-arenas
https://www.google.com/search?q=jumping+course+for+20x40+arena&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-GB:{referrer:source}&ie=UTF-8&oe=#kpvalbx=_G3rzYo2GE4fVgQb7l5KABw47

 

[Birker2020]

I used to compete in a 45m x 50m indoor at a show centre in Droitwich and they used to hold BS shows, I used to jump BN & Discovery on my previous horse Rommy. I actually preferred a smaller arena to jump in, Bailey used to compete there too but unaffiliated and he used to literally bounce off the walls! Less chance of a run out but meant you had to be extremely accurate with where you planned to turn and you had to walk the course really well!

 

[paddi22]

I actually used to prefer the smaller arenas, they really taught you to use corners properly and get your balance quicker. the horses can really get their hocks under them and keep a shorter canter. I think todays big arenas encourage a lot of people to ride flat in a strung out canter and not ride corners properly.

 

[milliepops]

trained up to 16.2 up to novice eventing heights in a 18 x 38 arena, it didn't have walls or a fence which made it feel bigger. We had space saving wings/blocks and poles were 10ft long at the maximum which helped. Not enough space for a full competition course, but enough for a bit of practice, gridwork or a tune up. In the summer we had a set of proper wooden jumps in the field which felt luxurious

 

[Auslander]

I've got a 20x40, and one of ,my liveries regularly jumps 1.20 courses in it. We have coursebuilding in that space down to a fine art - its doable, but you have to use every available inch of space.
Her mare is only 16hh, but likes to go like a rocket, so the smaller space has been quite handy to teach her to wait and listen

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Actually now it's been mentioned, we used to jump opens in a 20 x40 indoor. I was on a pony though!!

 

[TheChestnutThing]

I've got a 20x40, and one of ,my liveries regularly jumps 1.20 courses in it. We have coursebuilding in that space down to a fine art - its doable, but you have to use every available inch of space.
Her mare is only 16hh, but likes to go like a rocket, so the smaller space has been quite handy to teach her to wait and listen

I feel this could work for my bigger one who doesn't know the meaning of wait and tends to get long and flat and therefor has poles.

 

[sjdress]

We have a 20x40 and can fit about 3-4 fences in it and make them jump able from both directions

 

[Leandy]

Yes you can. I know someone who competes to 1.40 on a 17hh+ and only schools in a 20 x 40 at home.

 

[eggs]

I've got a 20x40 indoor so it can feel smaller as the walls back the horses off. We can jump in there by being clever with the fence placement. It really does make you ride good corners. My 17.2 - who is naturally well balanced - does not have any problem.

 

[Pinkvboots]

My friend jumps all hers in a 20 x 40 and her big horse jumps 1.20 she just puts 3 jumps up and it's fine.

 

[Abacus]

I can get about 6 to 8 fences in my 20x40, some jumpable both ways. I have two basic ‘courses’.
One has a double down each long side and a single fence on each diagonal in the middle. The diagonal fences can be jumped both ways and of course are there to change the rein. The doubles can be used both ways but more commonly are an upright to a spread.
The other has a sort of circle of fences on the middle - multi-direction wings help. I can get a circle of 5 fences and two of them will make a double. Then on the long side there is space for a jump each side. Also on the short sides.
just be careful when you set them up that you’re not jumping one fence straight into the wing of another (speaking from experience!).
I have a big moving and jumping horse, he’s only 16.1 but rides huge. It is really helping him to corner and balance better. Also to listen to me, as when we turn a corner there might be 3 possible jumps and he used to lock on to whatever he saw; now he does wait for me to steer him. But I don’t do this all the time; we also have a field of jumps that has more space.

 

[Ambers Echo]

I've clearly been very spoilt always travelling to big arenas! I wll be exploring course building options over the winter in our 20X40 as I have never believed I could do more than schooling exercises in it. I may be minus transport for a while after the season ends too, so I assumed my jumping would be very restritced till my 3.5T is ready. So the ideas on here will be out to very good use! Thanks for the inspiration/eye opener.

 

[criso]

Yes you can and with clever placement of a few fences can put together a longish sequence.

Here's what we used to do with a 4 jumps, not to scale.

The one on it's own can be a bigger spread for one session or can be replaced with a one stride double.

Need to be careful with the diagonal angle and the related distance needs to be long enough that you can jump both, either on its own or as a dog leg with the diagonal.




You might want to combine it with arena hire or clinics for variety though.

 

[paddi22]

it's amazing what you will fit in. the key is to cut down on gaps between different fence wings! If you clump fences together (like the 3 at the bottom of this course) you can fit more diagonal ones in

 

[LEC]

Kitty king is a good one to follow on Facebook as has a 20x40 indoor only. In summer puts her jumps out on grass.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CX1Ywg5hPUw/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CIdaowQHPIP/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHySruzHMdG/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

[Gloi]

I used to have my pony on a yard that bred and trained showjumpers. They had a 15 * 25 or so school and they loose schooled their 16.2 horses over 5' jumps in there and rode over decent sized ones too, one on each side, doubles too but not so high. I schooled my ponies in there and they jumped really well when they got out to a show after that.