Is it possible to school horses in a 20mx20m arena?

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Cam Eq

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Is it possible to school horses in a 20m x 20m arena? These would be just backed young ponies and horses up to 158cm for competitions. They won’t be jumping but would obviously need to be working correctly on the flat. They could go to a larger arena approx 2/3 times a week.
 
Where I used to stable the indoor school was about max 15m x 25m and horses were broken, schooled and jumped in there. It was a stud/training yard and many went out from there to affiliated jumping and dressage.
 
Cortez said:
Yes of course it is. One of the best GP horses I’ve ever ridden was schooled in the derelict ballroom of a big house in Portugal which was about 10 m X 15m. And there were chandeliers.
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How did it not do itself an injury with such a small space to move around?
 
Cortez said:
It was balanced, highly collected and did a lot of piaffe ? . Of course it wasn’t ONLY ridden there.
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I was imagining all his riding being in the ballroom. Must have been quite a sight, piaffing under the chandeliers.
 
I’m not sure Id bother with the 20x20 for just backed ones if you can access bigger 3 times a week. That’s plenty of schooling time at that stage. I know there is plenty you can do in a small space but I need to keep everything thinking forwards that early on.
 
Cam Eq said:
Is it possible to school horses in a 20m x 20m arena? These would be just backed young ponies and horses up to 158cm for competitions. They won’t be jumping but would obviously need to be working correctly on the flat. They could go to a larger arena approx 2/3 times a week.
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Yes, I have a 11mx27m barn I have schooled in and jumped in.

But it sounds as if you are asking whether some sort of breaking/ schooling business could be run there, (because "just backed" doesn't last long) and if that's the case I would try and find another property with a full size arena.
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Yes, previous yard only had that before they built a larger arena. Used that plus schooled on hacks and in fields, makes a 40x20 seem large and a 60 x 20 arena huge lol!
 
We used to start them in the lunge pen but once off lunge and going sensibly we rode in the big school, I suppose it won't hurt for a few days a week but if they are clients horses some people might not be happy with it.
 
I personally wouldn't with a young horse as I think it is important to be able to take a youngster off a continuous curve and allow them to go straight for a bit. If the surface is good in all weathers them it can have value for exercise in bad weather but if at all possible would look for a bigger space.
As you have access to a larger school a few times a week then I'd use that and take the horse out hacking on straight lines the rest of the time.
 
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