Minimum useful area for schooling?

[Becks01]

Just a general musing really....what do you think is the minimum area for a school (i.e. if 20x40 or 20x60 not available / affordable) that you could get some useful flat schooling a once or twice a week, and maybe have a lesson in...

 

[FfionWinnie]

I was looking at Weeliff's pics of her new 30x20 and thinking that looked rather useful to me!

I suppose it depends on your horse to a degree. If you've an 18hh shire you might struggle. For my nimble little ponies it would be ideal for the winter when it's hacking or nothing

 

[Red-1]

I guess it depends on what you hope to achieve in the arena. My school is 30 X 30 and we get stuff done, but obviously it is not as good as a larger arena.

When I was a teen we only had a 25m circular area. We somehow managed group rides with up to 6 riders, jumping (usually a single fence, but sometimes a double too), general schooling etc in that.

If you think about it, a lot of the western trainers do their foundation work in a smaller round pen than that. In fact they run whole clinics in them. That tends to be slower work, concentrating on softness and responsive ness though, not doing a dressage test or jumping a course of fences.

 

[Becks01]

Thank you

 

[LiffWee93]

As ffionwinnie said - we have just moved to a yard with a 20x30 it's more than big enough for what we need! Though lola is only 13hh it would probably be tight on a larger animal! Xx

 

[Equi]

I have a 20x40 at the yard and i think i would struggle in anything smaller but i have 17hh who can really move if he wants to.