Odd sized arenas - anyone have one?

Orchardbeck

Orchardbeck

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Hi, I ask as we are possibly going to create one at home in a 30m x 30m space (outdoor) and I wondered if any others have ones that aren't the standard 20x40m or 20x60m, and what they were able to do in them - does it have any affect on the quality of your work and training?

We will be using it to school for flatwork mainly, with a showjump or two, and for all weather turnout so the other paddock doesn't get wrecked in bad weather.
 
Mine is an asymmetrical 30x40 which was an old orchard, and rather than putting in a standard arena, we just made the whole field into one. It works really well, gives great diversity, and I can still do quality flatwork even if there are jumps up in it and vice versa. If I have an urge to do proper dressage, I just mark out a 20x40 within it.
 
Ours was a 60x40 which has now been turned into a 40x40 and 20x40. i usually ride in the 40x40 and the fact that it is square allows for some good schooling exercises. Like Rowreach said, if i want to practice dressger tests etc i do it in the middle of the school-it stops the horses using the fence for support while schooling to which is alwsys good!
 
The new yard I will move to has a 30x40. Looking forward to riding in it. Apparently its great for jumping or lunging as much more room
 
oh i dont even know where to start with one of our yards paddocks. i would hazard a guess at 40m up the left edge, into a 60m across the top coming slightly diagonally inwards, into a 30m right hand side, going to a 60m bottom side going slightly out. like this. that probly wont work but oh well

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its also all on a hill lol.

i think a paddock is what you make of it, theres plenty of exercises you can do even if your padock isnt a perfect 20m x 40m. i think it encourages you to always be doing interesting stuff and not getting stuck in a routine. theres still corners to be ridden into and you may find you ride more accurately in a dressage test because you are much more used to be awar of the space your in, and doing CIRCLES rather than square circles, because you have nothing to guide you at home so really have to ride them.
hope that helped =)
 
Mine is 37 x 20 as that was the available space - I also have a 20m roundpen.

I would like a 30m x 30m and many dressage riders are opting to not have a long side now - it#s quite popular I am told for training.
 
We have a 30x30 school. It is fine for the pony, but when i'm on my horse in there I do struggle to work him aswell as I would like to. Partly due to the surface (a bark/compost mix), and partly due to size. Walk is fine, I can just about do everything I want in trot, but when it comes to canter I do struggle to work him how I would like. I'm not able to do the circles and changes in pace that I would like to. However, if I had a better surface in the school I think it would be a lot better as I wouldn't have todosge any boggy deep bits.

:)
 
I used to be on a yard with an arena that was sort of 20x40 but with a dog leg in one of the 40m sides so making it probably up to 25-30m wide at one point, sort of like this ;)

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It made it brill if you wanted to jump as the extra width came in handy but you could easily put a line of a few poles down that side if you wanted a more 'traditional' shape (or couldn't ride a straight line for yourself!)

30x30 sounds ok, I've known odder ones!
 
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