# riding arena dimensions and footing



## Dehda01

72x120 is considered a minimum small dressage ring. It is a small ring. I would recommend you make as large an area as possible. You never know what you may eventually wish to do with horses.

60' is a small of an area to canter a circle. Particularly a young, big horse learning to balance. It is doable. But not fun on big gawky young horses. 

I would not canter most of my horses in a 40' circle. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## JAultman

Thanks for the response Dehda01. Just to clarify, we're not cantering in a 20' circle. On a 20' lead line at a canter, it doesn't seem like they're uncomfortable. That is running a 40' diameter circle. In any case, I will go as big as I can but I have physical constraints to work within, which limits me to about a 60' x 100' area. As it stands, jumping and barrel racing are forever out of the question on my property. 

Thanks again.


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## karliejaye

My arena is about 60x120 and I really want to widen it by about 20' if possible, but it is very functional as is. I have well drained, sandy loam soil as well and have not had to add anything to it. It has been a very nice working arena for me, though with more use I would want to add washed sand and crumb rubber to keep dust down and prevent excessive compaction.
The reason I would like to widen it is due to one of my horse's canter stride. He is a big boy and can get stiff in the SI joint so he is tentative at the ends. But that said, I am able to do a small, 3 jump course in my little ring.

Here's an overhead for reference the arena is on the Left side of the map. Half of it has been cleared of grass better than the other half since it was a round pen for 8 months longer than the rest was an arena:


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## JAultman

Great info and thanks for the pic. So you didn't top the native soil with anything? I wondered about just tilling up my area periodically to keep it loose, but there might be just enough black dirt and clay in there that it might keep setting up too firm. Still it sounds like I shouldn't have to do the excessive drain tile and crushed rock etc. if it's already draining pretty good.


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## karliejaye

My soil has virtually zero OM (organic matter) or clay content, so it is essentially silt and sand. Also our precip is 9 inches of rain and rain equivalent (snow water) per year, so it really is naturally almost a perfect footing as is. If you have some clay or organic matter (black dirt) you may need to work it more.


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## Tazmanian Devil

60 wide should be fine. How fine, IMO, depends on your riding style and the horse. 

I'm not sure anyone built a riding ring dina later decided "wow, I should have made this smaller."  If dressage is your thing, build to a standard dressage size. I'm into western riding - I went 130x300 for my ring. I love it, but was surprised at how expensive it is to maintain.


For footing... do you mean the current area is just "sandy loam with not much top soil?" No grass/growth? If so, doesn't it get muddy or have a lot of water runoff?

My ring was leveled then compacted. We put crushed stone in and compared that to 98%. Then we put a layer of geo fabric. There is a gravel based on top of that and the footing is a few inches of sand. It is great for riding.

The entire surface was graded to allow for runoff. We still have had some sand loss due to heavy spring rains. There is a footer board at the bottom of the fence which helps, but water still finds a way to dig a hole and carry the footing away. Seems that is just part of maintaining a ring. If you don't grade properly when placing the sand, you could create a runoff problem.

Six inches of sand sounds a bit deep. If memory serves, I used three inches (over a prepared base). It feels very deep. Six inches seems similar to riding on a beach. Again, it depends on the riding you do and your horses. I should suggest starting with less than six inches and trying that. You can always add more sand, but it is very hard to take it away.


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## JAultman

Tazmanian Devil said:


> 60 wide should be fine. How fine, IMO, depends on your riding style and the horse.
> 
> I'm not sure anyone built a riding ring dina later decided "wow, I should have made this smaller."  If dressage is your thing, build to a standard dressage size. I'm into western riding - I went 130x300 for my ring. I love it, but was surprised at how expensive it is to maintain.
> 
> 
> For footing... do you mean the current area is just "sandy loam with not much top soil?" No grass/growth? If so, doesn't it get muddy or have a lot of water runoff?
> 
> My ring was leveled then compacted. We put crushed stone in and compared that to 98%. Then we put a layer of geo fabric. There is a gravel based on top of that and the footing is a few inches of sand. It is great for riding.
> 
> The entire surface was graded to allow for runoff. We still have had some sand loss due to heavy spring rains. There is a footer board at the bottom of the fence which helps, but water still finds a way to dig a hole and carry the footing away. Seems that is just part of maintaining a ring. If you don't grade properly when placing the sand, you could create a runoff problem.
> 
> Six inches of sand sounds a bit deep. If memory serves, I used three inches (over a prepared base). It feels very deep. Six inches seems similar to riding on a beach. Again, it depends on the riding you do and your horses. I should suggest starting with less than six inches and trying that. You can always add more sand, but it is very hard to take it away.


Thanks for that informative response!

I got creative and I can do an 80 x 105' arena, just have to give up more paddock to do it. Shouldn't be a problem.

The area upon which the arena will go used to be part "yard" and part pine "forest", but I felled the trees, pulled the stumps and cleaned up the mess. Beneath the topsoil was loam, so now it's pretty agitated/mixed. Grass would grow if I kept the horses off of it. There is some variance in the elevation right now so water sheds a bit, but if level, water would drain through pretty quickly.

My plan is to pay the neighbor to grade it roughly flat but with a slight crown with his dozer, then just compact it with the machine but I'm not going to test compaction or anything. Then I'll just overlay sand. Thanks for pointing out that 6" is overkill. Others have said the same, so I'll probably start with 3" and see how that feels.

Do you recall what kind of sand you topped it with? Local sand/gravel pits quoted me "washed sand" and "fill sand". Fill sand is less than half the cost of washed. Sounds like that's the stuff you'd typically build your house upon. So it will compact. Washed sand, as I understand it, stays loose and doesn't hold water very well. Seems like that would be too "slippery" and soft.

Thanks again.


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## Tazmanian Devil

I just looked it up... I have washed sand in my ring. It is actually black washed sand. As a local product the price was right. I don't know how it compares to fill sand. 

I am very happy with the footing. My dogs love it too. They will run very fast and tight circles... They must like the "soft traction" the sand provides. 

Drainage is generally good. We get some heavy rains in the spring and it drains fairly quick.

The only issues I have is runoff, as already mentioned. That's a problem with a heavy rainfall no matter what you use. Once the water creates a channel, it only gets worse. No matter what you do, I think adding footing periodically is necessary.


Good that you found a way to go larger. I think you will be happy with that choice (after you get over the additional cost for more fill material).

As to grass growing... Something you have to stay on top of. Certain times of year my ring doesn't see much use. Amazing how quickly green starts popping up. If you let it go even a little, the roots get deep.


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## JAultman

OK thanks Taz, and everyone else.


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