# Indoor Arena : What is Needed?



## Jubilee Rose (May 28, 2008)

I'm curious to know what is needed, what is involved and what are the potential costs of making an indoor arena. My barn currently does not have one, but we may possibly get one in the future.

Any ideas?


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

First of all, please don't make a dinky little useless one. Spend the money and make something at least 20mX60m, they are a lot easier to re-sell.
If you are in a cold or hot climate then insulation is nice to keep the heat in, or out. Make sure there are nice heavy duty industrial lights evenly spaced and also if you're in a cold place find the heater that's right for you. Windows are also a nice touch. And make sure you have sturdy kick boards! You really don't want a horse kicking out and going through the wall. A storage/viewing area is also a nice touch if you don't want to be crowding your arena corners. And mirrors are also a bonus.
For the footing, make sure you are on solid, level ground. Put in a good base of road crush/clay and pack it down like nothing else. Then top it with good quality sand, too fine and it packs, too coarse and the footing will be too deep. Then you can add stuff, like rubber for "spring", shavings to hold moisture or the newest, coolest thing, felt. Felt is AWESOME. I love riding on felt. It is expensive though.

Don't cut corners when you are building it beause believe me it costs a lot more to redo the base of an arena instead of doing it right the first time.
Get opinions from local people in your area too because soil/environmental contitions vary from region to region.


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## Jubilee Rose (May 28, 2008)

Thanks Anebel, that was very informative. :wink:


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## ponyboy (Jul 24, 2008)

~*~anebel~*~ said:


> First of all, please don't make a dinky little useless one. Spend the money and make something at least 20mX60m, they are a lot easier to re-sell.


I've never ridden in an arena bigger than 20mx40m. I thought that was the standard size for an English ring.


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

ponyboy said:


> ~*~anebel~*~ said:
> 
> 
> > First of all, please don't make a dinky little useless one. Spend the money and make something at least 20mX60m, they are a lot easier to re-sell.
> ...


20mX40m arenas are OK. Until you get more than three horses in them and then it can be a bit chaotic. It's also hard to put up a decent number of jumps in a 20X40 and then get more than one horse in there.
Plus if you want to time a freestyle, you'll need a 20X60 because generally (at least in North America) all of our shows that offer freestyles use 20X60m rings. At schooling shows is when we usually see the 20X40 rings, and only up to training level because starting in first level you need the extra letters.


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## kickshaw (May 7, 2008)

ours is a small regulation dressage ring (20m x 40 i think??)

it is made of steel - the supports are in the ground with concrete. it cost $125,000 for the steel "building" and an additional $5500 to grade the arena (glad i wasn't the one footing the bill!)

so all together, $130,500


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