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Posts: 76
| We just bought a house with a little horse set up (total acreage is only 2.5). It's got a decent size paddock up front and a pasture off the back of it. I was thinking about putting a round pen in the back corner of it but now I'm thinking about an actually arena.
Loosing the pasture sucks but not sure how else to keep the kids in shape when I would have to haul every time I wanted to do anything with them.
The barn I was at had an indoor that was 100x60 the length worked for me but it was a little narrow. I would like something I could do barrels in but it's just me so doesn't have to be anything big.
What is the smallest I could get away with while still being able to do barrels?
Average cost to have it done?
Are there companies that come build them?
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
  
| I'd leave the pasture and haul to an arena. Horses need turn out, good for their mind, body, and gut! I'd work up a 3-5ft strip along the fence line around the pasture and use that for exercise. Make one of the corners a little wider, put a barrel in it. Haul to work a full pattern, especially if your horses are finished. |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | I would do a round pen. If you make it big enough you can actually get quite a bit done. I don’t think it would be worth it to make an arena big enough to work a full set, and take pasture away from the horses. I rarely work a full pattern anyways, I’m usually stuck in indoors so small in the winter that it’s not possible. I just set one barrel up and practicing approaching various ways, or I do 3 in a row and do the spiral exercise. If I need to I have access to a real arena once a week during the winter.
Edited by livexlovexrodeo 2018-05-31 6:44 PM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Duvall, WA | I live in the Pacific NW, I think we are kings of small horse properties around the Puget Sound area. 2 1/2 acres is actually plenty of room, I would try to make an arena of some kind, you will use it a lot. Any way to have the paddock area double as an arena? I have lots of friends who do that and it works great, good footing makes for good winter turnout as well. While it is really nice to have plenty of pasture, many people around here don't, space is just at too much of a premium. As long as you have decent sized pens and ride often, horses are fine.
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 Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | This might sounds odd but could you put a arena right in the middle of the pasture? Then you could have a small pasture that the horses can still roam around and move, but then you have an arena at the same time. I can't remember where I heard this, but the idea of it is you have more submissive horse/s let out first and the more dominate ones behind, then eventually the horses move because they're being pushed around and the move more. So they go around in a circle around the arena. Idk if it made sense how I typed it out but it's actually a pretty good idea from what I've seen! |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| That no about this. If you decide on having an arena, then you need something to work it with. That means a tractor and some kind of drag. That can get expensive fast. You might want to invest in maintaingvhour house, vehicle, horse before buying the arena and equipment |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Just work a piece of the pasture/ get it worked up to where you can set barrels up and enjoy your horses and this way you wont lose any pasture space, buy a small tractor that can pull a drag or pay someone to come over to work your riding area once or twice a month. I know alot of people that work up some land to put their barrels on, they dont need anything fenced in or fancy, my arena has no fence and I keep it worked up, its in my small pasture next to the horses pen hubby put up lights years ago nothing fancy and this set up works just fine for me, sometimes friends come over to work horses, they like having no fence and the horses learn to hunt barrels better this way. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | My outdoor is about 65 X 120. It seems way wider than a 60 wide indoor. For me its the perfect size. Its plenty big to work the pattern. I would just disc up an area in the corner of your pasture...you don't have to fence it in, but if you wanted to this way it would already be half way done.
How many horses do you have and what do you do with them (do they just need exercise are they still colts...etc?)? A round pen to me wouldn't be beneficial at all for needing to exercise one. They are great for colts but it gets boring after awhile. Depending on the number of horses you have...that pasture will go pretty quick. Might as well make part of it an arena. |
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  Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | Our arena is about 60'x100', but fenced in so it feels kinda narrow. I can do slow work and regular excersizing, but not much fast work... one of the issues I have now is because of the fencing around it I can't work the ground real good with our disk, I end up getting ruts.... Next on the list is a better drag, but for now it will have to do... Also at the next place I just want to disk up a part of a pasture, no fences around it. That way I can do different approaches and such and won't be hindered by any fences when working the ground.
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 Expert
Posts: 1395
Location: Missouri | streakysox - 2018-06-03 3:41 PM
That no about this. If you decide on having an arena, then you need something to work it with. That means a tractor and some kind of drag. That can get expensive fast. You might want to invest in maintaingvhour house, vehicle, horse before buying the arena and equipment
This is why we still haven't put in an arena. We can't afford the tractor and drag :/
We do have a 80x100 area that is used as a dry lot, and my husband can get it turned up enough with the neighbor's tractor every once in a while that I'll use it to lope circles when I can. (Other wise, I long trot out in the neighbors fields or on the private gravel road.) It feels a little tight to me. If I were to put an arena in at our house, I'd try to go for at least 100x150. |
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