Driving ring size

[Enchantress]

the smallest you'd want to make a ring to drive in? And what is the "ideal/normal" size? Thanks!

 

[RhineStone]

Is this for your personal use or show? Our indoor is 60' x 80'. It is adequate, but we can't get a really good strong trot going in it for very long without having to slow down for the corner. If there were more than 3 turnouts in it, it would be too small. (Once the snow comes off, I can't wait to drive in our bigger arena outside!)

The arenas at the carriage shows around here are 100' x 300'. That is plenty big for the VSEs. The smallest size of a VSE Driven Dressage arena is 20 x 40 meters, or roughly 66' x 132'.

Myrna

 

[Davie]

Mine is 60' x 200'. This was the size on the one at our State Fair grounds arena that we used to show in a lot.

 

[Tammie]

My indoor arena is 60' x 132' and it can fit 6 to 7 horse/carts comfortably. Have had as many as 9 during a show and that gets a bit to crowded and makes it impossible to show your horse to their potential.

 

[Margo_C-T]

I'd suggest making it as big as you can find proper space for! If it's indoor, then you may have to accept a smaller space, but if outdoor, it really is hard to go 'too big'....

My arena is 125' X 250', and I am SOOOO glad to have it that size! If you want to work on dressage, a good size often more and more often being used for VSEs is 30 X 60 meters...which works out to roughly 100' X 200', if I remember my conversion charts correctly!

It is very helpful to have it long enough that your horse can extend its gait for a reasonable number of strides , and of a width at least adequate to do a 20 meter circle, if at all possible.

Margo

 

[Enchantress]

I just wanted to say thanks for all the input! It will be for a personal ring. Last fall we bought a house and had contemplated using the "not so nice" land (ie the land that got butchered to install cable) as my new ring, but I wasn't sure if it would be big enough to safely handle a driving horse. Another question....the way the land curves I can do either an approximately 75 x 125 ring or 60 x 140. Which would you do?

 

[RhineStone]

I don't know if this is possible, but I would fence the whole thing and work around the curves. Otherwise, that is a tough question! I like having long rails, but I also like the ability to have space to do decent circles, etc. 60' is definitely minimum.

Myrna