Building your dream arena is possible with a good plan.
Building a riding arena represents a significant financial investment for any equine facility, but with careful planning and installation, it is likely to become one of the farm’s most important assets. A successful arena plan should consider six critical variables—riding discipline, size, placement, drainage, base and footing—and incorporate your program’s specific needs. Carefully assessing your individual situation and consulting with experts like the staff at Premier Equestrian will help ensure that the horse arena design meets the unique needs of both your program and your budget. Here’s our top tips on how to make an arena.
Your Discipline
The first variable in arena design is determining the type of rider you are building for. The needs of a pleasure rider vary greatly from those of a high performance dressage rider or elite jumper. Knowing the type of horse and rider that will be using the arena– and understanding their different demands– is an important step in choosing the best match in each of the remaining categories.
“Not every arena is suitable for every single discipline,” says Mark Neihart, Premier Equestrian CEO and co-founder. “The surface interacts differently with different disciplines.”
Dressage horses require grip and stability in their surface,