How We Build Horse Riding Arenas On Our Ranch

This is the how to and what we did to build horse riding arenas on our farm. Here are the steps and materials we used in constructing a outdoor horse arena from start to finish. Our fully fenced, riding arena, is 100 x 200 feet in size. How to preplanning was just as important as selecting a good site location for our horse arena. Some of the most important deciding factors in location we had to consider were: drainage, ease of accessibility, proximity to our horse barn, and finding an area that was free from distractions. Selecting a suitable location for building a arena in the planning stage was important. The ground we choose to build a horse arena on was fairly level to start with, for drainage purposes we stayed away from wet boggy areas and tried to choose the higher ground. The area was also free of any buried or overhead utilities. Things we wanted to watch out for and avoid were buried electric lines, gas lines, phone lines, and our septic drain field from the barn. How to get access for trucks and horse trailers to our riding arena was also an important consideration. We want to construct and build a large parking lot on one side of the site at a future date.

Determining size and shape before the building begins

The type of activities we do determined what size arena we wanted. By doing a little research we came up with the following information regarding how horse arena sizes are determined. Standard dressage arenas measure either 66 x 200 feet, or 66 x 133 feet depending on the training level. Competition jumping arenas may be as large as 200 x 200 feet. A square jumping arena is not the best shape. The way the jumping courses are set up, you want a long side for combinations and a short side to set up and control forward motion. A good, multi-purpose dimension was 100 x 200 feet. This seems to be an adequate size for most purposes.
Here are some arena size and measurment guidelines we found for different riding activities:
Calf Roping 100 feet x 300 feet.
Team Roping 150 feet x 300 feet.
Pleasure Riding 100 feet x 200 feet.
Barrel Racing 150 feet x 260 feet.
Jumping 150 feet x 300 feet.
The shape of our arena was also determined somewhat by our type of activities and personal preferences. Building rectangle shaped arenas allow riders to ride their horses deeper into the corners teaching them how to bend and turn. Oval shaped or rectangular arenas with built with rounded edges are better for driving and jumping and are easier to maintain and groom with machinery, such as a disc or drag.

How to choose the optimal riding surface inside the horse arena

The most important element of a good riding arena is the area inside the fence. The riding area requires a good sub base for drainage, and to withstand the heavy pounding from horse and rider. The sub base and finished surface of the arena should be sloped from one side to the other or crowned at the center for drainage. This slope should be 2% at a maximum, this is equivalent to 1/4" per foot.
The ideal sub base for our riding arena consisted of 1 inch or 3/4 inch gravel compacted in a layer 8 to 12 inches thick, with a 2% slope. The 3/4" gravel had finer material in it to help bind together and did not consist of all loose rock alone, or it would not compact and hold together. This sub base material was the same material that was being used for the base in highways and roadways in our area, and we were able to obtain it from a local gravel company. Cushion material was placed on top of the sub base to finish off the area. This material was spread approximately 2 to 3 inches deep and followed the 2% slope of the sub base for drainage purposes.

Once a suitable location had been chosen, The first step in construction was to strip the ground of vegetation and roots where the riding area was to be located, this was accomplished by removing 4 to 6 inches of dirt from the area to be occupied by the arena. After this top layer of black dirt was removed, we inspected the ground that was now showing. It showed to be solid ground that was firm to build on. If the ground had been too loose because it was sandy or had black loamy topsoil or was wet and soft. Then some additional work would have been needed to make a solid base, normally this would consist of excavating another 1 to 2 feet deeper and filling it in with 1 or 2 feet of compacted rocky material. This material could contain some dirt and gravel, but the more rocks it contained the more solid it will be. The top layer of ground that we stripped off for building our horse riding arena was good black dirt (topsoil), So we saved it in a pile for use somewhere else. For the project, we were building, we chose a fairly flat piece of ground and used a rubber tire backhoe with a front bucket to remove the top 4 inches of ground. By using the front bucket on the machine we were able to scoop up the material and place it in a pile off to the side, out of the way of the construction area. We then lightly watered the stripped area of ground, which was a good solid base composed of native gravel, and compacted the ground with a vibrating roller in preparation of the next step.
When it was determined there was solid ground to build on that was free of all vegetation and roots, the next step was to start putting down the sub base material. This material consisted of 3/4" to 1 inch crushed gravel that also contained enough fine material that it packed together easily. (A simple test is to take a handful of this material that is moist and squeeze it together, it should have the tendency to cling together somewhat, if it falls apart completely when you open your hand, most likely it will not compact well for a sub base.) Most often, a good sub base material will be the same material that is being used in the local area for road base material in highway construction, and base material under building foundations. A local gravel pit business delivered the sub base material to our site in a dump truck. One advantage of having a dump truck to deliver our material, was that they could spread the material out in place as they dumped it, there by reducing the amount of work required to place the sub base. The sub base for the horse arena was a minimum of 8 inches thick when finished. To achieve proper compaction, this material was put down 4 inches at a time then watered and compacted with a vibrating drum roller before the next 4 inches was put down. The material was watered well but not turned into mud, and given a chance to absorb the water before it was compacted. Proper compaction was achieved, normally by making six passes over the ground with a vibrating drum roller. It was important to make sure there was a 2% slope on the finished sub base to achieve good drainage from snow melt and rainfall. A raised crown in the middle that slopes 2% to both sides was preferred. For our horse riding arena which is 66 feet wide we were 8 inches lower on each side than the crown in the middle.

For our riding arena, the ground was fairly level to start with. So we chose to use a raised crown in the center of our horse arena for drainage. If our site had been on a hillside or slope already, it may have been more efficient and practical to slope the ground from one side to the other without a crown in the middle. We could still maintain a 2% slope across, anything steeper than 2% which is 1/4" per foot will give us the feeling of walking uphill and will be noticeable while riding a horse. A valuable tool we had in the construction of the project was a builder's sight level, to measure the height of the ground. Inexpensive pocket sight levels sell for around $20 and are adequate for how to measure the slope of a ground surface.

We obtained a suitable sub base material at a local gravel pit, which was 3/4" crushed gravel and met our compaction requirements. Our sub base material was delivered in a dump truck and spread on the stripped out area of ground in a lift that was approximately 4 inches thick. When the dump truck was gone picking up another load, the time was used to water and compact the spread out material with a vibrating roller. After the entire area had been covered with 4 inches of material and compacted to our satisfaction. The dump truck then spread out the final 4 inch lift of our sub base material. We then used the front bucket of a rubber tire backhoe to carefully smoothed out and drag the material into a 2% slope with a crown in the middle of our arena. After watering and compacting this last lift of sub base material we were then ready for the final step.

Placing a top layer of cushion material

A layer of cushion material was then placed last on top of the sub base to finish off the area. The cushion material followed the 2% slope of the sub base for proper drainage purposes. This material was spread approximately 2 to 3 inches thick. If too much cushion material was applied the finished surface would be too soft for horses to maneuver and turn easily on. Our concern with the finished surface was primarily for the comfort, safety and performance of the horse. Cushion material that is too deep, can cause missteps, tendon strain, and other injuries. Cushion material that is deeper than 5 inches may be stressful and cause damage to a horses tendons.
We found a good cushion material at the same gravel pit, where we obtained the sub base material. This was a man-made traction sand that had a dark gray color to it and consisted of sand granules that were angular in shape. Natural sand, such as riverbed sand consists of granules that are round in shape. This natural sand is not suitable for a top surface, because the consistency of the sand allows it to roll around being too loose and unstable. Sand granules that have an angular shape to them, provide a much better surface that is more stable and will hold together, while still having a cushion and traction property to it.
We had a dump truck deliver and, spread the sand approximately 3 inches thick. Once again, we used the front bucket on the rubber tire backhoe to smooth out and drag the sand in a uniform 3 inch layer following our 2% slope. Our final step was to then water and compacted the layer of sand with a vibrating drum roller.

Page 2 how to build the arena fencing.