I’m in Atlanta and have been in both covered, indoors, and partial arenas here. My preference is for the covered. They are great in the summer as it keeps you out of the direct sunlight while still allowing a breeze. While it does get a little cold and windy in the winter, if you show year round it will be to your benefit to get used to the wind and cold because the shows here don’t generally have covered for all the classes. It helps keep you and your horse prepared for the elements and the ever changing weather here. We use quarter sheets on the clipped horses to keep them warm on the cooler days, which works nicely. You may have a few days where the footing is hard due to the weather (depending on how you maintain it and if its wet before a temperature drop), but overall the covered arenas are great all-year around arenas in GA. For the covered, I do recommend a solid wall vs post and rail or that you make sure that you have no trees in the area, as leaves will always try to find their way into your ring.
I’ve been in one in GA barn that had an indoor. It had insulated walls and stayed in the 50’s through the winter, and thanks to the insulated ceiling and walls it was also cool in the summer, But, indoors are more expensive and the insulation does increase the cost, so you may find that for the same price you can get a larger covered than an indoor, or that you could save some money. For me, it was overkill for GA as it really only gets super cold a few days a year. I’m not claustrophobic but in comparison to the covered, it felt really closed in. Also, the insulation was really dirty and seemed like it would be hard to clean.
The hybrid arena was interesting. It had walls on two sides and higher half-walls on the other. My issue with high walls (and indoors in general) is that it nicely insulates the horse from everything that is happening outside of the arena. When you get to the show, there is no wall between you and the outside of the ring, and suddenly the horse is exposed to distractions which are even more pronounced as they are used to a solid wall blocking them from the outside. In the summer, it didn’t allow for the wind to pass through and on colder days it wasn’t enough to make a difference.
But…
If money was no object, I would create a large indoor and have multiple garage style doors that could be raised or lowered depending on my mood that day. And if I had all the money in the world, the barn would be heated so I didn’t need to worry about insulation. Regardless of whether it’s an indoor or not, I would add Big Ass Fans for airflow.
