Share Ideas and Photos of your Personal Indoor Arena?

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=King’s Ransom;8926283]
Pocket Pony – how large is your arena? If you could make it bigger, would you want wider or longer or both?

Thanks![/QUOTE]

I would consider going wider and not insulate, if you are watching pennies.

Later, if you want to insulate, get that spray on foam that they spray in commercial buildings and is rated even higher than regular insulation is.

You can save a ton up front by not insulating, go there later if you really need to do so.

Go as wide as you can manage, it is worth it, shorter length now if you have to, you can add later.
A local stable has a 100’ x 100’ and left space to expand to 150’, but never needed to, they train and even have clinics there and it works for them.
Here are some ideas of arena sizes for different purposes.
You may want to look thru their web site for other ideas:

http://www.ranchandgolf.com/examplelayoutsarenas/

Here, we hardly ever have any weather from the East side, so we left that side open and we still have not had any rain or snow hardly ever get in there.
Our South side has an overhang for an aisle and overhangs, but is open now because we don’t have the stalls in there yet.
We will have a good 4’ of screens above the stalls for airflow, with screens to keep any rain or snow out.

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

I’m not sure what you ride but remember that 80’ is pretty narrow for jumps. If you’ve ever watched the WIHS at the Verizon center, you can tell it gets a little cramped. I believe it is a regulation hockey ring which is 85’ so 100’ would be ideal.

[OTTBs]

[QUOTE=King’s Ransom;8926279]
Bluey – you are so right about the skylights. Also, great tip about only on the E and N – I was going to have them on E and W, but that W side in the afternoon could be awful!

I will ask about the T5, thanks again![/QUOTE]
I went with only E side sidelights, but wish I’d done E and W. I rode in a barn with clear sidelights, the sun was awful at times. Mine are translucent, and I think doing the W side would have been fine. In the afternoon I often feel the need to turn on the lights.

[Crockpot]

We used translucent panels all the way around. No glare.
Never need lights on except at night. We did not use skylights.
To avoid the big box look you could make it look more like a barn through adding windows and cupolas.

[Bluey]

If going with side panels, try to get polycarbonate ones, that are more flexible and can stand hail hits better.
That is what they use in greenhouses today, just because of that.
It cost a bit more, but it is worth it.
Where we have those, a hail hit is a bump you can push back out, the few we have had even show up.

They are not for roof skylights, just good on the sides and not part of the structure, they don’t firm up the walls, so in fact framed for more like a window, used to close an opening, the building engineers need to know that is what will be used for light providing side panels, not structurally relevant, like other plastic panels may be.

[jdobbs64]

I love this sort of arena. Ample air flow, obviously, but the sun/rain/snow can’t beat down on you. I doubt this is popular anywhere one has real snow and real winter>

http://www.wolfgangscherzer.com/vogelsang?lightbox=image_1y2t

[jdobbs64]

[QUOTE=Arelle;8928502]
Could you do covered instead of “indoor”? (IDK where you are)

My favorite riding spaces in the winters in Texas are covered with screens for the sides. They’re open and airy but keep the majority of the weather out. My favorite ever was a smaller arena - with a viewing area situated along the entire north wall to block the wind.

Example (on a much, much larger scale): http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3555-Sauls-Rd_Aubrey_TX_76227_M70301-91532#photo13[/QUOTE]

Drool. I LOVE those screen fronted stalls. I worked in a barn where the dividing walls between stalls were solid to 4’ then screen. The airflow was fantastic, and the horses loved having neighbors they could see. If anyone was grumpy about it we could add privacy screens between them and that’s all it took.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=jdobbs64;8929163]
I love this sort of arena. Ample air flow, obviously, but the sun/rain/snow can’t beat down on you. I doubt this is popular anywhere one has real snow and real winter>

http://www.wolfgangscherzer.com/vogelsang?lightbox=image_1y2t[/QUOTE]

Here, you need to protect your footing with something on those open sides, or the rain and snow blow in there and it becomes a swamp you can’t ride in until it dries out.

You can easily affix something there to avoid that, overhangs and screens can help there.

[jdobbs64]

exactly…which is why I wrote :I doubt this is popular anywhere one has real snow and real winter.

[mellsmom]

fingers crossed

I am going to basically cover over a portion of my outdoor…so sadly about 20 feet wide of footing that will be wasted! I am hoping to do 72 x 144 or 72 x 160. They difference between 72 and 80 wide is actually pretty costly. yes, wider is better… I am only going to be able to do what I can afford and having ridden in a 60 x 120 last winter it is tiny but doable. I am doing a solid wall on my windy side but the 2’ clear plexi all the way around on all sides to let in the light. The barn door on my windy side of my barn is closed for several months a year… it’s just unbearable if it isn’t and it blows through the barn and takes all the things out into the pasture.
What is the T5 light of which you speak? I was going to do a farmtech order for lights. I had the round hetal halides in my old outdoor and hated them.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=mellsmom;8929247]
I am going to basically cover over a portion of my outdoor…so sadly about 20 feet wide of footing that will be wasted! I am hoping to do 72 x 144 or 72 x 160. They difference between 72 and 80 wide is actually pretty costly. yes, wider is better… I am only going to be able to do what I can afford and having ridden in a 60 x 120 last winter it is tiny but doable. I am doing a solid wall on my windy side but the 2’ clear plexi all the way around on all sides to let in the light. The barn door on my windy side of my barn is closed for several months a year… it’s just unbearable if it isn’t and it blows through the barn and takes all the things out into the pasture.
What is the T5 light of which you speak? I was going to do a farmtech order for lights. I had the round hetal halides in my old outdoor and hated them.[/QUOTE]

T5 come in plain four lights, like ours and the ones with cover, for very dirty and wet environments, that are not necessary around here, we are not that humid.
Those with the polycarbonate cover are way more expensive, the electrician said he didn’t see any difference in our local barns, not to go that extra expense.
It may be important somewhere else.

There are also T8, but those are very long and harder to handle.
Practically any covered arena here today has or is replacing their old ones with the four lamp T5 and have been very happy for some years with them.

[OTTBs]

[QUOTE=Bluey;8929348]
There are also T8, but those are very long and harder to handle.
[/QUOTE]T8 and T5 lights both come in 4’ length.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=OTTBs;8930185]
T8 and T5 lights both come in 4’ length.[/QUOTE]

Oh, then I misunderstood what the electrician said about them, why most arenas had the T5, not T8.

Will ask him next time I see him, he is a neighbor.

[Bluey]

I just looked at our T5 and they seem to have six little tubes in them.

They are hung a good 20’ up there, so hard to see, I was thinking they had 4 tubes?

[OTTBs]

My arena lights have 6 T5 bulbs, my aisle lights have 4 T5 bulbs–in case you were wondering if they only came one way.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=OTTBs;8930365]
My arena lights have 6 T5 bulbs, my aisle lights have 4 T5 bulbs–in case you were wondering if they only came one way.[/QUOTE]

I need to look in the overhang, maybe that is where the four bulbs went?
I assumed they were all like the ones I looked over, didn’t realize there were different ones.

[King_s_Ransom]

Found a photo on the Morton Building website that is pretty much exactly what I want: https://mortonbuildings.com/assets/media//assets/media/4349-3-960x520.jpg

If you go to this web page, go down to “Mark’s Riding Arena” and you can see more about it. Only, I don’t want stalls inside. If you take a look, I’d love your feedback. To my eye, this is a very attractive building: https://mortonbuildings.com/projects/equestrian-riding-arena

[workin_onit]

If you are in a cold climate get over head doors rather than sliders. We did a double row of clear panels on the long sides and get tons of light.