I’ve begin planning the construction of the barn on our property, and after going back and forth, have decided that I want an indoor arena attached. The barn will be 36x36 and I’d like the arena to be at least 80x180. Here’s the catch: The entire property is 3.04 acres, the county requires that we have one FENCED acre per horse, we are allowed to have 2 horses, so we need two fenced acres. I’m pretty sure the barn/indoor must be outside that two fenced acre requirement, so I need the structure to have the smallest footprint possible. I’d love to see some pics of your barns with arenas attached to give me some ideas for the layout.
For smallest footprint, I think you may have to do your stalls down a side of the arena. You can still fully enclose the arena part for dust control on the stall side.
Sorry, I am not able to attach pics (technically inept) - but I have a 36X36 pole barn attached to a 60X120 indoor.
The barn opens to fenced paddock, that in turn opens to pastures on both sides.
Fencing surrounds the barn & paddock - total acreage including pastures is approx. 3+ac.
In hindsight, I wish I had configured the pasture fencing to include the perimeter of the indoor, surrounding both structures.
Check to see if that would that satisfy your fencing restriction.
Like this one?
http://www.dcbuilding.com/specialty/barns/covered-riding-arenas/
You may have stalls along one long side, a short side or a combination around a corner.
You can also have the stall part be a T to the arena.
With a 36’x36’ barn and 80’x180’ indoor you will have 2.68acres left after just the foot print of those two structures.
Does this property have public sewers or are you going to have to accommodate a septic system too? Where are you planning on putting the house? Are there set back requirements for any of the buildings or the fencing?
OT but why such a small barn and such a huge indoor? Once you go over 65’ in width the price goes up substantially. I’m guessing you must have a big budget if you are looking at that size on an indoor; however, why not invest a bit more into a slightly bigger barn so you have a decent size tack room, groom/wash stall etc. Our old barn was 36x36 and it was decent; however, our new barn is 36x48 and its a huge amount of difference.
Thanks for the ideas and pictures! Our land is a perfect rectangle, long and skinny. We pushed the house and septic to the very front of the property so that we were left with a little over 2 1/2 acres for the horses. If I use around 1/2 acre for the barn and indoor, that should leave me with the 2 fenced acres the county requires. There is no setback line for the fencing.
JS - Good question, but I can only have two horses at home, so the barn will only have two stalls. This leaves me space for a tack room, feed room, shavings storage, and a wash rack. I’m not positive that we will be able to do 80’ wide, but I’m hoping that will work because I’d like the arena big enough to set small courses.
I would rather have the 80’ (or as close as I can) and a little shorter than give up width–assuming money isn’t an issue with one vs. the other.
I’m also wondering, would it make more sense from a property standpoint to go long and skinny with the barn? Like along the arena on any one side?
Pretty kick ass for 2 horses! 
At least you won’t be tempted to collect horses - ask me how I know!
My neighbor has an indoor that I think is 75" wide which was as big as he could go without the major jump in price.
Our 36 x 36 barn is plenty big and we have 4 horses.
My b/o put up a 120 x 200’ steel building comprising a 80 x 200’ indoor and a barn that runs down one long side, so it is 40 X 200’. Huge is the way most people describe it. If you have to compromise on the indoor, cut down the length, not the width. We have hay stored at one end, so most of time we are working with something along the lines of 150-175’ depending on the season. That still seems to be plenty of room.
The “barn” contains a heated office, heated classroom and heated bathroom, grain room, utility room, 2 tack rooms (barn and boarders), and 19 stalls. In addition to hay storage in the indoor, small bales are stacked above the rooms in the barn. She also recently put in 16 tack lockers.
We are all very spoiled…
At the tail end of the video that is under my tagline for “Argosy” is a good view of my barn/arena layout. The stalls run down one side. It’s so convenient have the indoor attached. The feed room and upstairs office view the indoor, which is a plus.
Just scroll through the video toward the end. Hope that helps.
