On my farm, I have a nice grassy area.  It is not flat it has a bit of a slope to it, but it works well for me.  We smoothed out the area last year and planted fresh grass.  Now, I decided my nice grassy area needed a dressage arena.  It was also getting very difficult to practice head to the rail leg yields, when you have no rail.  Those imaginary rails just don’t quite stand up to the real ones!    I began my dressage arena search and became very disappointed very quickly.  Dressage areas are expensive we are talking $1,500 – 2,000 easy for an arena.  Some even go up to $6,000.  Whoa, I just need a chain and white posts.  How can I do that for less?  This is what I did  and it turned out pretty good.  There were a few things I would do differently I will make sure to clue you in on that as well.

Steps to your own affordable dressage arena – Elizabeth’s Way !

1.  Choose a fairly flat area for your arena.  Measure the area so you are sure the dressage arena will fit in the area.  Dressage arenas are quite long and take a larger space then you would think they do.  A standard arena is 20 mX 60 m and a small arena is 20 mX40 m.  Most American measuring devices are in feet not meters so you will probably have to convert everything into feet.  Make sure you continually do this with the entire ring.  It will drive you a bit crazy because everything ends up a strange decimal number.  Here are the converted numbers standard arena 65.6 ft X 196.8 ft the small arena is 65.6 ft X 131.2 ft (hint: 1 meter = 3.28 ft)

PVC chain and step-in posts are inexpensive and safe to use

2.  Select materials to construct dressage arena with.  I went round and round on this and tried all kinds of scenarios of arena set ups.  I thought about just doing corners and a few sections along the sides with PVC pipe and buckets or cinder blocks.  Plain old PVC pipe tends to add up in cost as well.  I found a great price on plastic chain.  I bought mine from www.crowdcontrolstore.com.   It takes approximately 525 feet of chain to go around the entire arena.  Now the entrance at A has a gap so you save some chain there, but you also have to plan for droop in the chain.  I bought the 500 ft. box of chain and 25 extra ft of chain.  I also picked up two of the links that unscrew so you can attach the chain together.  I used 1 1/2 ” chain (6 mm) and I was happy with the size of it.  I would say I wouldn’ t go any smaller. To hold the chain, I selected the plastic step in posts used for electric fencing.  They are fairly affordable and can come in white to match the arena. They are also made of plastic and will break if you attempt to land on one.  Safety was also a key feature in my area planning!

3.  Begin laying out arena with one short side.  I have a gazebo that I wanted the short side at C centered on. I kept it perpendicular to the gazebo by measuring diagonally to the gazebo and making adjustments if needed.   Next, I set the two end corners at on the short side of  C.  Note:  Here is where I messed up!  I used a measuring wheel to lay out my arena.  I do not recommend a measuring wheel.  You need to use a long measuring tape.  Any type of uneven ground can affect the measuring wheel and I had to adjust my arena later because the wheel had the arena off.  I found that out later when I laid out the letters and boy was I not happy!

4. Attempt to lay out short side posts evenly placed.  I had my posts about 10 feet apart.  I tried to eyeball the posts and couldn’t believe how far off they were from each other.  So, what did I do?  I went and got my husband who built fence for three years of his life and can eyeball anything and tell if it is 1/4 of an inch off.    He comes in handy whenever, I need something straight.  Yeah… he probably keeps me pretty straight too!  I talked him into helping after he saw my line of posts and decided he couldn’t stand to look out at our yard at my “straight ” line . What could you do if you are not blessed with a husband with good eyes?  I would stretch a string out from corner to corner, measure your posts out evenly and put them in the ground right beside the string to make sure your posts are straight.

5.  Lay out the other two corners of the arena.  The tricky part is keeping your corners at 90 degree angles to your other corners.   You can use the triangle theory to keep your corners straight.  Here is the triangle pattern  .   Can you remember it’s name ? That’s right the Pythagorean Theorem. Oh my goodness, we may actually use what we learned in high school geometry after all.  My teacher would be so proud! I will admit I called upon my husband’s talent a bit here as well.  Plus he knew he couldn’t trust me with putting in straight lines and we had three more to go.

6.  Hang the chain. At this point I got the… “Now  it’s your turn do your girlie decorative magic” look from my husband and he was off to do something more “productive.”  What is more productive than building a dressage area?? Well OK… actually riding it it would be.   Hanging the chain was a bit tricky to get the droop even on each post.  Then I came up with a system and it got much easier and turned out great.   I tightened the chain so it was snug and straight  and then moved it back one link and attached to the post. This put even tension and droop on each post.   I did that for all 52 posts.

Inexpensive letters can be created with your computer printer and laminating sheets

7. Add letters.  I went cheap on my letters and just laminated letters I printed out large on a standard sheet of paper.  I attached the letters to more white step in posts to match the rest of the arena.  I attached the letters by using a hole puncher and zip ties.  They came out pretty good, although I’m not sure of the longevity of  the letters.  I’m sure nice plastic vinyl letters would do better.   Note: when you attach the letters to the posts attach them on the flat side of the post, not the side with the hooks.  I used the hooks to hold the zip ties in place though. Next, lay out the letters  here is the sequence I used and I used a measuring tape this time.   A and C are placed  32.8 ft from the corner.  H,M,F, K are placed 19.7 ft from the corner post on the long side.  B and E are placed 98.4 ft from the corner posts along the long side.  R,S,V,P are set on either side of B and E, 39.4 ft from B and E.

Wahhhla… Congratulations you now have a dressage arena!  Total cost approximately – $400.00

My completed dressage arena. Time to ride!!

What would I do differently?

The biggest problem with this arena is the height of the posts.  The step in posts for electric fence come in a standard 4 ft height.  The problem with this is if you ride right along the rail, as you are supposed to in dressage, your feet may hit the posts.  Now my mare is 16 hands, if you have a enormous 18 hand horse, this may not be a problem for you!   I will probably end up going back and cutting the top of the posts shorter to fix this.  Don’t use a measuring wheel unless you have very flat smooth ground.  Don’t try to eyeball anything unless you have a talent for it.  It is amazing how crooked your eyes can make things!

I hope you find this article helpful.  I love my new arena.  It has been great to use practicing at home.  If anyone has any other ideas for homemade dressage arenas, please feel free to post a comment.  I went on a search to find suggestions before I built my arena and I was disappointed in the few ideas I could find.

Today, I was doing some research on dressage ring dimensions and the placement of letters.  A question popped into my head that I pondered and then realized I really didn’t know the answer to. “Where exactly did the dressage letters come from?”   The letters don’t follow the alphabet. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to them.  I decided I would take of the task to research the origin of dressage letters for my knowledge and yours.

Dressage arena letters mark where movements may occur

What did I find out?  No one actually knows for sure where the letters came from.  Humph… I thought to myself “well this was a waste of time.”  Actually, I did come across some interesting theories to the dressage letter mystery.  Possibly you have heard your own theories or ideas.  Please feel free to share.

This information was obtained at http://www.enlightenedequitation.com/ee/boards/index.php?topic=35694.0written by Peter Connelly

THEORY 1 – “My Kingdom for a Horse!”

Markings found on the walls of the Royal Manstall (Stables) of the Imperial German Court in Berlin (prior to 1918) suggest that they indicated where each courtier or rider’s horse was to stand awaiting their riders. The Manstallstabled 300 of the Kaiser’s horses. The ‘Hof’ ( stable yard) was large enough for the horses and their riders to parade for ‘morning exercise’ or assemble for ceremonial parades. The ‘Hof’ was three times longer than the width, namely: 20m x 60m.

The markings on the walls of the Manstall were:
A                Ausgang                      (Exit).
K                Kaiser                           (Emperor).
F                 Fürst                             (Prince).
P                 Pferknecht                   (Ostler or Groom).
V                Vassal                            (Servant/Squire/Equerry).
E                 Edeling/ Ehrengast   (Chieftain or Honoured Guest).
B                 Bannertrager              (Standard Bearer).
S                 Schzkanzler                 (Chancellor of the Exchequer).
R                 Ritter                             (Knight).
M                Meier                             (Steward).
H                 Hofsmarshall              (Lord Chancellor).

Theory 2 – “I Knew It Must Have Been Something Involving Germany!”

A Standard Dressage Arena

The German Cavalry is also credited with establishing the letters. The space between the stable blocks in many German Cavalry barracks were measured 20m x 60m. This space was further used for assembly and ‘morning exercise’ and it is not unreasonable to think that the Cavalry would adopt similar markings as used in the Kaiser’s Manstall. However, the German Cavalry Manual,(HDV12, Reitvorschrift (R.B.) 1882, revised 1912 and 1937) shows a diagram of the Reit Bahn (indoor school) as 40m x 20m. With markings A B C D in the four corners and E F on the half school line. These  markings were to indicate school figures for the training of riders and not for competition.

As the Cavalry Officers wished to compete with others, the 60m x 20m arenas became the standard size for Dressage competitions for the Olympics in 1932. The early rationale for competition was to use the marking in the long arenas where movements are to be performed in a prescribed series according to a laid down set of tests. These were to demonstrate their skills  as riders, prove the progressive training methods and the natural athletic ability and willingness of their horse to perform the required movements in a relaxed  and effortless manner. Initially, the tests comprised movements required for
military mounted combat to test the courage, calmness and obedience of their mount.  These consisted of collected and extended gaits, turning on the hocks, rein‐back and perform four flying changes on a straight line. They were also required to jump over five small obstacles, one of which was a barrel rolled towards the oncoming horse.

Up to 1952 only Commissioned Officers were allowed to compete at Olympic Levels; Civilians, including female riders could not compete at this level of Dressage. Following the disqualification of the Swedish Dressage team (1948) because one of the winning team was an Non Commissioned Officer, the rules were changed to include Civilian riders and female riders.

The Art of Dressage Comments -

I found the ideas interesting and also the thought of how things can evolve over time to become something we know today.  I would love to jump back into time to see the King’s barn with 300 horses.  Whew… that is a lot of feed!  I would also like to see those German Calvary men perform the test where they have to jump a barrel rolling towards them.  I can just see the reaction on my horse’s face.  Possibly you have heard your own theories.  I find folklore fascinating and enjoy the challenge of  trying to find the fact in between the lines of fiction.