Schools, Arenas and Pens
See also: ArenaHorses are often exercised under human control, ridden or competed within designated fenced or enclosed places, usually called schools, pens or arenas. These can be of almost any size, provided they are sufficiently large for a horse to move freely, and can be located indoors or outdoors.
The smallest are the round pen popular with natural horsemanship practitioners, which generally start at 40 to 60 feet (12 to 18 m) in diameter. Most arenas designed to allow more than one horse and rider pair to exercise safely at the same time are rectangular in shape and at the barest minimum are 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 m) wide and at least 90 to 120 feet (27 to 37 m) long. The largest are commercial facilities designed for competitive events open to the general public with a performance space well over 150 by 300 feet (46 by 91 m)
A riding academy or riding center is a school for instruction in equestrianism, or for hiring of horses for pleasure riding. Most feature a large indoor riding area. At the time of the Napoleonic Wars large buildings were constructed for them, like Moscow Manege, Mikhailovsky and Konnogvardeisky maneges in St Petersburg.
Read more about this topic: Equestrian Facility
Famous quotes containing the word pens:
“There is no one kind of thing that we ‘perceive’ but many different kinds, the number being reducible if at all by scientific investigation and not by philosophy: pens are in many ways though not in all ways unlike rainbows, which are in many ways though not in all ways unlike after-images, which in turn are in many ways but not in all ways unlike pictures on the cinema-screen—and so on.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)