Drawing a Shape on the Course Plan
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Most competition arenas are rectangles, but schooling tracks often follow loops, dog-legs, or partial perimeters. YardForge supports several ways to draw the shape of the ridden line rather than only straight chords.
Custom arena outline
For non-rectangular rings, open the Arena panel in the designer and choose a boundary preset (L-shape, cut corner, or ellipse) or draw a custom polygon corner by corner. Validation and grid snapping respect the usable interior so fences stay inside the fence line. Shapes stay with the course when you clear fences.
You can also open Project → Arena size… to set the bounding width × length first.
Curving the ridden path
- Connect fences so a course track exists (path legs show between numbered obstacles).
- Select a path bend (or add a control point on a leg) and drag it to bow the stride path.
- On long legs, add extra control points for sweeping loops — stride labels follow the curved foot path, not the straight chord.
Project → Display options… controls path chrome, labels, and related view toggles. View covers grid, school circles, zoom, and side panel.
Trot-pole arcs
For schooling layouts, place a trot-pole / poles obstacle and use the arc handles to bend a pole fan around a corner — see polework exercises for training examples.
