Paddock

The saddling paddock at Belmont Park

A saddling paddock at a racetrack

In Canada and the United States of America, a paddock is a small enclosure used to keep horses. In the United Kingdom, this term has a similar meaning, and also applies to a field for a general automobile racing competition, particularly Formula 1. The most common design provides an area for exercise and is often situated near the stables. Larger paddocks may have grass maintained in them, but many are dirt or a similar natural surface. In those cases drainage and a top layer of sand are often used to keep a suitable surface in the paddock.[1]

In the American West, such an enclosure is often called a corral, and may be used to contain cattle or horses, occasionally other livestock. The word paddock is also used to describe other small, fenced areas that hold horses, such as a saddling paddock at a racetrack, the area where race horses are saddled before a horse race.

Paddock is sometimes also used for mating where one male animal is let loose in the paddock with several female animals