Hi; I am getting ready to build a 60 foot round pen for our horse. I am looking for 'tricks and tips' from those who have built one or have seen something interesting in one. I am going to use 10 foot 4x4's,buried 4 feet.I am going to leave room at the bottom (2 feet) for a human escape route.I will use 3 or 4 horizontal rails (not sure if I will use 1x6,probably 2x6) Any suggestions are welcome. Mike

-- ourfarm (ourfarm@nospam.com), August 07, 2001

Answers

Response to Round pen suggestions requested

How are you planning on finishing it? I see too many horse fences with peeling white paint.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), August 07, 2001.

Response to Round pen suggestions requested

probably a solid stain. I would like it to blend in as much as possible,due to its size.

-- ourfarm (ourfarm@nospam.com), August 07, 2001.

Hi Mike - I have a friend who bought the John Lyon's round pen. After the initial training, you really don't use the pen that much. I don't know the difference in what wood would cost versus a portable pen, but it might be worth looking into.

-- Dianne (willow@config.com), August 07, 2001.

Are you planning on training horses on a regular basis? We use ours as a small arena when training a horse or first teaching someone to ride. We are just putting in a regular 100'X200' outdoor arena (finally). For our round pen we used corral panels made by Priefert (these are 5ft high). They are sturdy and if you decide you don't need a round pen any more you can use the panels for pens. The cost of a 40' round pen with a gate is about $750, 50' about $950.

If you still want to go the wood route, I would use 2x6's for the rails unless you are planning on putting posts fairly close together. Our arena uses 1x6x8's because they shouldn't get hit often, but a round pen might get some abuse and you don't want the wood to break and splinter.

Personally, after having to help my husband dig and set 73 posts that it took for our arena, I wouldn't do it again. I would spend the extra money and build the arena out of corral panels and stabilize it with steel posts.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), August 08, 2001.

Hi; We have a 2 1/2 year old Quarter that has the 'genes' to be the size of a draft horse. She will probably use the round pen for a few years to come.We will eventually breed her and train her offspring.There are also 4 neighbors with 3 horses each that refuse to build pens of their own. Mike

-- ourfarm (ourfarm@nospam.com), August 08, 2001.

You asked for tips on building your pen, but didn't get many. Here's one that may help make construction a bit easier. To make my pen round without doing a lot of survey work, I made a simple "spacing" line from a piece of baling twine. I drove in a piece of pipe where I wanted the center of the pen. Put a simple overhand loop in the end of the string, and put it over the pipe. Measure 30' to where you want one of your gate posts, and tie a knot in the string at that point, then measure the distance you want between posts, and put another loop in the string, so that the end of the loop is the proper distance from the knot. I used 10 feet for mine. When you have installed the first post, place the second loop over it, then grasp the knot and pull it to where both segments are tight. This will be the location for your second post. After it is in, repeat the process, using the second post to locate the third, etc. When you get all the way around, the pen will be perfectly round, and evenly spaced, and whatever space is left can be filled with a gate, built to fit. I used 8' posts buried to 2 feet and it is plenty sturdy. That will save you a few bucks and a lot of work. Good luck!

-- Dan G. (stagecoach@hotmail.com), August 14, 2001.

Hi Mike. You might consider using cattle panels between your posts. They are about four and a half feet high by sixteen feet long. Made of quarter-inch welded rods. Premium grade costs $18.50 each in central Minnesota. You will need twelve for your pen - the farm store will deliver them. They do not rust; it is possible to bend them, but it's not very easy. Sandy

-- Sandy in MN (onestonefarm@hotmail.com), August 14, 2001.

I wouldn't suggest cattle panels. We made a round pen out of them to see how we liked it and had more wrecks than is believable. If they are to close to the ground the horses will get there hooves (expecially the back ones) caught in them when they corner. Also if they get scared or spooked they will try to jump it probably because they can see through it every where and figure it will come down. I would never make a pen for a green horse out of cattle panels again even if its just a trail pen.

I made a breaking round pen which is different then your standard one. I made it with 6" x 6" round posts every six feet, 2" x 6" home sawed boards (on sections I though would get hit more I used 2" x 8") I started them 18" of the ground so I could roll out if anything went wrong from there they are 12" apart going up 6'. Although I think I am going to take the boards off and cross them for extra support. I used a gray stain that is not quiet a solid stain because I have found that the solid stains peel just as bad as paint. I also have a 6' x 3.5' shoot coming off of mine.

-- Montana Storm (storm@rconnect.com), August 25, 2001.

I agree about not using cattle panels. Our first round pen was made of those also and only lasted a year and got bent up terribly.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), August 25, 2001.

Thank you for your replys.

-- ourfarm (ourfarm@nospam.com), August 27, 2001.

Sorry for the spelling error. Thank you for the replies.

-- ourfarm (ourfarm@nospam.com), August 27, 2001.