# Help me plan a Round Pen.....best size? Footing?



## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Hi guys!

I have been trying to plan a round pen for my horses. I have had horses for close to 20 years and NEVER had a round pen. But I'm always just bought broke trail horses and rode them out from the house. I have a 3 yr old now and there are times when he's been out of work for a week or two and I really need a place to warm him up, either with ground work or riding.

And then there are things I would like to practice with him, like giving to the bit, cantering and such, that is harder to practice out on the trail, especially when riding with other people. And in the winter when things turn into a mud bog, well, it would be nice to still be able to do a bit of work with my horses. 

So, I am wondering what the best footing would be and the best size for a round pen? 

We have clay soil and the natural footing turns very slick when wet. So I need something to cover up that clay. I have a friend who uses cinder-sand, so I could probably go with that, but I don't know if that is the best option.

As for size, the pen I have been using as a "round pen" is only about 37 feet across. It's really pretty small. What would be the minimum size you guys would recommend for round penning and a little riding? Not major riding, but warm-ups and such before hitting the trail? Would 40 foot be okay? We are kind of limited on space so that's why I am looking for a minimum size.

Cookies and carrots if you read all this have some suggestions!


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I can't really help you with footing as I've always just used whatever the ground was underneath (our ground is really sandy). As for size, yes a 40 footer would be okay for light warmups and some ground work. If you were wanting to do any real amount of riding in there, especially loping, I'd look at something at least 60'.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

My round pens have always been 55 ft, and I would have preferred 60 ft for cantering. But they were immovable, since they were welded, concreted pipe, with vertical 2 X 6's bolted on. 

Be careful putting sand on top of clay. It may just slide across. I would use organic matter that will mix in and improve the structure of the clay. 

Nancy


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

You can built a temporary pen that is easily moved with push-in rods and electric fence ribbon. If the horse has ever been behind electric fencing it will respect it. They do know when it's not on but are reluctant to test it.


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## Red Gate Farm (Aug 28, 2011)

60' is the best for all types of work. I wouldn't go below 50'. I have a 50' one and I won't canter in it.

Try and make the gate the type you can open and close from the saddle, this way you can practice that manoeuvre too 

Footing needs to be something that gives (not rock hard) and won't slip. If you have clay, mix sand in with it and really get down there when you mix. You don't want the horse slipping and falling.

If you go with boards, they go on the inside of the posts. This way you don't knock your knees on the posts. That hurts! I angle mine slightly outward off the plum as well, which keeps the top portion of the fence (where your leg is when you ride) canted away from you. Again, you don't get your knee knocked so much.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

For my perfect round pen, 60 ft would be it. I'm making do with about 52 ft now until I can afford another panel. I believe you will be able to work with 40 ft if space is a concern - you'd be essentially only able to do walk and trot as that size would be a bit limiting to the green horse just learning to do the canter gaits. 

Are you increasing your 37 ft space or creating a new 40 ft space? If you have the existing 37 ft space, is it possible to increase it to, say, 50 ft or more? Perhaps it becomes a dual purpose space - corral and round pen. Also, if it is not completely round (perhaps on the oblong side), that may help overcome the space limitation.

The footing I have is just grass. I don't think it's the best footing for dealing with a particularly fractious horse but isn't bad for working a quiet natured horse. I wonder if you work your clay up on the surface (not deeply because of drainage) and add manure to it (should be plentiful and free, right?) if you'd be able to create a cushioned surface that has enough traction (once you start this, you'd have to constantly maintain and add manure as necessary)?


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Chevaux said:


> For my perfect round pen, 60 ft would be it. I'm making do with about 52 ft now until I can afford another panel. I believe you will be able to work with 40 ft if space is a concern - you'd be essentially only able to do walk and trot as that size would be a bit limiting to the green horse just learning to do the canter gaits.
> 
> Are you increasing your 37 ft space or creating a new 40 ft space? If you have the existing 37 ft space, is it possible to increase it to, say, 50 ft or more? Perhaps it becomes a dual purpose space - corral and round pen. Also, if it is not completely round (perhaps on the oblong side), that may help overcome the space limitation.
> 
> The footing I have is just grass. I don't think it's the best footing for dealing with a particularly fractious horse but isn't bad for working a quiet natured horse. I wonder if you work your clay up on the surface (not deeply because of drainage) and add manure to it (should be plentiful and free, right?) if you'd be able to create a cushioned surface that has enough traction (once you start this, you'd have to constantly maintain and add manure as necessary)?


Thanks everyone! I'm undecided if I am going to use my existing 37' across pen and just level it and add footing, or build a separate round pen behind the barn. Either way, we live on a hill and I am going to have to hire someone with a tractor to get the ground level. We have so many trees that it makes it hard to put anything in without destroying trees. And both of the places I am looking at putting my round pen have run-off. :-( So we are thinking of getting some fill dirt and then a top layer of footing. 

Chevaux, I have actually been adding manure to the existing pen and it works fine as long as the weather is dry. And it give me a place to spread manure :lol:, but when the weather is wet it traps all the moisture in the slick clay and the pen is unusable for what seems like forever. In other words, the manure keeps the clay from drying out. And the clay is so slick, if I even lead a horse in there their feet start sliding. :evil:

So it seems like I need at least 50 feet, and even that is small for cantering. So it looks like we may need to knock out some trees. Hmm.

Oh, and I would love it to be a dual purpose space, but I worry that if I add some type of sand for the footing, either regular sand or cinder-sand, then the horses can injest it when they eat. And I don't want to worry about sand colic. (I do feed from feeders, but the horses are always knocking their hay out). I have a friend who uses cinder-sand and never had an issue, but another person I talked to had a horse colic and die from eating too much cinder-sand. So it's kind of hard to know what to do.....a separate round pen would be "safer" but it would also cost twice as much money because I would have to buy all new corral panels. That is what I plan on doing for fencing....buying corral panels that hook together, or use the existing ones that I have if I convert one of my current pens into a round pen.

Hey, how are you guys measuring your round pen, when you say 60' for instance? I am measuring across from one end to the other, the diameter. So my current pen is 37' across. It is made up of 9 panels, some are 12' and some are 16'. 

Should I just be counting the total length of the panels, or the diameter of the circle?


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Too bad about the manure idea. I use pi (3.14) x diameter to get the outside measurement. So for a 50 ft pen you would need about 156 running ft of rails/panels/etc. My pen, by the way, is made out of portable corral panels (10 ft long x 5 ft high) plus a 3 ft gate panel. I believe I paid about $65 each for them. I think it's a good investment as they'll last forever, they can be taken down quickly, moved and reconfigured if needed.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I have a 50' round pen and we lope in it no problem....


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