# What is the size of your round pen



## wvgal61 (Jul 5, 2010)

How big is your round pen?


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## lupinfarm (Jul 5, 2010)

Mine is a 50ft metal roundpen.


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## michickenwrangler (Jul 5, 2010)

I don't have one, but I worked horses at one with a 30' diameter (wayyy too small) and the ranch I worked at had a 60' diameter, solid wood walls. Nice for young horses, but not for ornery one-eyed Appaloosas who would charge you


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## wvgal61 (Jul 5, 2010)

So what would be a good size to make?


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## lupinfarm (Jul 5, 2010)

IMO, Anywhere between 50ft and 60ft. If you can go bigger, do it!


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## patandchickens (Jul 6, 2010)

wvgal61 said:
			
		

> So what would be a good size to make?


Totally depends what you want to do with it.

For most peoples' purposes, don't go smaller than 60' diameter -- that will let you work the unmounted horse at all gaits; ridden, you can work nearly all horses at the trot and reasonably balanced horses at the canter/lope, and have room to reverse at a trot or very balanced slow lope. If you have a large or unbalanced or wants-to-to-fast type horse, 80' (by which time it is more of a small ring than a roundpen, so it is easier to make with straight rather than curved sides) is honestly better to work in.

For just unmounted walk/trot work, or for use as a tiny turnout pen, or other less-usual purposes like that, down to 30' is okay -- but you can't do much else in that size. 

Pat


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## the funny farm6615 (Jul 6, 2010)

i had a 40 foot store bought metal round pen, and the filly i was working with, the first thing she would do when turned loose to be worked, was lay down and roll in the sand. till one day she rolled too close to the panel and when she tried to get up somehow she got her hind leg cought betwen the bottom two bars, and almost broke her leg.

now i have a 40 foot homemade round pen. we made our pen with 5 inch posts (12 of them) every10 foot, and 10 foot long 2X6 at 2, 4, and 6 feet high. it is pritty solid, havent had anyone go threw it yet. we do ground work and start yong horses in it, and we ride new horses in it. 

a friend down the road is a trainer and he has a square pen with 8-9 foot tall solid sides and is 50 foot square. he is a wonder with a mule or donkey!!


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## Trail rider (Jul 6, 2010)

60' for mine.  I wouldn't go any smaller or bigger for training.   The 60' will keep you in control while ground working, but a safe distance that 30' won't allow.  Once your more into the riding phase, I'd do more of a arena size 100' X whateverbyou can do.


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## ducks4you (Jul 6, 2010)

Mine isn't round.  It's a rectangle--55 ft x 65 ft.  I originally created it for a large garden--pretty duh moment--then got my fence people to include it when we re-fenced in 2008.  The more I use it, the more I like it.  It's big enough to canter it, it makes a nice newhorse turnout, and I put them in there after a hard workout, to relax for an hour before they take a drink.


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## adoptedbyachicken (Jul 6, 2010)

I tend to agree with 60 feet.  I did 70 for the one here as I had the room and 2 things I have noticed since.  One, I'm getting more exercise.  This is not necessarily a bad thing    however if your working a few colts in a day it's not good to have to move that much.  A defiant moment in a horse and they can feel far enough away from you to make you move in unless your really good at throwing a rope toward them.  The good side is I got better at directing a rope here.  Two is that for the first time ever a horse has felt they had a good enough approach to try jumping out after cutting a diagonal.  This is a wood fence and low compared to others I have built and worked in though so I'd have to say it a combination of the 2 measurements.  It has changed the way I present some work to horses and that too is not a bad thing.

My previous were 50 and 60 feet and I'd have to say for all purpose 60 was my favorite.  50 is good for starting and all ground work but the horse often feels in close enough to you that they just do rather than make a choice so once out in a bigger area you might find them not as good at free work as you thought.  Depends on your goals.


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## goodhors (Jul 6, 2010)

We have a 60ft round pen, wooden 4 board sides on railroad tie posts.  It is a SOLID built pen, for the horse who doesn't want to listen.  Sides up about 5ft 8 inches. 

In all the reading on training, 60ft is the recommended size.  As already said, allows horse to move out, but keeps bending them around.  I would not want a square pen for doing ground work, horse has too many choices with corners!

We use a long stick whip, with long lash for those moments when you need to "push" the issue or horse is ignoring you.  These are not the purchased Lunging whips, those things are both awkward to carry and heavy on your hands and wrists, lash is NEVER long enough to reach the horse! Our light whip, with the VERY long light lash is quite handy, goes exactly where you want it going. Lots easier than throwing ropes, and the finished horses here will be seeing whips when driven.  Just another tool they get used to, not abusing anyone.

We find we don't use the round pen a great deal, just at certain stages of the training.  Then on to other places.  If you keep using the round pen, horse does not advance the way we want them to.


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## ducks4you (Jul 7, 2010)

I didn't think that my rectangular training area would be easy to work in, but I find that I can do a lot in it.  I like that I can work either on perfecting turns through circles or on getting my horse to track correctly all of the way around.  I can school a correct "teardrop" change of direction, or a figure-eight, or a spiral, or lateral movement in little chunks, and thus develop musculature.  I can even get my 16'2hh KMH to canter in it, and since he's still learning canter cues, it's preferably to letting him decide to break in a larger area without a cue, or speed up his amble.
I can also do serpentines in it and use my corners to reinforce turns on the haunches and turns on the forehand. I can cue for transitions using the corners to cue or to half-halt before the turn, or to use fenceposts as markers.
I have taught lessons in round pens, and I find that they can be limiting unless they are very large.
The BEST use I have at the moment is to get my 4 year old geldings to stand still while mounting.  Although I can mount a tall horse from the ground, my tall colt has had some issues and we are retraining him to stand still while mounting and to stand while we use a mounting block.  A circular pen has NO corners to help me with this.
Just some thoughts.


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