Building a round pen help

[Crazy4horses2]

I know it isn’t exactly the time of year to be building one but my husband and I are actually going to be building it sometime in the spring or summer.

anyway it’s going to be a 50ft round pen/corral with wooden posts and welded wire horse fence to start off, railing boards to secure the wire fence then eventually sand to complete it, but our main issue is trying to figure out how many feet of the wire fencing we will need. We were able to get a rough estimate on how many poles we would need but figuring out how many feet for the fencing has us both baffled.

if anyone can help with this I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!

[ToTheNines]

pi times the radius squared is the circumference of a circle

[mmeqcenter]

@ToTheNines

pi times the radius squared is the circumference of a circle

Close, but no.

Circumference = 2 * radius * π

Just times two, not radius squared. Or, π times the diameter (50 * π).

157 feet linear, you need 157 feet of fencing. So probably 20 posts (set @ 8 ft).

[ToTheNines]

oops sorry, pre-coffee post

[danacat]

170 ft – give or take.

Here’s a round pen calculator for panels that you can use as a guide.

​​​​​​http://www.wrightfarmgates.com/calculator.htm

[Crazy4horses2]

Thank you for the help! I really appreciate it!

[clanter]

just a note 50ft is pretty small maybe you should lay it out then look at it

[Crazy4horses2]

I’ve seen lots of debates on how big the diameter of the round pen should be. For what I will be using it for 50ft will work fine, but thank you for your input

[csaper58]

Re the pen size… keep in mind that due to their shape, the horses will work a couple feet inside of the fence. So the horses will be making 47-48 foot circle, and small circles are very hard on a horse]s joints.

Are you giving any thought to drainage and footing? Sand spread on top of native dirt often disappears quickly.

In my experience the down fall of most unsuccessful round pens is deep mucky footing that does not drain. Not sure what size horses you will be working in the pen, but if the horse trips and goes down would it be at risk of getting a foot hung in welded wire?

If you are working a horse that starts to cut up, it is nice to be able to make a quick exit from the pen. The welded wire will prevent that

Also when figuring the circumference of the pen think about your gate. You will want it big enough to get a harrow of some sort into the pen to level the footing. I would make sure what kind of tight circle your harrow can make and let that be factored into the pen size.

[Crazy4horses2]

I wouldn’t be considering the welded wire if I knew there was a possibility of my horse to get caught up in it, but using it is not set in stone yet as we still have quite a few months till the actual building starts.

Yes working horses hard in smaller spaces can be bad on their joints if done constantly. I’ve seen people do nothing but run their horses in round pens smaller then 50ft pretty much on a daily basis and you can see the strain it puts on the horse. I do not plan on using it as an arena just as an area to fix the holes in my horses training who is on the smaller side of a quarter horse, and to give basic riding lessons for my daughter later on down the road.

[csaper58]

@Crazy4horses2

I wouldn’t be considering the welded wire if I knew there was a possibility of my horse to get caught up in it, but using it is not set in stone yet as we still have quite a few months till the actual building starts.

Yes working horses hard in smaller spaces can be bad on their joints if done constantly. I’ve seen people do nothing but run their horses in round pens smaller then 50ft pretty much on a daily basis and you can see the strain it puts on the horse. I do not plan on using it as an arena just as an area to fix the holes in my horses training who is on the smaller side of a quarter horse, and to give basic riding lessons for my daughter later on down the road.

I witnessed a very bad accident when a child riding along a welded wire arena fence got a foot hung in the fence.

The child’s toes turned out as many kid’s do and the horse got too close to the fence…the child’s toe caught in the wire but the horse kept going forward. It happened so fast, no one could get there to help. The child’s knee was dislocated, and she needed surgery to repair it.

Welded wire, any wire, is very dangerous to ride next to.

[clanter]

@Crazy4horses2

I I do not plan on using it as an arena just as an area to fix the holes in my horses training who is on the smaller side of a quarter horse, and to give basic riding lessons for my daughter later on down the road.

We have Morgans, none were over 15.1h … when we built our round pen we just stayed with the standard 20 meter. Now I cannot remember actually why we built it as we rarely ever used it as a training aid… but we did use it very often when teaching young riders Being 66 ft it did flatten the curve somewhat which made it easier for young riders as the horse wasn’t bent to the curve

But it has most often been used as a separate pen away from the paddocks

However it appears you have thought the 50ft out and it evidently will fit your needs

[moving_to_dc]

@Crazy4horses2

I wouldn’t be considering the welded wire if I knew there was a possibility of my horse to get caught up in it, but using it is not set in stone yet as we still have quite a few months till the actual building starts.

I won’t use welded wire anywhere around horses. It isn’t strong enough… The gauge of wire used is flimsy, the welds are weak, it just breaks apart under any pressure and becomes a very dangerous mess that can cause horrible wire cuts.

I DO use WOVEN wire, though. Much heavier gauge of wire and is built to hold large livestock.

One thing you need to consider in your round pen plan, if you use either style of wire, is how you are going to tension it. Those styles of fencing materials NEED to be tight to be safe, to eliminate the waves and bows in them. The amount of tension you will need will be hard to achieve in a round shape. You will likely end up leaning your posts towards the center because they cannot withstand the pressure put on them. You will also need GOOD H-braces at the ends, and likely along the roundpen perimeter, or the posts will also want to lean towards the end braces under the tension.

I LOVE welded wire, but I don’t think it would be a cheap easy first choice for a round pen. If you are using wood posts all the way around, why not just use rough cut fence boards. They are generally cheap, and so easy to install compared to H-braces and tensioning fence.

[Crazy4horses2]

That’s what my husband and I were just talking about they are having a sale at the lumber yard we will be able to get the amount we need for relatively cheap and not have to use wire at all.

[js]

Consider an 80’ round pen if you have space and budget. If you do any amount of riding in it that extra little bit of room will make a huge difference. We started out with a 50’ and then built an 80’. The difference is huge and well worth the larger size. Also, the size of your horse(s) if they are taller, a bigger round pen is a necessity to lessen the strain on joints etc. and get them to travel in a more upright frame rather than leaning in because the round pen forces them into a tight circle if smaller.

At a barn we boarded at, they had a fairly large round pen (guessing it was 90’) that was 2 rail wood. Was secure enough for lunging horses and large enough for riding in.

[Equibrit]

Fencing length 157ft minus the gate width.
19 posts at 8ft apart.
18 boards 8ft long for each row
1 x 5ft gate.

If you make your circle diameter 51ft (circ 160ft) you could have posts at 8ft with an 8ft gate. Of course nothing works out exactly so you will probably have to jiggle the placement of the posts at the gate!

The more posts you use the smoother the circle will be. It’s good to have a wide board at the bottom on the ground. It stops the footing and horses feet leaving under the fence. Then all you need is a further two rows of boards, 1 @ 2.5ft, 1@ 4.5ft assuming your fence is 4.5ft tall. The larger space towards the bottom means no legs get stuck.

[Crazy4horses2]

Thank you @Equibrit for that great information! Yes I am set on a 50ft diameter round pen I don’t compete or plan to the most my horse will do is ditch bank rides.