There’s a 20 yo mare at the barn who I’m trying to very slowly get in shape for her owner so they can start doing some light work with her, she’s sound and very willing to work but has been sitting at pasture for a while. We have a 70’ roundpen and I was thinking about having her do walk/trot in both directions for a set amount of time, over a few weeks. Would the repetitive circling put too much stress on her? Would it be okay to just walk her in it? I don’t want to just hop on her and expect her to be fit enough to carry me without straining herself. What do you guys suggest I do to condition her in a way that would minimize stress on her physically? Thanks! 
My Opinion. YES, it’s hard on the hocks, stifles and bodies in general especially on a 20 yr. old pasture ornament.
Even on young horses, too much round penning is discouraged as I’ve seen many horses sored from it.
Walking in hand is fine to start. Straight lines only for awhile. Take it easy due to her age.
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A better way to get an out-of-shape & older horse into shape is to take them on trail rides around the property. Easier on their joints, too.
I’m not against round-penning but it’s my experience it’s only beneficial when used sparingly. I rarely see it used sparingly.
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THIS ^^^
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Both roundpenning and longeing are hard on the joints of horses and are not good ways to increase fitness. If the horse is sound, broke, and you have a saddle that fits I agree that trail riding at a marching walk is the best thing for fitness. Maybe start at 20 minutes brisk walk and build up from there.
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.I have a slightly different opinion —the added weight of the rider/equipment would (in my opinion) off set any advantage to riding has over round pen. You said walk, trot —I’d say round pen is better than riding at this point. Best option might be pony-ing from another horse. However, and this is just my opinion, I’d start slow, walking, then add a pleasant trot --always keeping horse’s BPM (heart rate and breaths per minute) checked --and how long recovery takes (lots on the www about that). Then if it were my horse (and I’m sure someone’s going to blast me here) after I had the horse working quietly and recovery was within normal limits, I’d put on the saddle and side reins --loosely. See if you can encourage the horse to use her back --gentle walking, moderate side reins and of course ground work (standing still, backing in hand, loading, etc) will set this horse up for success. FYI I never round pen for more than 20 min --but if necessary, might do it twice a day. Anyway, that’s what I’d do (and have done with getting 4-H horses of that age ready for showing in the spring). And yes, I know granny should not be working the project animal for 4-H but grand kid was in boarding school and spent summers showing the horse with me.
The diameter of the round pen would have a significant impact on how much strain is exerted, as would the size of the horse and its stride length. Also, whether the trainer has the horse do exercises like rollbacks.
One of the things I like about Tristan Tucker’s groundwork–which is with big WBs–is that he does it in-hand, without a RP (at least in the videos I’ve seen) but gets the desired relaxation, attentiveness, etc. responses.
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Personally I would NEVER get involved in this situation. How is the owner going to have time later if they do not now?? Why take the “responsibility” if the horse experiences some soreness or worse? IF it was MY horse I would start by walks around the property, then long line around the property throwing some poles in as appropriate to help build up core and back muscles which should be of greater concern that “cardio” fitness. Riding around slow, steady and straight would be my goal…IF it were MY horse. I am not trying to bash you, just STRONGLY caution you. Best of luck.
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If you’re going to run a full sized horse in a 25 foot round pen then, YES it’s going to be hard on the horse. Sensible work in 70 foot round pen with an otherwise healthy horse carries no realistic threat of injury of any kind.
Work should be mostly at the walk, a few circuit at the trot, and maybe one or two in each direction at the canter to begin. And even there you watch the horse and see how they are taking it. If the horse is out of shape then the first few sessions would be walk only. Then add a circuit or two at the trot, and no canter for at least a couple of weeks. As in so many training exercises you WATCH the horse. If you push the horse into a gait that shows an anomaly then BACK OFF and see what’s going on. But if the horse is moving easily and correctly then adding a bit of “challenge” to the process is perfectly OK.
Personally, I use the round pen (and/or longe line) for teaching new things or, in the case of my red-headed gelding, helping him understand that it’s time to work and pay attention to me, not lollygag around or skylark and pay attention to everything BUT me! 
I’m not a fan of using it to “leg up” a horse. IMO saddle work is better for that as you can feel the horse better and assess better what the horse needs; or doesn’t.
The round pen has been part of classical horse training in many cultures for at least several hundred years (and maybe a lot more). Done intelligently it benefits horse and rider. Done foolishly it can cripple both. Be wise!
G.
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Also since OP says elsewhere her parents are selling her “heart horse” because she doesn’t have time to do her schoolwork and ride, I wonder about priorities here.
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OP is self described intermediate teen so I wouldn’t want her playing with side reins.
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹A 70 foot round pen is basically a 20 metre circle which is also a standard longe circle. You wouldn’t want to ride a 20 metre circle for a long time!
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I would not really call 70’ a round pen to do free work on.
Most of those are considered 60’ and under.
A 70’ pen is almost small arena sized and the same caveats apply.
You don’t have to ride along a wall in that like you do in a small round pen and you can turn and go a few more strides than just in a short circle.
Do light work there, easy on the turning and go on outside as often as possible.
For conditioning a previous long time pasture ornament, I like all those recommendations of long and low, riding outside with much walk and adding trot sets eventually.
Let the horse determine how fast or slow to proceed.
If you want to minimize physical stress while focusing on conditioning, start out doing low-impact rides on the flat, all at the walk. Make sure it’s a marching, forward, 5-7mph walk. You’d be shocked at how much fitness you can add to a horse after a couple months of doing this.
Roundpenning was never meant to be used to increase fitness - it’s a tool, like anything else we use to teach our horses. People have evolved them for their own purposes but historically they were designed to be used for starting horses - it gives the rider the freedom to just let the horse move out because there are no corners to worry about and the smaller space means less chance the horse can take off at a good clip or go to really bronc’ing as they learn to carry a rider. They are also excellent for teaching horses to focus inward, as one does when you work a horse at liberty.
But they are not ideal for conditioning. You’d be better off in the saddle for that.
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OH good catch Scribbler!!!
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Also, be sure to change directions, gently and often. One of the dangers is repetitive stress injuries, which come on gradually enough that many don’t even notice that the horse is startinng to break down until the permanent damage is already done. It’s easy to say that there’s no danger, but given the number of lame horses out there that would be a foolish belief to ever subscribe to.
I view a round pen as a training tool, not a conditioning environment. Doing endless circles teaches them to run around in circles. Same thing when you put them at the other end of a longe line. They (and we) learn from transitions between gaits, within gaits, change of direction etc. I can’t longe or round pen because I throw up and fall over from dizziness before I get one lap finished. Walking in hand is much better and will help a horse build and maintain their condition with a consistent schedule. You need to allow a good warmup, 10 minutes or more, so they can loosen up before you start asking for a trot. That is especially true when you are talking about an older horse who needs to rebuild. We have a couple of new owners at the barn and both said their horses need to get in better shape. I pointed them to 2 “hills” on trails we use all the time. Both are long enough to trot up and down, one is a little steeper.
20 years old doesn’t sound “old” for a horse these days, but you don’t know what might be going on in the joints and ligaments. A horse can look as sound as a dollar but arthritic changes can be underway. They also need uneven footing and some intellectual stimulation, neither of which they get in the round pen.
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A trainer/clinician I really trust said no, absolutely not to working my 21 year old mare in a round pen. First, as others have said, it’s hard on the joints, especially in an older horse. Second, she did not think my mare would benefit mentally, quite the opposite in fact.
(And to the person who mentioned the 5-7 MPH walk – HOW??? I got up to 4 MPH on the trails with the mare this summer, and it took some work. I would bet, however, that her homegoing walk is close to 5 MPH. It sometimes felt like I was being run away with at the walk! But she does stop easily when asked.)
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The owner has the time to ride her every once in a while. She’s allowing me to use her on trails but I’m responsible for conditioning her. She’ll most likely be at the same barn for the rest of her life, but I felt bad because she could use a bit of muscle to keep her in better shape. Some slow work under saddle sounds good, thank you.
No, I cannot commit full time to my mare. But I do have time for the oldie. Her owner is allowing me to use her on trails, it’s a lot less demanding then trying to keep up with ownership. I don’t want to entirely cut myself off from the horses.
Repetitive circling is definitely hard on the joints. ESPECIALLY in an unfit horse.
Unless the horse is lame or has a history of back problems, you would be better off ponying or just riding her. Start off slow and short.
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Completely removing the situational context from this post:
Yes. Round penning (and lunging) is hard on horses. Your 70ft round pen is only (roughly) 3m bigger than the ubiquitous 20m circle for dressage, which is still not something I try to school too long in one go because of the wear and tear.
Lunging (and round penning) is useful in moderation (and in educated hands). The problem is that far too many people use neither moderation nor have the prerequisite education when they approach them.
To the specifics of how to fit up a senior horse who has been out of work, I would actually look at initially beginning with hand walking. Keep up a brisk pace (and gradually increase distance and if you’re able, add terrain - hills, etc). It is an excellent exercise for fitness - I’ve shared the story before, but I had a horse on stall rest for more than six months. We were told to hand walk “as much as you’re able to stand” and with 2hrs+ a day, by the time he was ready to come back under saddle he was still in fantastic shape and we had no issues with his fitness. Handwalking (and then tack walking) is one of the most underrated things for fitness, with the added bonus of being very low pressure on the body.
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