So I haven’t purchased my farm yet, but it’s looking like I’m going to be building this sucker myself on open land. So let’s talk round pens (and arenas if you’re so inclined) - my plan is to start/restart young horses but these will also be large horses (16.2h+). I also want it to be safe for those that feel the need to flail while learning new balance. So - how big is your round pen? What materials did you use to build it? What footing and base do you have? Covered or uncovered?
No less than 60’ in diameter. There’s also some interesting ideas around a square “round” pen, rather than a circle, as the corners can be used to help encourage self-balancing from a visual perspective, no human aids needed.
It’s a good idea to have solid boards up to about 4’, if the lower slats aren’t small enough to not allow a hoof to go through.
There are different footing options, just like for a ring.
Angular sand (or concrete), it needs to have enough “grip” and not too much “slip”, so you don’t want round sand particles.
Screenings/bluestone works well especially if it gets very regular use, otherwise it may get crunchy when it dries after a rain, and get harder with each subsequent rain/compaction.
Or you can do a mix and get some of the best of both workds.
With any footing, how deep it is depends on the product
My round pen is 80 feet in diameter. I like it that big. The fence is 5’ I think… we built it. Planks milled locally, just rough cut stuff. The natural turf here is excellent, I did have to build up one side a bit as it wasn’t quite level, but that was easy enough to do. Added a bit of sand from our personal pit on that side. Then let the grass grow in to hold it all together. I can free jump a horse in there, and it’s not too tight quarters to canter a green one in there in early days of being ridden.
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ours we built to 66 feet with six foot wooden rail fence…as suggest about making the bottom solid I agree, we did not but would do so now.
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For big horses I would go 6ft in height, because a big horse feeling crowded, may be more likely to go over a short fence. Boards on the inside of posts, with a 2" at least, gaps allowed between boards so they dry easily. Horses CAN see over, still has to pay attention to handler!
Not an isolation pen, horse has to work in spite of distractions going on around him, lIke in real life! We used sawmill oak lumber, 10" wide by 2" thick, not planed smooth because it was cheaper. The round pen is inside a paddock with regular fencing. Helpful boundry if a horse SHOULD go up over the pen fence. Paddock and pen w/gate propped open or locked closed, can be grazed or used for turnout. We are a bit short on space sometimes.
Something to consider, is spacing or no spacing under the bottom board that will allow you to put sand back into the pen. We wish our bottom board was almost on the ground to hold sand build-up inside the pen. Space under boards we have, lets sand get outside the pen, build up on posts. Then it is all hand raking to return the sand to inside the pen.
Our entire pen is on a raised pad of road gravel base, to get above our clay dirt. There are 3 drain tiles deep in the base to get footing dried after rain as quickly as possible. Other dirt has blown in over the years, so grass/weeds grow in the pen and may need mowing. There is a 10ft pipe gate for pen access, not a horse pincher if wearing tack.
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I don’t like round pens any less than ~70’ (68.75’ diameter if using 8’ boards = 27 sections; 71.3’ diameter if using 8’ boards = 28 sections).
60’ is okay, but still feels a bit small for me. Definitely would not go any smaller.
80’ is my preferred diameter.
Minimum 5’ height.
8’, 10’, or 12’ gate to enter, not a little human gate.
My farm had a ~55’ diameter one already there when I bought it. 5’ height, four-rail and post construction, natural ground sand and grass. I only ever used it for a little 13.2hh mustang pony when I got her unhandled. It was too small for me to be comfortable using it for my other horses (16.2 & 17hh at the time). But some of my boarders did use it for their full-size horses.
I’ve never used one with solid walls. I haven’t had any issues with just rails. I’ve heard of someone getting trapped and injured when the walls (even just the lower half) were solid and dealing with a particularly aggressive horse, they couldn’t roll out of the pen to get out of harm’s way. But I’d imagine that’s pretty rare.
Footing can be anything used for a riding arena. A lot of people just use the natural ground, IME.
Covered would be a dream. I’ve never had the privilege of having access to one!
I have one that is oval ( or a square with rounded corners). It is 66x 98+ and I have the round pen panels reinforced with posts on the straight sides. It works well for lunging, free lunging and riding.
It is on a level and the highest area by my barn( so well drained naturally) and the footing is grass. I am lucky to have real panels as I am on a limited budget 
Mine is constructed of pipe panels, with square corners that fit close together, and no loop legs to catch a foot. Bought it before we had our own place, and easily moved it to different sites as needed. Even at our place, we tried it out a couple of places before deciding on what has turned into its permanent location. Like having the flexibility of panels, and that it can be adjusted to be more or less round or oval as suits the site.
For footing, we use the native soil, but have consistently added composted horse manure over the years, so it’s forgiving and not rocky underfoot, with good grass cover. The pen has been used mainly for initial backing when starting horses (I like to get out of the round pen and into a pasture, or at least the arena, pretty quickly), and as a safe turnout space for visiting horses that is separate from our horses’ turnouts. When not needed for those purposes, we allow grazing inside, and it’s mowed as necessary.
Have never had a horse challenge the panels, or injure themselves on them, and the pen has required no repair. It was made by a local welder who specialized in panels for various purposes, and we know others with these same pens. We’ve been satisfied with their quality and durability, especially for the money – ours is 30 years old, as is one owned by a very close friend. I like that it doesn’t have solid walls, for the reasons goodhors mentioned. Whenever we’re ready to downsize, I expect that we can sell the panels on CL, or through word of mouth.
Ours is 60’, 5 1/2’ tall and fairly flexible for pipe panels, 9 pipes, closer at the bottom as we used it also to start border collies on goats and needed to be where goats didn’t slip out.
In several decades, no horse ever bent a panel or was hurt in there, but we don’t get wild working horses in there.
Any less than 60’ starting colts they are too cramped and larger you have to move more to stay with them initially.
Being pipe panels we could change the shape easily. from round to other
The panels are self standing and we have two 14’ gates opposite of each other and the 4 gate posts hold it all together just fine, no other posts needed.
We can drive the tractor with the arena plow in there to work the ground if we need to.
We have had two horses, both 15.2. that could clear a five foot fence and these were not jumpers, just athletics who if wanted could go where they wanted (which is another reason our public side of the property is double fenced, we never had one try to leave the place but just wanted to make sure they did not go out to find a friend to bring home)
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If I can afford it, I’d love something like this –
Has anyone used rubber mats as part/all of the kickboards?
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Mine was 75’, big enough to comfortably canter a big greenie, and also to put one or 2 small jumps on the rail if needed. It was standard metal panels, not sure of the height. I did have one big youngster spook and jump out, so if building myself in the future I’d go 6’ tall.
Neighbor with 5 Belgians averaging 19h has a 75’ roundpen.
IIRC, footing is what he calls Torpedo Sand.
We have clay soil that drains sloooowwwwllly.
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