Should I built a round pen or an arena?

[vanessakz]

Obviously most people would prefer an arena over a round pen, but there is a little more to consider in my case and I would like to hear your opinion!

We live on a little over five acres with a barn with 2 stalls and currently have 1 QH mare. The two stalls have access to a little less of an acre pasture. This property has been foreclosed and we had to realize that it had been terribly abused. Said pasture has deep grooves all over and is therefore not lush at all and not suitable for any kind of training. We have started to clear 2 additional acres in order to make room for 2 new pastures this fall, and I expect that we will be able to use them from summer 2017 and on.

I am obviously in dire need for a flat, fenced and secure area to train my horse. At the end of the pasture is a nice level area that would allows me to easily build a 50 feet diameter round pen. See, my mare is blind on one eye and came from a feed lot almost 200 lbs underweight. She has since recovered and it turned out that she is actually well-trained. In order to get her back in training I was planning to lunge her, and while this is possible on her left hand, it is impossible on her right hand where she has the blind eye. Since there is no outside guidance for her, working on her right hand is frustrating, has an increased risk of injury and just a waste of time. A round pen will cost me around $300 and I already have 2000 lbs of equestrian rubber mulch stacked in the barn to use for footing. I like working in round pens, not only for circular work but also for ground driving and other ground work. It would also lend itself as a great area to give my son riding lessons, since he recently discovered a passion for riding.

And then there is the fact that, eventually, I would really like to have a 20x40 (meters that is) arena. If I were to build the arena now I could easily make it accessible from the stalls, and the arena could double as dry lot during inclement weather. Considering that the unruly pasture does not give my horse too much grazing, I would be happy to just level that thing and put an arena on it. Of course then there won’t be much grazing area left for the mare, but I am also thinking that winter is coming, and soon there won’t be anything left to graze regardless. The arena will cost me more money of course for additional fencing needs and I will need to order more footing too. I could add an additional fence line in order to separate one part of the arena and make a “square” round pen for schooling I assume.

While I can build the round pen myself on a weekend, the arena will require someone to till the whole area and level it after… obviously a lot more work. I should also mention that the installation of the 2 new pastures is very labor intensive and I have learned a whole new set of Spanish cursing expressions from my husband since we started this project. The other option would be building a round pen now and adding an arena perhaps in the middle of next year. What is your take on this?

[NoSuchPerson]

I’ve always built/installed things as I needed them. So I’d go ahead with the round pen right now, especially since it doesn’t involve a huge investment of time or money.

[JannieC]

I built a round pen while my indoor and outdoor rings were under construction. As a dressage rider, I made the roundpen 20 meters, or 66 feet, wide. It is much easier to ride in with that diameter. It has walls about 6.5 - 7 feet tall. It is also a wonderful, safe ring to lunge, free-school and turn-out rehabbing horses in. I started with stonedust and over the years it has returned to grass, but it is still solid footing. l use it regularly, even with the other 2 rings available. I would start with the round pen and then construct your arena as time and finances allow.

[StormyDay]

I think it depends on what you want to do with this horse. If you plan on riding her in the near future, do the arena and skip the round pen. Round pens are only useful for a few specific exercises, IMHO, and truthfully with a blind horse I probably wouldn’t be doing much lunging anyways. Lunging is great if the horse has full body control and can avoid smacking into the fence. Not so much if you have to choose between her seeing you, or seeing the object you need her to avoid!

[MissAriel]

I’d go with the round pen now if you can do the arena next year. Use the RP right away for you, mare and son, and save up for the cost of the arena to put it in next year. By then any combination of you may have outgrown using the RP on a full-time basis.

If you didn’t have the option of adding the arena next year, I would recommend the arena with the extra fenceline

[Jarpur]

I have both; my arena has sand footing, while my round pen (a bit larger than your possible one) has the native grass. I have found that I really only use the round pen for starting young horses and as a small grass paddock for the occasional visiting horse, so I usually keep the gate open so that my horses can graze it when they’re turned out on the surrounding area.

Having the native grass footing means I have been able to move the panels (I have a pipe panel round pen) as necessary, which is convenient.

As far as using an arena as a dry lot, would the footing hold up to that and still be acceptable for work? My dry lot has pea gravel footing; it’s been great for the horses’ feet, but I don’t think I’d want to use it as an arena, although I do a very brief bit of ground work (turns on the forehand, backing, turns on the haunches, nothing faster than a walk) there every now and then.

As for fencing costs, I’ve seen an arena fenced with a strand or two of electric tape (such as the Horseguard I use for cross-fencing here) - I expect not hooked up to electricity - as a low cost way to have a barrier. If you went with that for an arena, even if only as a temporary solution, then you could still have the round pen for your son’s lessons, etc.

I am also a big fan of ground-driving and sometimes do that out in a pasture, rather than in my arena (but none of my horses have vision issues). Usually just out in the open, but I’ve also used my cavaletti to make the corners of a 20 x 40 arena, using the fence of my permanent arena as one of the long sides, to make a temporary grass arena.

[allons-y]

Little by little, as you can afford, based on priority. First I built my little barn, no H2O or electric. Then fenced the second 2 acre pasture. Then hubby did H2o to barn. Next Im getting-gasp -electricity to barn AND fence a paddock/arena AND replace most of remaining barb wire. I have round pen panels I used to fence off the barn so can now have a round pen elsewhere! Not quite 2 years, I chaffed at doing things logically, but it’s coming together whoohoo!

So do what you need first, then what you can afford. I’m the worlds least patient person, if I can do it, so can you

[Mango20]

Can you level the 20x40 area now but only build a round pen at one end? That way, it would be ready to turn into an arena when you’re ready. Unless your ultimate goal is to have an arena AND a round pen.

[Bluey]

Build a portable round pen now, that you can later reconfigure to be whatever you need and can make that spot work for.

By later, what you now think works best may have changed as you see how your work progresses with your mare and your so.
You may even have other ideas of what you need or want or where to go with it, or decide the round pen is still what you need for longer time to come.

[vanessakz]

[QUOTE=JannieC;8802431]
I built a round pen while my indoor and outdoor rings were under construction. As a dressage rider, I made the roundpen 20 meters, or 66 feet, wide. It is much easier to ride in with that diameter. It has walls about 6.5 - 7 feet tall. It is also a wonderful, safe ring to lunge, free-school and turn-out rehabbing horses in. I started with stonedust and over the years it has returned to grass, but it is still solid footing. l use it regularly, even with the other 2 rings available. I would start with the round pen and then construct your arena as time and finances allow.[/QUOTE]

I wish I could make it bigger, but the designated area gives me exactly 50 feet in diameter. I know that 65 is recommended for riding and dressage. Anything larger than 50 will result in large oak trees in the way, slopes or potentially both at the same time. Our property has very limited level areas, and most is sloped towards a creek surrounding the property.

[vanessakz]

I could, but then I would have the problem of having a level but unused area that will quickly turn into a mud hole

[vanessakz]

Yes, I am also still dragging buckets of water