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 Member
Posts: 18
Location: Southeast Texas | Hello All! We have a 50 ft. round pen we use almost daily. The only problem is that it doesn't take long for the sand to build up on the outside and create a trench on the inside! I'm tired of the elbow grease it takes to keep it inside the round pen. Anyone with some easy ideas of how to attach something to keep the dirt inside (other than just letting it build up outside?) and be safe for the horses? If you need a visual here's a link where you can find a picture of it. http://www.pbase.com/ellenshutter/image/54086648 Any suggestions are appreciated!! Ellen |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 500
Location: West TN | Have you considered adding some plywood to the bottom and attaching to the panels with some U bolts. This is not going to keep it from building up against the plywood, but at least it would stay in the arena. |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
 
Location: Danielsville Georgia | Thats NOT my idea of a round pen.Im fact I find the panals used for one dangerous.Known LOTS of horses that went down in those or UP the side of one and did a great deal of injury.I have a metal roundpen that is steel slanted in at bottom and goes 4 foot up the sides.Sand stays in.horses way less prone to injuery and I'd REALLY prefer one that is sold ALL the way up.Thats the safest.On yours I'd take marine grade plywood and use c channel attachments 3 to 4 feet up the sides of it.Sand then stays in and safer for horses.I bought my round pen from Roper Supply. |
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Veteran
Posts: 127
Location: PA | I have to agree with the last thread, don't take offense but your round pen is too small, you need a 60 ft minimum (in my humble opinion). I have worked horses in a 50 ft and it is too tight for a young horse to try to keep their balance at the canter. The horse gets frustrated and the owner gets mad because the horse keeps dropping down to a trot. It can also cause sore muscles or injury as the horse trys to compensate for the tight area. It is also too small for lounging and giving lessons (if that is what you have in mind). I would make the pen a 60 ft and add wooden plywood panels to cover up the metal bars before a horse snaps his leg off by getting it caught inside the bars......like my neighbor's horse, who had to be put down. Good luck to you. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 954
Location: Hagerstown, MD | Hi frogblossum, welcome to the forum. I have a round pen that is less that 60' and it works just fine and has for years. I don't break horses or have horses on my place that would try to climb out of my round pen. My horses are pretty quiet even if they are mostly Arabs with some quarterhorse thrown in for good measure on a couple of them. If one of my horses tries to climb the round pen, either I'm doing something wrong, or a lion wandered in from next door. The other posts offer good advice in a general way, but it might not be the best advice for you in your situation. Here's my suggestion to help with your problem. Take a pressure treated 2x12 equal length to your panel. Drill a few 1/4" holes so that you can run a heavy nylon cable tie through the holes and around a tube of the panel with the board up on edge at the bottom of the panel. No nuts and bolts, no sharp edges and snap to put up. The cable ties are similar to the ones the police use for quikie handcuffs. I didn't come up with this idea, but got the idea from attending indoor clinics by professional horsemen. Picture a concrete floor in a big building, like a farm show complex and setting a round pen up for a clinic. Put the round pen up attach the boards at the bottom and fill it with a few inches of stone dust and you are done. A professional horseman wouldn't do anything stupid in front of an audience and I see this done this way all the time. In my round pen, I use a mixture of bark chips that are free from a local tree company and stone dust from a local quarry. The mixture gives good footing, dries out pretty quickly, not too hard, not too soft and easy to maintain. Happy trails. |
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Member
Posts: 18
Location: Southeast Texas | Thank you Deranger! It's hard not to be defensive - I appreciate your response. Currently we have 2 Quarter Horses and one pony - all wonderful kid "safe" horses. We use the round pen just to lunge the horses before the kids jumping lessons to make sure they remain kid horses in the arena. We aren't doing any "training" although many things can happen - anywhere - anytime. So far so good - they are really calm guys. I'm going to try your suggestion. Again, thanks a bunch!!!
Edited by frogblossum 2006-01-05 6:46 AM
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Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Danielsville Georgia | Good point.I start a fair number of colts yearly and really like TWO sizes of round pens.50 and 60 before going to the working arena.very sldom do have have one do sometimg stupid.But in the last three years I have had two try to leave by jumping and one got fast on his own and as I tried to control direction he walked the side.I have had a older mare loose her footing in a open panal pin and get tangled in the bars.Chiped front leg bone and torn groin muscles.I like the OLD fashioned solid sided pins as it ALSO keeps the horses attention on the person.I DON"T lounge in the round pen per se. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 954
Location: Hagerstown, MD | I agree with you hounddog, if I'm going to do some serious training, like trying to work out some kinks in a problem horse, I go next door to the neighbors and use the indoor arena. No outside distractions, no tempting avenue of escape and a safe environment for the horse and me. Happy trails. |
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Member
Posts: 8
Location: NEw York | round pen panels are very expensive, I priced them a while back and they were 80-90. I have since changed my mind!
Edited by mudassar1 2014-02-15 5:03 AM
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Regular
Posts: 99
Location: Pleasant Plain, Ohio 45162 | We have attached rubber belting to the inside of our roundpen which is up about 28" or so and eliminates them sticking their feet through it and keeps my sand inside. Unlike plywood, it will last forever. Usually you can pick up some cheap at a nearby gravel pit as they dispose of it when it gets worn. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 378
Location: Nebraska | Honor has it right, belting is used in elevators to move grain, sand, coal and other commodities, and comes in widths from 6in up to 4ft easy to install and won't hurt when you land on it. |
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New User
Posts: 1
Location: New York | This is not going to Fut 15 Coins keep it from building up against the plywood, but at least it would stay in the arena. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 326
Location: central IL | Is it just me, or do these crazy spammers who join a conversation and try to get us to look at their coins aggravate anyone else? Just like to hit the "delete" button and zap them. Enjoy following a conversation, and then some stupid remark jumps in with a direct link to coins. I'd NEVER follow their link let alone buy from the invaders. OK, feeling better now.  |
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Member
Posts: 7
| Eventually you could add enough sand that it would stop disappearing, but it would probably be easier and cheaper to clean it out and put proper footing in. If you have a round pen that can be disassembled the easiest thing to do would be to use a tractor and scrape the area down to hard dirt. Once you hit the hard dirt put down a base layer of stone dust and compact it, then top with your choice of footing.If you have a permanent round pen and can't get a tractor in, you might try something with a bigger particle size so that it won't sink as fast. Maybe a combination of wood chips and river sand. |
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Keeping Dirt in Round pen!?!?
