Homemade Round Pen

Round pens give horses and their trainers an opportunity to communicate in a controlled setting without physical contact. Such pens can also be used to work with new or young horses. The more stable the material used to build the pen, the easier it is to work in. Horses are flight animals and sometimes will try to escape from round pens. The best way to avoid this is to build a structure that discourages the animal from fleeing the pen and promotes interaction with the trainer.

Things You'll Need

  • 8-foot oak fence posts
  • 12-foot oak boards
  • Deck screws
  • Fence post digger
  • Electric saw
  • Tape measure
  • String
  • Metal stakes
  • Small metal gate
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Instructions

    • 1

      Decide how large you want the round pen to be. Lunge lines, which are used to exercise horses by walking them in a circle, can be as long as 30 feet, so a round pen with a diameter of 60 feet would be ideal. It can be a little smaller, but the smaller you make a round pen, the harder it will be on your horse's legs.

    • 2

      Find a place that can fit the size round pen you want. For instance, if you want a 30-foot radius, which you would want when lunging your horse, it would be 60 feet from side to side (total diameter). To figure out the circumference multiply 60 feet and 3.14, equaling 188.4 feet.

    • 3

      Stake off the shape of your round pen by measuring the diameter of your round pen from north to south. At each end of the measurement put a metal stake in the ground and tie string straight across from stake to stake. Then do this same thing again, but measure from east to west. The string should look like a plus sign.

    • 4

      Repeat Step 3, measuring the diameter from northwest to southeast and northeast to southwest. Soon you should be able to see the shape of your circular round pen traced out. All the string should meet and cross in the middle.

    • 5

      Figure out how many posts and boards you will need to buy. Boards are 12 feet long, but you will need a post every 6 feet. Divide the circumference of your round pen by 6 to figure out how many posts you will need. Then divide the circumference by 12. Take that number and multiply it by three to figure out how many boards you will need. The round pen will resemble a round three-board fence. When doing this, take into account how large of a gate you are putting in and if you will need fewer boards and posts.

    • 6

      Lay down your metal gate outside of the stakes in the location you want it. From there, start drilling holes for your posts 4 feet deep, every 6 feet. Once this is done, place the posts in the holes and tamp them in tight.

    • 7

      Attach the gate to the post first and then subsequently start screwing on the boards from the inside our your round pen. Although it may look better to put the boards on the outside of the post, it is safer for the horse to have them as a bumper from the sharp post edges. Place the top board all the way at the top of the post and then measure however far down you would like for the middle board and the same measurement for the bottom board. Screws are used so that you can later easily remove the board if it is damaged.