constructing the round pen

By Meredith Hodges

The Round Pen originated as a useful training aid for Western trainers who were trying to “break” the wild mustangs that were brought in off the range.

1. 1. There has been spirited debate between English and Western trainers as to the real value of the Round Pen as a training aid, since it can produce undue stress on the fragile joints of the equine-in-training.
   2. Do not BEGIN training your equine in the Round Pen, because an unbalanced and inexperienced equine in uncontrolled flight, in a truly confined space, can easily injure himself.
   3. Specific types of leading exercises must be used to teach him to be in good equine posture and balance on straight lines and gradual arcs before your equine is introduced to the Round Pen and asked to balance at all three gaits on a circle.
      1. He needs work on Leading Training in the Hourglass Pattern in an arena, tacked up with an English Eggbutt snaffle bridle, the “Elbow Pull” and a surcingle or lightweight saddle.
         
      2. When his postural core strength is in an adequate Leading balance in the arena, you can add obstacles.
         
      3. He will learn verbal commands, body language and will be able to balance his weight equally over all four feet and do all the exercises on verbal commands and hand signals alone. he is then ready to graduate to the Round Pen.
   4. When your equine is properly prepared beforehand, the Round Pen can then become a viable and important training tool.
      1. He will learn to Lunge freely at all three gaits while remaining in good posture.
         
      2. He learns to responds promptly and correctly to verbal commands and body language.
         
      3. He learns the basics about lunging on a lunge line.
         
      4. He learns how to be lunged on the Drive Lines.
         
      5. He learns how to Ground Drive the perimeter, then how to do turns and reverses.
      6. He will learn how to stand still on command at any time and be mounted.
         
   5. When choosing the site for your Round Pen, pick a spot that is surrounded by activity and even near the road, so it can serve a dual purpose. Not only will you begin to build your equine’s muscle during training sessions—you will get his attention under a variety of distractions. When he is exposed to noise and activity in the Round Pen at this early stage, it is less likely to bother him later under saddle, or in harness. He will gain confidence in any situation.
      
   6. Try to pick a site that is flat and not rocky. Ideally, it should have a solid base of hard-packed adobe soil.
      1. If your ground is not flat, you will need to grade a flat spot and then bring in fill-dirt, shoot it with a transit to make sure it is truly flat. You have spent a lot of time working on your equine’s posture and an irregular ground surface will interfere with that and set him back into poor equine posture.
         
      2. Make sure it is tamped and hardened before the three-inch depth of sand is added.
         
      3. The diameter of the Round Pen should be approximately 45 feet, so you can easily reach your equine on the rail with your lunge whip when you stand in the center.
         
      4. Uneven terrain can cause uneven balance, rhythm and cadence to his gait and will cause irregularity in the footfall pattern, which will result in asymmetrical development of your equine’s muscular-skeletal system. We used fill dirt with a retaining wall to make sure the ground was flat and even so as not to undo our equines’ good posture.
         
      5. A smooth, hard under-surface below the sand gives your equine a smooth surface on which to place his feet without fear of injury to the sensitive parts of his hooves from rocks or other debris. His stops will become correct and balanced, and ready him properly for the sliding stops in Reining.
         
      6. Even and level ground will assure his regularity of gait and sustained balance on the circle that will build core muscle symmetrically as he circles, maintaining his erect posture and correctly bending through his rib cage with equal weight over all four feet and energy coming from the hindquarters.
         
      7. Making sure the circle is actually round so it will help him learn to bend his body properly through the rib cage while he is traveling on the circle.
         
   7. Once the site is prepped, dig post holes at eight-foot centers on the circle and twenty-three feet from the center of the Round Pen to give you the 45 foot diameter.
      1. 1. Next, pour concrete in the bottoms of the holes and measure the depth of the posts so when the posts are placed in the holes, they will all be at the same height. (There should be three feet of post in the hole and five feet above ground.) Use eight-foot posts.
                
         2. All types of wood are toxic to equines to some degree, but treated woods can contain arsenic and should be avoided. Redwood is okay, but the best posts to use are made from steel—they will last much longer than wood. Also, steel posts can be welded with “winged plates” so the boards can be easily bolted to the posts and changed out easily.
         3. Use two-by-twelve-inch wooden boards for the walls, and a smaller two-by-six-inch board around the bottom to keep the sand inside. Stack four two-inch by twelve-inch boards around on top, with three-inch spaces between the boards and a three-inch top of the post showing.
            
         4. The spaces between the wider boards will allow you to get a toe into the fence so you can easily climb in and out of the Round Pen, and it gives you a place to tie an animal at any post.
         5. Unlike a Round Pen made from corral panels, the twelve-inch boards keep your toes from getting caught or twisted when riding close to the rail. It’s a much safer design and truly functional for all levels of Round Pen training.
            
         6. For both trainer and equine safety, the use of electric and wire fences and materials, such as pallets and tires, should be avoided completely. If the equine decides he wants to leave, he can easily get tangled in a lot of these other materials…just not safe for either of you.
         7. Tie rings can be added onto the outside of selected posts to secure extra equines outside the Round Pen while they wait their turn.
            
         8. A Round Pen with solid walls should be avoided. An equine that learns to work in an open Round Pen is less likely to feel “trapped” and fearful of abrupt movements and noises, so he can concentrate on his work. He learns to acknowledge and accept interruptions and will keep on working.
         9. Using bolts for the two-by-twelve inch rails makes for easy replacement as the boards become worn, and putting a metal cap around the top with angle iron, will discourage chewing when you are not there to supervise.
            
         10. The gate posts should always be steel and sunk into 3’ concrete, as wooden posts tend to sag over time. The gate itself should be framed in steel to keep it from warping and sagging. The latch on the gate should be easily accessible from both sides, but the gate needs only to swing into the Round Pen for easy entrances and exits.
              
             
         11. Next, set in the gate (either finished or not) and close it to complete the circle. Check the diameter of the circle and the distance to each post from the center to make sure it is truly 45 feet round and that all posts are upright and level.
         12. The Round Pen gate pictured swings in and has a sliding barrel bolt at the top that just catches through a four-inch sleeve on the post wing. It is easy to reach over the top for opening.
      1. Once the cement at the bottom of the post holes is level and completely dry and the posts are sitting in the not-yet-filled post holes, attach the top and bottom boards all the way around, check each post and rail with a level, and then attach wooden braces to the entire Round Pen at each post to hold the position.
         
      2. Now pour the concrete into the holes around the posts. Allow enough time for the concrete to set up before removing the braces.
      3. When the concrete has dried completely, clean the excess concrete from around the holes. Then finish hanging all the board rails, cap them with angle iron and add whatever tie rings you want to the outside of the posts.
      4. Let some time pass before adding the sand to your Round Pen. Wet weather will actually help to further compact the base, which should be hardened so it can last for many years, so if you are expecting rain or snow, all the better.
         
      5. Once the base is hard and dry, add three inches of clean sand to the Round Pen—no more and no less. If the sand is not deep enough, the hard ground can hurt your equine’s limbs and possibly cause laminitis. But if the sand is too deep, it can damage ligaments, tendons and soft tissue.
      6. If your equine ingests the sand he may colic or founder, so make sure to use your Round Pen for training only, never for turnout or feeding. The equines can develop sand colic from eating off the floor of this kind of pen.
   8. The Round Pen can be used as a holding pen for short periods of time, but do not place food or water inside and use it as a permanent pen.
      1. It is too small for good health.
      2. This small area can exacerbate the animal and cause anxiety as their permanent residence. Stress is not good for the animal.
      3. Equines will put more energy into getting out if they are not comfortable.
   9. Good Round Pen construction makes all the difference.
      1. With intelligent construction and attention to detail, your Round Pen will serve a multitude of uses for years to come and can be quite easy to maintain. A metal, angle-iron cap around the top rails will keep the animals from chewing on it when they are left standing and waiting for their lessons to continue.
         
      2. Maintenance will be easy and materials cost will not be as expensive in the long run depending on what materials you use. Keep extra boards on hand as replacements at your original lower cost.
      3. I began by using simple 2” X 12” wooden boards and 8’ posts when I first bought the original 10 acres of the Lucky Three Ranch because I could not afford any more than that. I just kept improving the conditions as I could afford it. I did this with the entire facility…year after year…Barns, Sheds, Fences, Round Pen, Hot Walker, Tack Barn, etc.
         
      4. The Round Pen is not the place to START TRAINING. It is a place to get through those difficult learning processes where you need the containment of the equine for more meticulous work. I would even use it for the beginning of obstacle training. It is MUCH easier to teach the equine not to be afraid of obstacles when you do it a very confined space. I begin obstacle training by placing my obstacles in the confined space BEHIND my Round Pen in my indoor arena…so much easier when they don’t have as much space to avoid the tasks! If you cannot place your obstacles this way, then just put them along the side of your Round pen and use them in it as needed.
         
      5. I am no longer afraid of getting a loan and paying more money up front if it will save maintenance costs in the long run. Remember that the replacement materials are always getting more expensive and the price never seems to go down! The Round Pen really IS a must for many reasons! It is a truly legitimate investment with its numerous uses. The Round Pen is an essential tool to set you and your equine up for success!

To learn more about Meredith Hodges and her comprehensive all-breed equine training program, visit LuckyThreeRanch.com, MEREDITH HODGES PUBLIC FIGURE Facebook page, or call 1-800-816-7566. Check out her children’s website at JasperTheMule.com. Also, find Meredith on Pinterest, Instagram, MeWe, YouTube and Twitter.

Covered in TRAINING MULES & DONKEY: A LOGICAL APPROACH TO TRAINING, TRAINING WITHOUT RESISTANCE and EQUUS REVISITED at www.luckythreeranchstore.com.

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