portable round pen?

[pegwillen]

The mini I work with belongs to a barn with an indoor arena. I use Parelli NH methods for her ground work, and soon she will be ready to start some off-line work. The indoor is too big for the initial liberty work and I was thinking of trying a portable round pen made from fencing I could relatively easily put up and take down. I’ve been looking at portable goat and chicken fencing which is 36-40” tall, step in posts, and square mesh. Any one have experience with minis and this type of fencing? Thanks

 

[MerMaeve]

We're thinking about putting a smaller round pen inside our pasture.....probably going to use plastic cheap fencing. (Permanent) It's pretty flimsy though.

How big of a round pen would be adequate for minis?

 

[pegwillen]

I don’t know, but to start liberty and have her attention, I need to decrease the 60x80’ arena I have to work in. I’m thinking I will end up with a square area 40’/side, utilizing two arena walls and using step-in portable goat fencing for the other two side...that’s my current plan.

 

[diamond c]

I was just thinking about this earlier today. I’m thinking of about somewhere around the 20’ diameter range. As far as what to make it out of I’m still up in the air about that. I’m thinking about maybe using old pallets or possibly pvc piping that I can take apart and move.

 

[chandab]

I've not put together a mini specific round pen, but for ground work, I've read 30' diameter is a good size for minis. If you want to drive in the pen as well, then you need at least 50' diameter, the bigger the better in this case.

 

[MerMaeve]

I've not put together a mini specific round pen, but for ground work, I've read 30' diameter is a good size for minis. If you want to drive in the pen as well, then you need at least 50' diameter, the bigger the better in this case.

Good to know!
As of now I'm not planning on doing any driving but.....who knows what the future holds!

 

[MerMaeve]

What does everyone use for a lunge line? I saw a super pretty reg. horse lead rope that was 10ft but we decided the clip was too much for a mini.

 

[Taz]

I'd go longer than 10', you don't want to put too much strain on her inside hind turning too tight. You could look for a 20' or longer with a loop on the end and put whatever size clip on you want. The natural horsemanship leads are 24' about and are great. Lots of different brands and colours. That also means you don't need to buy a new one if the clip brakes, just a new clip

 

[chandab]

I haven't lunged in awhile, but just used a regular lunge line. If you find them too long, cut it off to a length you are more comfortable with. cutting off a regular line, is probably going to be cheaper than buying something mini specific or a specialty item.

 

[Quadmom]

The mini I work with belongs to a barn with an indoor arena. I use Parelli NH methods for her ground work, and soon she will be ready to start some off-line work. The indoor is too big for the initial liberty work and I was thinking of trying a portable round pen made from fencing I could relatively easily put up and take down. I’ve been looking at portable goat and chicken fencing which is 36-40” tall, step in posts, and square mesh. Any one have experience with minis and this type of fencing? Thanks

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...-l-x-34-in-h?solr=1&cm_vc=-10005&st=hog panel
This is a link to Tractor suply's hog panel. It is 16 ft long by 34 inches high. They will bend and curve. It is what I use as a round pen for my minis. You can use a cow panel instead. They are 50 inches high. Either is under 25.00 per panel.

Hope this helps...

Lori

 

[MerMaeve]

Lori, we are using cattle panels for our fencing. We are probably going to use a cheaper plastic/wire fencing for our round pen.

 

[Dragon Hill]

For a lunge line you might want to look at dog training long lines. I've got a flat nylon one I think it's 1/2" by 15' and was fairly cheap.