Round pen made from 8' sections

From: Lon

Dear Dr. Jahiel, I'm hoping you can help me out here. I got a bunch of 8' fence sections from a friend who is selling his farm and moving to town. I want to make a round pen with them, but for how I plan to use it I know it needs to be bigger than 40' across. I'm ready to put a round pen together, but what I need to know is what size of round pen can I make if I use all of them? I know I could just set them all up and find out, but I'd like to know beforehand. I plan to make a gate for the round pen that will be 8' wide. If I can make a 50' pen and have a couple of sections left over, there's something I'd like to do with the extra sections, but I'll put them all in the pen if I have to. I can't tell you what I want to do with the pieces because it's for my wife's birthday and I know she's going to read this. Lon

Figuring how many sections or panels you'll need for a round pen isn't horribly complicated - you just need one simple formula. I'll explain it first, and then take you through it.

The formula is simple:

1. decide on the diameter you want (how wide do you want your round pen to be?)
2. multiply that number by 3.14 - this will give you the circumference of the pen
3. divide the circumference by the length of the boards or panels you'll be using

Okay. Now let's look at the specific pen that YOU plan to build, with YOUR materials.

Start with the diameter: In your case, you plan to make a round pen that's 50' across, so begin with

Diameter: 50'

Then multiply the diameter times 3.14 to get the circumference.

Diameter: 50' times 3.14 = circumference: 157' You now know that the circumference of your 50' pen will be 157'

NOW is when your 8' sections come into the picture. To figure out how many panels or sections you'll need for that 50' round pen, divide the circumference (157') by the length of your sections (8')

157 divided by 8 = 19.625

So now you know that you'll need 19.625 panels - to build your pen. Obviously you aren't going to use just part of a panel, so round this up to 20 or down to 19, add your gate, and there you are. If you use 19 of your sections, and add the 8' gate that you've said you plan to build, the total linear feet of your sections and gate will be 160' - which will give you that 50' round pen with a little tiny bit of room to spare.

Now, some advice. ;-)

It's good to have some room to spare. I don't know where you plan to put your round pen, or whether 50' is the largest pen you can fit into that space, but just in case you have a little more space to work with, you might want to add those last two sections or panels, to make the pen slightly larger. Remember that the circle your horse will be working on will NOT be as large as the pen's diameter, unless the horse can figure out how to run along the top of the panels. ;-) Your horse will typically be working a couple feet to the inside of the panels, and if you plan to RIDE the horse in the pen, you will DEFINITELY want it to give those walls some room. Smaller circles are more physically demanding and more difficult for horses than larger circles, so horses that are young, green, sore, or uncomfortable on a circle for any reason will typically drift out and "go wide" when they're in a round pen. Your horse may be able to work right next to the edge of the pen when nobody is riding it, but adding a saddle and a rider makes the horse wider, and no matter what material you use to build the walls of your round pen, you won't enjoy hitting it with your foot or your knee. It's not a bad idea to be a little bit generous with the space inside your pen.

In any case, twenty sections plus one gate will definitely give you the pen you want, with a minimum diameter of 50'. That will leave you with two "spare" sections. I don't know what you were planning to do for your wife's birthday, but honestly, I'd advise adding those last two sections to your round pen. Twenty-two sections plus one gate will give you a 55' pen, which will let your horses stay well away from the walls AND work on an honest 50' circle. If your wife will be riding or working her horse in the pen, you can always tell her that you "super-sized it" in honour of her birthday - and she'll probably enjoy the extra space.

Have fun building your round pen, and congratulations on getting all the sections for free. That's quite the good deal!

Jessica

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