Round Pen

I took John Lyons's advise and made it a 60' round pen. I can do anything in there, including putting 3 horses through their paces in there together. I also filled it full of crushed limestone to develop their feet and the traction/drainage is great. 60' will allow you to ride a canter comfortably and cross over/do patterns etc. The force is less on bones with a bigger circle as well.

I've always gone with 60, more room, easier on their legs
 

Yes, definitely a 60 foot round pen is great! We use ours for everything from my little mini stallion Firefly (34 inches tall), to Ron's huge Hackney mare River, (almost 17 hands), and everything in between.

[quote=jmebear]

Yes, definitely a 60 foot round pen is great! We use ours for everything from my little mini stallion Firefly (34 inches tall), to Ron's huge Hackney mare River, (almost 17 hands), and everything in between.



LOL, yeah, the minis can just about do syncronized driving with each other in there whilst River and Condessa barely have room to do a circle!  No way could we drive her in there!  Minis, gotta love 'em!  Everything is so easy to do, so inexpensive (comparatively speaking)!  Besides, when one has a mini like Fire, there's the advantage of the live plush toy![][]  He's such a good boy![]

Sorry for the digression, just couldn't resist.[]  

Yeah, I would think sixty feet is a minimum for a round pen.  Solid walls help also.  The pictures below show my ideal of a round pen.  This one is a touch small at between forty to fifty feet.  However, in every other way it's perfect!  The horses are between sixteen-three and sixteen-two.  These pictures were taken at the Cal. State Fresno Horse Unit.  A wonderful, if a bit run-down, facility.