Cheap round pens to restrict grazing?

[jennywren07]

I have a mare whos very prone to weight gain who spends all year on restricted grazing. The problem i have is i keep them on a ex-dairy farm and the grazing is very good i usually section off a small area for her but a new horse at the yard has no respect of electric fencing and would run straight through it. That horse has now moved to a diff field but Jen has now learned to take a run up as the grass is well worth a zap!!

Muzzleing isnt a option as she gets them all off so i was looking at round pens, however most i've seen start at around £1500 which i can't afford I was wondering if anyone has any clever ideas for building a cheap one? i needs to be easy to move as im only 4ft 10 and usually on my own.

Would sheep hurdles work? or something like they use round building sites?

 

[Enfys]

I have a mare whos very prone to weight gain who spends all year on restricted grazing. The problem i have is i keep them on a ex-dairy farm and the grazing is very good i usually section off a small area for her but a new horse at the yard has no respect of electric fencing and would run straight through it. That horse has now moved to a diff field but Jen has now learned to take a run up as the grass is well worth a zap!!

Muzzleing isnt a option as she gets them all off so i was looking at round pens, however most i've seen start at around £1500 which i can't afford I was wondering if anyone has any clever ideas for building a cheap one? i needs to be easy to move as im only 4ft 10 and usually on my own.

Would sheep hurdles work? or something like they use round building sites?

Sheep hurdles are very manageable and possibly easier to get hold of than the other fencing you mentioned. I would imagine that is a nightmare to move about singlehandedly.

 

[brown tack]

I have seen those grid like fences builders use, they are about 7" high.

Check the local skip, they may have them as rubbish

 

[Charem]

I have seen those grid like fences builders use, they are about 7" high.

Check the local skip, they may have them as rubbish

They're called 'heras' fencing. I have a roundpen made out of 8 sections and they're great. You can get them off ebay second hand for around £20 a section and £5 for the feet but you often need to organise your own transport to pick them up.

 

[jennywren07]

Are they easy to move?

Re sheep herdles, ive never used (or even seen!) them before, are they easy to link together? and are they free standing or would i need to sink them into the ground? Also i'm guessing theyre sturdy enough to stand up to horse rubbing/ leaning?

 

[millimoo]

The builders security fencing mentioned above is sold on eBay all the time... Search 'security fencing' and/ or Heras

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Heras fencing you can buy on ebay here is mine round pen i mean


link to ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=heras+fencing&_frs=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m359

 

[brown tack]

They are fairly cheap as well, impressed.

 

[jennywren07]

i need something that i can move on my own and i duno if i'll manage those big heavy feet. Farmer also wont let me use anything that will kill off the grass in patches so i need something that has small feet/ base.

Think sheep hurdles will be my best bet

 

[Charem]

Admittantly (sp? i've been on the wine tonight ) they aren't the easiest to move around as they are fairly heavy but i manage on my own. Providing your horse doesn't try and jump over the hurdles i'm sure they will be fine!

 

[CBFan]

Some usefull replies...

As an asside - have you tried plaiting her mane / forelock over the headpiece of a muzzle to keep it in place?

 

[CBFan]

Another thought... rather than a pen, could you leccy fence a track ala 'paddock paradise' so she can't get a decent run up at the fence? Maybe double fence it for a while too so that she has a spread to clear rather than just one fence?

 

[jennywren07]

she doesnt "do" jumping so that should be a problem. Just runs straight through the fence, we tried double fencing but her tummy overides the shock even when plugged into the mains :/ not tryed planning the muzzle on though might give that a go tomorrow.

Never thought i'd be complaning about having too much grass over the winter i think i'll have less of a good doer next time round!!

 

[Miss L Toe]

I would be scared they would get a leg stuck in hurdles, and a horse with shoes on can get caught on a round pen. These security things are great, farmer is ultra fussy he has to accept horses are a nuisance, and owners are ultra fussy, but pay more than a few sheep,

 

[kizzywiz]

I used the security fencing for Kizzy & it worked well, some of the feet we had were rubber so I could lift those, couldn't manage the panels on my own though. I would be worried about them catching a leg in sheep hurdles, though you could easily move these by yourself as they are quite light.

 

[luckilotti]

to expand this thread a bit - hope you dont mind OP...

How many security panels will give you approx what diameter of pen??

 

[jennywren07]

hehe i don't mind, especially as it was my next question

 

[martlin]

I wouldn't risk sheep hurdles... for starters, they aren't tall enough; they are light and although easy to link together, a horse would have no trouble pushing them over. Then there is the matter of stuck legs
luckilotti - heras panels are 8 foot long I think, but you have to do the maths yourself as I already had a drink

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

if u buy rubber feet they are not so bad to move.


Anything you buy needs to be heavy enough to hold the panels. up to you but lighter fencing could be pushed over by a horse

 

[Babyaria.2016]

Hiya how many did u need to make a tidy size round pen

 

[LD&S]

Very roughly

Diameter
30' 12 panels
40' 16 panels
50' 20 panels
60' 24 panels

 

[NiceNeverNaughty]

sheep hurdles no way - even my shetlands just shove them over.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Would sheep hurdles work? or something like they use round building sites?

sheep hurdles are only 3ft high. I have a lunge pen made from alpaca hurdles-4ft high and 8ft wide and I have 20 of them. If there is someone around while she is turned out (I do use them for turn out but only when I am pooling about) and if she's not a scratcher they work well. Cattle hurdles are pretty heavy. Heras fencing I have seen used but I couldn't find any and get it delivered cheaper than the alpaca hurdles. The alpaca hurdles have been brilliant-used them for emergency geese pens and for a dog pen lol.

 

[supsup]

We have a round pen made of heras panels. The concrete feet are very heavy - difficult to move alone. I wouldn't want to move those on a regular basis (e.g. daily strip grazing). The panels themselves are pretty light, but they have to be linked to their neighbours or they will tip over, and that involves bracket with screws, so also not a completely mobile option. Lastly, those panels are not great quality and the wire mesh tends to come off the frame pretty easily, leaving you with sharp bits of wire sticking out. The mesh is also soft enough that a horse kicking at it may well bend it enough for a hoof to slip between the wires. In short, I don't turn my horse out in the round pen for any length of time unsupervised.

In your shoes, I think I would try to retrain my horse to respect the fence. Have you tried tall 5ft stakes with many (at least 3, better more) strands of tape? They are less likely to just run at the fence if they have to touch it first with their face. If they can't hang their neck over the top or stick it between the strands, they are more likely to get a good zap on the face.

I guess the other thing you could try are easier to move hurdles/builders panels (the bright red plastic kind) outside an electric fence, to act purely as a deterrent for running through the fence, but relying on the electric still to keep the horse away from the hurdles (so they don't get pushed over).