Round pen drainage

[ljjhouser]

Use a "FRENCH CURTAIN" Dig a trench from the wet area under the fence to the low area. Fill the trench with coarse rock or use drainage tile, cover it with a barrier (some use 30# roofing felt) to keep the rock clean. It will drain to the low area. Cover top with dirt and seed. Research - French curtain.

It is good that you now know where the water needs to be drained. And probably good that it is close to the fence area downhill.

 

[Egon]

We've got the panels and a coupla gates ready for the round pen. Not gonna mess with those till we get the footing done, tho'. We set it up temporarily just to see if we liked the size and layout. Worked nicely. Are there any specifics to the "stone dust" or is that the "official" name for it a quarry would recognize? We have Vulcan in our AO.
I noticed the RR ties on the outside. She had talked about some planking fastened to the outer bottoms of the panels to contain the sand. Is one better than the other?

Egon- It pretty much had a natural slope to it already. The strange thing being that it went from orange "sandy" clay up near the pine tree to red sticky clay near the fence.

Does the whole circle have a positive drainage gradient to the outside?

 

[Schneeky]

Not sure. In the pic you can see that all the water collects at the "bottom" of the circle.
Does that qualify? I'm kinda thinkin if I can find a way to let water out and keep sand or whatever ends up being used for footing in I'll be good.
Had a busy day with things to do and just now gettin to checkin into some of the suggestions..
Thanks much for y'all's input!

 

[r porter]

with very much fall your sand will always wash out.

also dont forget that there will always be a worn area from working your stock that will hamper drainage if you dont have a french drain and tile.

 

[dirttoys]

Does the whole circle have a positive drainage gradient to the outside?

this is the key to success. Get the center 18" above grade, and let the grade fall all directions to at least a mowers width outside the fence. If you do this it will be hard to go wrong, if you don't it will be hard to get it right.

I know in spot fabric does great at keeping media from mixing with soil, but, I always worry about going through it with a blade or bucket.

Best,

ed

 

[r porter]

i almost have a crown on my pen with just a few degrees down on one side and the sand will flow down hill.

18 inches will not make it easy to work your animal. it may drain but you will cuss it. you want the horse to work naturally and a slope will interfere with commands. also horses hate something above them- it is a predator thing. you want to be on their level to communicate properly.

just so you know. every few years i take the pen down and use a blade to bring the sand back. also i use my tiller to till the pen once a year.

 

[Schneeky]

Thanks for the replies fellas.. Still takin it all in and gettin input from local horse folk as well.
I'm headed to the woods for a few days while I wait for it to dry out from that rain. I cut a slot at the bottom of the circle to let the water out. It wasn't going down much at all on it's own.
It drained down to just a lil wet mud with the slot and it's s'posed to be dry for a while now.

 

[Egon]

Thanks for the replies fellas.. Still takin it all in and gettin input from local horse folk as well.
I'm headed to the woods for a few days while I wait for it to dry out from that rain. I cut a slot at the bottom of the circle to let the water out. It wasn't going down much at all on it's own.
It drained down to just a lil wet mud with the slot and it's s'posed to be dry for a while now.

That slot might just do it for you.

 

[ponytug]

This isn't construction advice, but here are some free advice tips on design for equine safety and behavior. For equine soundness, you want the round pen flat, level, and with enough sand, or rounded pea gravel but not too much. Pea gravel drains much, much better, and doesn't compact much to speak of. If you end up with tenderness in the equine soles, then there are farrier / stall footing issues. Having all of your loafing areas in pea gravel will help toughen up he soles. If the round pen footing gets deep, you run the risk of torquing/tweaking tendons, especially with young or high strung stock, which are usually the ones you have in the round one anyway. I would also point out that a larger diameter pen is better, as it keeps the turning forces on the horses lower. Finally, if you can, make the walls solid all the way up to 6-7'. It will help enormously when training as the horses will be much less distracted by motion outside of the round pen.

Definitely put a solid 18-24" of 2x at ground level as a "kick board" to keep your sand and gravel in the pen.

Yes, we do all of our own hoof care and have done so for close to twenty years, while putting on tens of thousands miles on the trails with our equine companions. Keeping horses sound is a big deal for us.

All the best,

Peter