Warning on gates, panels and round pens

[DianneC]

Just wanted to mention that a QH breeder lost their much loved stallion in a horrible accident. They had moved and put him in a temporary pen with the type of stock panels that are rounded at the top while his permanent pen was being constructed. They heard a commotion and went out to find him hanging by his leg with his hoof caught between the panels. He apparently had reared and his foot slid between the rounded tops of two panels and he was caught. He had to be put down. If you have this type of paneling I think there are caps that can fit over the tops to prevent this from happening.
We had a filly get her head stuck between a post and a gate this same way. Fortunately I was there and was able to shove her head up and out of it. After that a rope was anchored to the post and tied tightly to the top of the gate to prevent a gap there.

[Michelle Clarke]

I have seen some pretty good messes with folks who make roundpens out of cheaper panels and they have gaps in between....getting halter ropes while riding or even reins caught in them. I have seen those caps that go over the pens to close them up, I forget what magazine they were advertised in. If I remember right, they were like $10 each.

[nightangel]

Ohh how sad. My mom has a friend who adopted a BLM mustang and left the halter on it (duh!) after she got it home, and it got the halter stuck on the fence and freaked out. She went outside later that afternoon and found him hanging from the fence dead.

On a brighter note, I have been working on a huge project since the fall- building a round pen. Its about 45x60 feet and a little more that 5 feet tall. It is still under construction, it needs one more row on the bottom and the rest of the tops of the posts need to be cut off. The ground is not perfectly level but its quite close. I think its turning out nice, and I can't find much wrong with it. I have a few pictures that were taken a couple weeks ago...

[lwood92]

Looks like you have done a really great job on it!

[nrly]

nice job, show us the pictures of it done and you working your horse in it ok?
nola