June 2008 Archives

This past March I sent my 3-year old quarter horse to training and in 20 days he will be back home in my yard. Now before you say, wow that's a long time, I must explain...I dropped him off at the trainers on March 1st and broke my hand on March 2nd, so Olly (that's his name) got to stay in for an extra month so I had time to heal. I would also like to add, if you can afford to let your horse spend more time with your trainer, do it, you will not be sorry.

When Olly comes home I would like to keep doing the same exercise warm-up routine that I have been doing for the past month. The only problem is the ranch he is at has a nice lunge pen to use for warm up and I do not. So after a few weeks of begging my husband we have plans to move around some dirt and build a lunge pen. Here's the problem, what size lunge pen do I get, and how do I know what size panels to use.

The first question is easy, at least it is for me because I have limited room. I can only fit a 30' in diameter arena in my back yard. Good thing too, because any smaller of an exercise area would not be enough room for Olly to stretch his legs and lope.

The second question is kind of tough. I mean of course I could call up a place that sells lounge pens and ask how many panels I need to have a 30' pen, but how do they know? So I "googled" it! Thanks to www.AskDrMath.com and 2 years of calculus I was able to figure it out. Okay, so I don't really remember much about calculus except how to use a scientific calculator, but that was enough.

Instead of boring you with the math, here are the answers, however if you want to know the formula, see my equation attached. Lunge Pen.pdf

30' Lunge Pen
8 - Panel Round Pen; each panel must be 12'
6 - Panel Round Pen; each panel must be 15'
10 - Panel Round Pen; each panel must be 8'

If you have more room and want a bigger exercise area, shoot me an email, I will happy to dust off my TI-85 and help you out.

Happy Trails!
Mary