Working Equitation Obstacle – Inner Pen idea
We’re continually looking at new ideas for our Working Equitation obstacles. Ways to make them better – easier to set up, safer, less expensive, better looking. We’ve used several options for the Livestock Pen over the years. Our favorite for training purposes is simple, cheap and effective – it’s cones. For our licensed shows we pull out the extravagant pen. In the past we’ve used metal garden panels held together with bamboo poles (for safety). This was nice to look at but a pain to set up and store.
The newest idea we came up with is using plastic lattice panels available at any garden center. The panels are 2′ x 8′ long so the inner pen requires 4 panels. They were about $12 each. We (Mike) then took a 6″ x 6″ post and cut four 24″ tall bases, stained them to match the rest of our obstacles. He then cut slots in each post with a table saw to slide the lattice pieces into them. He left the weight to the inside to help balance the panels and make it flatter to the outside of the pen. He then notched the lattice as you’ll see in the picture to allow the decorative 6″ x 6″ cap to hold the lattice in place. The nice thing about this inner pen is there are no sharp corners and if bumped hard enough it will all fall apart.
