Re: Portable Corrals

["Glenda R. Snodgrass" <grs@theneteffect.com>]

> Hi, was wondering if anyone had any preferences on metal portable corrals.

I have the metal portable corral from Farnam, and I love it.  I bought the
8 panel set plus 4 extra panels, so I have an 18'x18' corral when it's all
set up.  The panels are surprisingly lightweight and easy for one person
to handle.  At Long Leaf, my first try, I was able to unload the 12 panels
and set the pen up in about 15 minutes, all alone, to the great surprise
of the guy in the next campsite watching me. :)

It can be tricky to set up alone, though, if you're in an open field,
because it's hard to get it started when you don't have anything to lean
the first couple panels against until you have enough of them to sustain
the structure (kinda hard to explain, but they only have one "leg" per
panel, so they're shorter on one side than the other, so you have to have
several of them connected before they'll stand up alone).  You can use a
5-gal bucket to hold up the short end, and do a few contortions with your
body to support the rest of it while you're getting it started :)) --
after the first few panels, it's easy.  It's much easier, however, if you
can set it up with a tree in the corner of the pen, and lean the panels up
against it to get started -- or find someone willing to hold one end for 
5 minutes till you get it going. 

They're pretty big & awkward storage-wise, though.  They come with metal
brackets to hang them outside the trailer, but I have a tiny WW 2H BP and
it's too short for the panels to go outside.  I had a carpenter friend
make a wooden crate that I can stack them in, and they go in the other
side of the trailer with Lakota (I only haul one horse to rides).  I
secure them to the inside wall of the trailer on each end with a chain &
turnbuckle, and I put sticky foam tape (like you use on the underside of a
camper shell) in pieces on the panels, so they don't clang together.  It
seems to be a pretty stable, quiet way to carry them (but only works if
you only haul one horse like I do). 

Lakota seems to be perfectly happy in this corral.  He doesn't play with 
it at all.  It seems pretty sturdy.  You can stand on the lower rung and 
push the leg into the ground if you want to make it sturdier, especially 
on uneven terrain.  I put it up at my barn for 2 weeks for an injured 
horse to stay in, and this guy is a mess, pawing and playing with 
everything, and he didn't manage to do any serious damage to it (just 
scratched it up pretty good) -- never did knock it over or anything like 
that.  

The metal corrals cost more and take up more storage space than the 
electric fences, but most people seem to think they are safer, and should 
last a good long time.  I'm very happy with mine.

Glenda & Lakota
Moble, AL