Round pen construction is a bear.

With the base done, it was finally time to put up the super awesome, extra-tall, extra-heavy duty round pen that we purchased.... 3 months ago.  Yes, after sitting on the concrete apron of the shop since October, it is finally up.

And I never want to do that again!  As usual, when needing help with something awful, I call the only reliable person I know (that will do truly shitty things with me)-Brendan.  God love him.

It took about 6-7 trips with panels loaded onto the back of his Dodge, dropping them off on the base.

I thought getting all the panels to the base would be the EASY part.  Har-har-har.

Getting that thing to be a CIRCLE and not tipping in all wonky was a trick.  We got it UP, but then looked at our "circle" which was more like a drunk oval.  Then we measured and spray painted the ground, and had to pretty much un-pin each panel and re-do it. (Also, it's supposed to be 70' in diameter and it was NOT.  It was like, 71-72, which really will mess your measurements up!)

Is it 100% perfect?  Straight up and down, and completely precise circle?  No.  But we did awesome, and it totally kicked my ass.  What I can't post on the blog is all the bruises all over my body.  1.) just from moving it 2.) a panel fell on top of me.  That was scary and sucked.  But when you have two vertically challenged people put up a round pen that's 6' 2", and each panel is 100+ lbs...  I'm proud of us, and my friendship debt to B. is even deeper!

I don't have a great picture of the finished product.  But, there will be lots of those, since the very next day I got to start working the horses, again!!!  *happy dance*