How to Round Pen a Horse

Starting a young horse? Need to tune up your horse's ground training? Do you have a problem horse? Round penning is a great training tool for all disciplines and all horses.Round penning teaches horses to respect you, one of the most valuable lessons as far as safety and trainability. The exercises below use body language—horse body language—to establish your authority over the horse. If you are just starting a young horse, round penning will create a good base of respect in your horse for future training; he will learn to pay attention to what you want him to do, and that will trickle down through all his future training.Round penning is also very useful if you have an older horse, perhaps with some behavioral problems such as crowding you on the ground, refusing to be caught in the pasture, or not paying attention to you under saddle. The following exercises will help your horse return her focus to you, respecting your body and your commands, both on the ground and under saddle.Because you will be working with a loose horse in an enclosed area, you should always wear a helmet when round penning, to prevent injury.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Safe round pen
• Lunge whip
• Helmet

1. Leaving only the horse's halter on, release him into the round pen. Close the gate, and step to the center of the pen with the lunge whip. If he is a young horse, or just fresh, he will likely start running around the pen. He may also be calling to his mates, looking outside the pen.If he does not immediately start moving around the pen, push him along by raising the whip toward his hindquarters and stepping toward him. You may cluck or kiss to move him forward, but the body language here is most important. If he still does not respond, escalate your body language by stepping forward, waving the whip a bit, perhaps slapping it against the ground. Keep moving toward the horse's hindquarters—while keeping far enough away to avoid being kicked should he strike out.

2. Once your horse is moving forward around the pen, hold your whip still and merely turn with his movement in the center of the pen. Allow him to circle the pen a few times. You will want to maintain a "V" position as you follow your horse's movements. Consider your body as the bottom point on the "V", the horse's head and hindquarters as the top points. When moving your horse forward, you will simply want to hold the lunge whip pointed at the horse's hindquarters, forming one side of the "V". Do not snap the whip or wave it at your horse: simply follow his movement.

3. Your horse should be moving around the round pen, but she will likely be paying very little attention to you. The next step in turning her attention to you is to simply change his direction.Though the following actions are broken down individually, you will need to complete them simultaneously, to be as clear as possible in your body language. The actions will be much smoother the more you round pen your horse.Action 1: Switch the lunge whip, currently held pointed toward his hindquarters, to the other side of the "V". Hold it pointed just in front of the horse's nose.Action 2: Step decisively along the path of the whip, toward the horse's nose.The objective here is to "herd" your horse; you are stepping in front of his forward motion, directing it elsewhere. If he continues moving forward, again escalate your movement by stepping closer, perhaps slapping the whip against the ground. You may have to wait until your horse makes her next trip around the round pen.At this point, your horse will likely be turning away from you as she changes direction. Be sure to stay out of striking range. Once she is moving in the new direction, move back to the center of the pen and re-establish your "V" position.It is important to be very confident and decisive in your movements—tentative movements will be confusing for the horse, and will not gain the respect you are looking for.

4. Allow your horse to move around the pen in the new direction for two or three rounds. Re-establish your "V", pointing the whip at her hindquarters and following her movement.Repeat Step 3 several times, changing direction until your horse begins to turn her attention from the outside of the pen to you. Gradually decrease the time between direction changes, until she is only making it halfway around the pen before changing direction again.

5. Once you have a bit of your horse's attention, begin asking her to change direction by turning toward you.This step requires a bit of subtlety in your movements, and may take a few tries to master. Again, that's all right—the more you round pen, the more easily you will be able to "speak" your horse's body language.Now, when you ask for the change of direction, your horse should be expecting it, responding much more quickly when you ask for the change. At this point, you have "trained" her to turn to the outside when you step toward his head, so he will likely continue turning that way until he understands your new request.The actions for this step are the same as for Step 3, but you need to modify them a bit. Instead of chasing or herding your horse into the change of direction, make it a request. Give her more room to make the change. Instead of stepping toward her nose, step toward the outside of the pen a couple of strides ahead of him. Open your body toward the new direction, encouraging her to turn toward the center of the pen.He will likely turn to the outside several times. If he turns to the outside, only allow him to get halfway around the pen before asking for another change of direction.If he does turn to the inside of the pen, praise him vocally and return to the center of the pen. Re-establish your "V" and allow him several turns around the pen, letting him rest a bit.

6. Repeat Step 5 until your horse is consistently turning toward the inside of the pen when you ask for a change of direction.By now, your horse should be tiring, and consistently looking to you to tell her where to move. If she is not, or if she chooses to turn to the outside, be sure to quickly ask her to change direction to the inside again.

7. Once your horse is consistently turning to the inside, paying close attention to your movements, you can begin asking her to come to a halt.The actions will be the same as the cue to change direction to the inside. Step in front of your horse, blocking her forward motion. This time, however, do not immediately follow her when she moves off in the new direction. Instead, you will move to change direction as quickly as possible. Do not let her go more than halfway around the pen before changing direction again.If she pauses, looking at you, lower the whip and be still, praising her. If she looks away from you, immediately raise the whip and move her away again. This tells her that if she is not paying attention to you, she has to work.Continue this step until your horse stops in front of you, looking at you and only you.

8. The next step in round penning your horse is to transition from the halt to having the horse follow you around, asking what you want with her every movement.Once she is halted, looking at you consistently and steadily, move around her. With your whip lowered, step softly toward her hindquarters. She should follow your movements with her head, even stepping toward you. Praise her for these movements.If at any point she looks or steps away from you, ask her to move forward around the round pen, and work through Step 7 again until you have regained her undivided attention.

9. Eventually, your horse will be so focused on you that she will follow your every movement around the pen. You can turn away from her, and she will follow with her nose to your back. Try halting her, stepping close and turning her in tight circles by moving toward her hindquarters. You can even ask her to step backwards by moving toward her chest.You will notice that your horse respects your personal space, and awaits your cues to tell her how and where to move. This respect will translate to better ground manners, and you will be able to lead and handle her in a much easier manner. In addition, your horse will be more focused on you under saddle, paying more attention to your cues.Round penning can be done at any point in training, whether you use it to start a young horse or tune-up a trained mount.

Tips & Warnings

• Always be confident and decisive in your cues and movements. Tentative cues confuse the horse, working against you.
• Your body language is more important than the lunge whip. Horses can be round penned without a whip at all; body language alone is enough to gain the horse's attention and respect, as long as the communication is clear.
• Round penning does not have to be accomplished all in one day. Young horses and problematic horses in particular may require several sessions, and frequent tune-ups.
• If you find your horse falling in on the circle as she moves around the pen, simply wave your whip a little toward the middle of her body, around where the girth would lie. You may step toward the middle of her body. This will gently push her out toward the edge of the round pen.
• Always ensure you are a safe distance away should the horse rear, kick, or otherwise strike out. Your horse may express some resistance to the round pen training, and striking out is horse language for "Knock it off—I'm bigger than you." If a horse strikes out, ask him to move forward faster, and vocally reprimand him—thus replying "Nope, I'm the biggest one here."

Resources

• Build a Round Pen
• Natural Horse Round Penning

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