You want your round pen no smaller than 50' to avoid leg damage and no larger than 60' so you can maneuver the horse.
I recently read an article written by someone not very versed in the usage of a round pen and the mind of the horse. There are several different applications for the round pen in a horses’ training. For me the round pen provides a safe classroom to begin all horses on a line of respect, communication, and trust.
Safety is a huge benefit of the round pen for starting a new horse. I can work with the horse and not be attached to a panicky 1500 pound animal and they are free to ‘leave’ if they feel too much pressure. Being round keeps them from getting into a corner and then trying to climb out or getting hurt trying to run through the fence.
If the horse does not respect you, you will not go far in his training. Respect has to be earned, don’t confuse it with fear which is a debilitating emotion. That first day the horse knows nothing about me good or bad, and could really care less about the requests I make of it. The round pen allows me to set up lessons that build on one another starting with the horse learning first off that I will be assuming lead horse position. When two bodies occupy a space one will lead, like it or not and I have found horses make dangerous leaders for humans. Bit by bit the horse begins to respect me as I lead it through lessons that get into the horses’ mind and do not harm him.
As time progresses the horse accepts my position and even happily gives the burden to me. There is a lot of responsibility that goes with the lead horse position and most horses are more than happy to have someone else deal with it. At this point the horse settles down and begins to understand that I am trying to communicate my desires to them. They start looking to me to see what it is they should do next and each time an exercise is completed and they come out unharmed, their trust grows.
Jodi helping her daughter teach her horse round pen lessons 'come to me.'
Now, this is an awesome responsibility for me for it is at this time the horse can really grow mentally and emotionally or I can lose it all in a few easy mistakes. It can be a delicate situation to determine if a response from the horse is defiance or fear. If I react to a response of fear to strongly I will lose some of the trust from the horse and cause confusion. If the horse is not corrected for defiant behavior they will become more difficult to work with. The round pen offers the perfect environment for me to learn how each horse thinks and responds to pressure.
When used correctly the round pen is a priceless tool for working a horse and I only covered the first weeks of training. There are times later in training where we go back to the round pen to work under saddle as well. However, just like a bit, saddle, rope, whip or any other tool, if it is used incorrectly it can do harm to the horse physically, mentally as well as emotionally. It is not the tool that is at fault, it is the uneducated person.
