Re: Spooking / round pen work

[Sue Brown <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

>1.  The round pen is an artificial environment, under controlled conditions
>which have very little correlation with what the rider or horse will
>experience on the trail or even, for that matter, in an arena; and
>
>2.  The rider is on the ground, and not riding the horse.  I honestly
>believe that a horse's reactions to certain stimuli is different when he has
>a rider on his back to when he doesn't.
>
>
>I would therefore, somewhat tentatively, suggest that it can sometimes be a
>little dangerous for a rider to achieve confidence inside a ring - it can
>make a rider over-confident and unprepared for what he / she might face
>under uncontrolled conditions.

Round pen work is a small part of a horse's training...oftentimes a very
early start that can be extremely beneficial for both the horse and the
trainer.  It establishes trust and a good work ethic and partnership fairly
quickly -- but the work in the round pen (the philosophies associated there
with) are a start...not the extent of the training.

I have had a round pen for nearly 20 years -- during which time I had 14 of
my own horses in various stages of training (usually 5-7 at a time) and
various other horses (dozens) in the barn over the years that worked
according the accepted philosophies here.  I got the round pen built
originally because of the concept of free lunging young horses who are more
sensitive, spooky, nervous, very green, and so on in a round pen instead of
an arena...and all I ever seemed to get were the ultra green, ultra
sensitive, or poorly trained!!  The reason they work better than a large,
square enclosure is that they don't have corners to dive into (which makes
them panic) or evade to (and have the opportunity to turn their butt
towards you...and not necessarily because they intend to kick...still not
the end you want to approach on fresh, green, unknown horse) when you
simply ask them to move around.  

The whole concept of the exercise is for them to learn to listen to you,
obey you, and, return communication...and do this willingly, happily, and
in a relaxed manner.  One of my mentors (James Conlin -- former jockey from
Ireland, barn manager and head trainer for the US Navy horses in Rota,
Spain for 20 years, classical rider, and true, true horseman) led me thru
training sensitive green horses...mostly TBs or crosses.  He was adamant
about not letting green horses get overly excited because their learning
capacity severely diminished.  Because of the nature of horses, he was also
adamant that you establish your role as boss...and this was done by doling
out a HUGE amount of praise (no edible treats, tho) for good responses,
responding with a stern voice or game show buzzer noise for incorrect
answer, and responding with a harsh voice and serious body language for
reactions or behavior that could be deemed dangerous.  In essence, you have
established yourself as boss...the horse is required to behave in the way
that you request.  Not "natural" in the sense that I am not actually a
*horse*...but natural in the sense that it imitates boss horse behaviors.  

We have always had  pastures (about 2-3 acres each) with several (usually
3-5) horses together and we've studied their interactions in pretty good
depth over the years (a favorite form of entertainment! ;-))  One of the
things we've watched has been the role of the boss horse.  Usually a stern
look or a lowering of the ears is enough to dissuade the errant underling
to keep it's place...sometimes it takes a butt swing or a squeal...most of
the time there is peace.  However, when the boss horse says move, the
respectful underling quietly obeys...and life is in perfect harmony.  The
horse doesn't really care where he lies in the hierarchy, he just wants to
know what his position is.  He doesn't understand human communication, he
only understands horse.  The human has to talk "horse"...and part of that
is establishing where they each stand in the hierarchy.  If the human
establishes his higher level according to how the horse can understand, the
horse will accept the human as the boss very quickly. 

How the round pen enters the picture is that you can keep the horse in an
area that is a minimum for a horse to safely go in circles (60'), has no
corners, and you can keep the horse at a good distance for communicating.
We use it primarily for free lunging and find that we can reach that space
between their ears during free lunging in a round enclosure quite nicely.
Being herd animals, they *want* to be accepted by you...even when they are
being nervous and acting like ditzels.  They are willing to follow your
lead if you will let them be your herd -- and they are in an area where you
are not ever far away, so the urge is fairly strong.  You use this to
establish your position (boss) in this mini herd. 

We NEVER free lunge in the covered, rectangular shaped arena when they're
green or nervous...they don't know the routine well enough and it seems to
upset them or confuse them a bit too much.  They can do it when they're
older and they know what's expected of them...they don't get nervous or
excited and have accepted you in the role of boss...they listen and obey
willingly.  If I have a green, nervous, or sensitive horse in the arena,
they are always on a line and always tuned to me as much as I am able...and
in the most relaxed, responsive way possible.

These are philosophies that have worked for us...and we've been using this
method of training green, sensitive (and yes, spooky) horses long before
"Round Pen Reasoning" and so on became a "popular" phrase.  The
philosophies have always been there...they are natural because they follow
the nature of horses.  We are asking them to do things they would not
normally do in the wild...but not things they are incapable of doing or
would necessarily find distasteful or stressful.  A big part of that is to
be the underling in a herd of two, one of whom is a human...and to accept
this human as Boss Hoss. ;-)

I haven't read Marv's bonding paper yet so I can't comment on that (sorry
Marv...too many work hours lately <g>) but I've read Marv's comments on
many different occasions on another list and they've been historically very
solid.

Sue  
-------
Sue Brown
Tyee Farm
ARICP Certified Riding Instructor
Recreational Riding and Dressage
Marysville, Wa. 
sbrown@wamedes.com