Round yard Pro’s and Con’s

There has been much debate lately about the usefulness and the humanity of working horses in a round yard. The negative or anti side of the debate argue that working in a round yard is largely just chasing a horse until it becomes too tired or too annoyed to keep running and starts to look for ways to make the handler leave it alone or to avoid said work or annoyance.

Kendric our stallion working in a round yard.

The same people also claim that one should delete the flight response in a horse not encourage it. They claim that using said round-yard is not good for helping the horses mind and is not good for “how the horse feels”.

Granted there are no doubt people out there who use a round-yard in the manner described above but again it is a case of the tool being blamed for its poor use.

Many of the correspondents crying foul on the subject of round-yards claim life for the horse is much better in a square yard where it can not discover its ability to use flight as an evasion and therefore keep the horse with the human. They also in a couple of articles I have read claim that the corners in the square yard better encourage the horse to balance and not just rush round with the horse dropping his shoulder in.

They mostly write these articles without listing any benefits whatsoever for its use. This is possibly due to either ignorance, a want to show the world that they have a better way or from lack of exposure to its use in a good and effective manner.
In the rest of this article I will try to address some of the concerns expressed by the lobby against round-yard work or round penning as it is known in other parts of the world.

First off I would like to say that the demographic of the people who are against round pen work seems to be one of very little exposure to un handled grown horses. The fact is that a round-yard’s use with these types of horse is paramount to the safety and well being of the horse. Its not to trap it or delete the flight response but to give it somewhere to go if it feels it must. These horses feel trapped in a smaller area and in corners and the chances of them hurting themselves or the handler are high. I’m afraid that the “easy boy, easy boy” approach and retreat with the back of the hand held out most often wont work with these ones unless of course its on the movies. Trapped horses of this nature panic easily and will jump a fence if they have nowhere tho go. They tend to stay much calmer in a situation where they can move unless someone has chased them around with uneducated attempts to join up with them in the past for that is what comes naturally to them. Personally I like to get a rope on them as early as their fear of my presence will allow and help them to understand that slowing, relaxing, turning in and giving a little all get them a release from the small pressures they are under. Chasing something with this amount of fear is just proving to it that you are what they expected you to be.

Are there times when chasing a horse is necessary? When working with a spoiled horse that has learned how to push people around and has no idea of his responsibilities where our space etc. is concerned. Often it is easier to work them off the lead rope and teach them to move away a little . This reduces some of the ability for a horse to resist in the ways he has been taught by generally well meaning handlers and gives us an alternative start that does not involve being walked on or run over. Sometimes the benefits have to go the human’s way although not pulling people about or being pulled about by his head is definitely an advantage for the horse.

When starting young horses of any background one of the major aspects of their education is teaching them that it is ok to move forward and lose the resistance that they may have in this regard. Being able to let the horse move without the need for steering them and without them getting stuck in corners is a definite advantage. Most good trainers put as much or more credence in this than into any other aspect of a first ride or two. A round-yard is the perfect environment for this.

Deleting the fear response is something a good trainer does not have to do. A good horseman knows the difference between a horse that is moving in a relaxed, forward and balanced fashion and one that is running from fear. If the fear is of the trainer then they and they somehow are trying to delete it then they probably lack somewhere in their ability to help the horse not feel trapped. My philosophy in everything a horse learns is that it is much better to let the horse learn that it has nothing to be afraid of than to bully it into a fear of resisting. Unfortunately horses that have learned to resist for reasons other than fear can then take a little convincing. For the fearful ones just take away the need to be fearful.

Although a little liberty work can be advantageous with some horses the majority by far of the round pen work that I do is with a connection to the horse in the form of a halter and longer type lead rope. I often make the form of the work squares or rectangles regardless of where I work them and it does help them to learn to steer and balance correctly.

Round penning for join-up or hooking-on purposes can be very advantageous and there is no harm in it if all goes well. Remember if need be you can achieve the same result on the end of a rope. There are a couple of times in my life I have met horses that have learned to just run and keep on running from failed previous attempts. These horses could not be caught in a round pen and jumped fences anywhere else. You may need some help to get a rope on these so you can get a start.

I am not a fan of the practice of letting a horse go at liberty on first saddling but like to keep them on a rope where I can help them if need be. Whilst most horses can learn to deal with this on their own I have seen some very frightened by the experience. It can take a good deal of work to help a horse overcome a bad experience with this.

Another poor use of a round-yard is the practice of trying to make a horse fit in one. Some breeds and conformation types don’t do well with lots of small circles in heavy sand and can harm their hocks, stifles or hips. Use it as a learning area not a gym.

Without good management a horse under saddle can become arena sour. Riding in a round pen is a great way to speed up this process. It needs to be kept to a minimum.

Round-yards are a great place to work on horses for the reasons I have listed above. Use them responsibly and with the appropriate amount of empathy for the horse.