roundyard, round pen, horse, training

Building a relationship in the Round pen

Andrew and Rock have spent hours together

As I sat down to write this second article on building a relationship with a horse in the round pen I could not move past the word relationship. It struck me that we need to understand what a relationship with a horse means, before we can even think about getting in the round pen. I’ll give you an example. My demonstration horse is called Rock. I have spent thousands of hours with Rock and when I work with him, I have a huge feeling of confidence and love for what we have together. You can see the results of this relationship expressed in the round yard. When I ask him to do something, he does it as quickly as he possibly can. When I ask him to come to me, he’s explosive, cantering in and slamming on the brakes at the very last minute with impeccable timing, both of us trusting the other because of the hours spent together. This is the sort of relationship I strive for with every horse, one in which my horse wants to be with me and strives to please me. I want that feeling when we are together of pride, confidence and trust in my horse. I want to really enjoy being together.

So what are the skills we need to form a deeper relationship with our horse? Self control, patience, trust, respect, understanding and FEEL and without these skills, there will be no relationship. When teaching a horse, these skills are key to success. When working in the round pen, you need to remain calm and relaxed, in control of yourself as well as confident in what you are doing. When you start to feel frustrated, and it will happen, bear in mind that losing control now means you will lose everything you have been working towards. In just a few seconds, your horse will become more wary of being around you and your relationship will take a backwards step.

Other factors in building this relationship is spending time with your horse. How many hours a week do you spend with him? We have to hang out with people before we can start to respect, trust and understand them and the same applies to horses. The more time you spend with them, the better the results. Variety is another factor. No horse will like us if we drill them in the dressage arena every day. Try to vary your work with your horse so he doesn’t get bored. Praising your horse is also very important. I use my voice with expression and meaning to bring out his personality, along with constant rubbing and stroking. When you rub your horse, do you rub as a token gesture or do you really mean it? Can they feel how you feel? It’s very much like people, if someone tells you all day you are really cool, you start believing it. We can give a horse so much confidence and boldness so that they will want to follow us anywhere.

The round yard is one aid towards building this special relationship. But before you step into it, you need to know what to look for. There is no such thing as a horse whisperer, it’s all about learning how to read and understand our horse. Horses are always talking to us in their own way. What we have to do is read what they are saying. If the horse’s head is high, this is telling us he’s pretty tense and alert. What we want to see is the head to lower, drop and relax. The ears tell us where the attention is. Often when you are riding you will see one ear forward in the direction you are travelling and the other back listening to us in the saddle. This is what we want to see in the round yard. If we haven’t got the horse’s attention, we have nothing and that’s key when it comes to keeping us safe. For example, if your horse gets a fright, that’s OK. But he needs to know where we are so that he can move away from us, never into us.

Often when working in the round pen, we will hear a big sigh. This is positive as most horses are filled with tension which needs to be released. The tension acts like an extra weight the horse is carrying around and a sigh is one way it can be released. Another sign to look for is the horse licking his lips. Often when we see a foal meet a larger horse, the foal will start chewing and licking. He’s saying “I’m only little, please don’t hurt me”. It’s a submissive signal to show that we are dominant over the horse. It is also a sign that the horse is starting to understand what we are asking of it. Later on in training, the horse will start licking upon finishing a task. This is great to see; it’s telling us it knows it’s done what we wanted before we have rewarded it. Finally, what we are looking for in a horse with a good attitude is the horse’s head dropping, his eyes will close more often and his veins around his head will become more obvious. His eyes will soften, and his face will look more expressive and happy. This means he is in a good frame of mind and very keen to please.