Round Pen - The Experiment

by Yvonne McGregor

I started Greyboy in the round pen. My first time, his first time. He is a 9 year old Arab. I have owned him for three years. I ride him often and he is good, but I lacked his respect. I tried many different methods of training over the three years and none really got me the respect we both needed to create the perfect relationship.

The round pen that I was working in was 90'. Much too big as Clint Anderson had pointed out in his videos. I was tired in 45 minutes and had to quit. The first 30 minutes Greyboy did not make inside turns. He would turn away. When he turned away I was quick to turn him back the way he came. There were two spots in the arena where he would try and turn on his own. One of the areas was by the gate, the other towards his buddies in the corral. During this time I got a few good turns. Meaning he turned to the inside.

His bad side is going to the left or counter clock-wise. When I step in front of his drive line I have to step all the way to the fence line to get his attention. I would then step back to draw his eye to me. So the turns were not flowing at this point. At the 45 minute mark I could do no more. I knew I had to end on a good note. As he was traveling clockwise, I stepped in front of the drive line and once he looked at me I stepped back and he faced me. I clucked to him and he took one step forward. I then approached him and started to rub his face. If he took his head away from me I would step back, then he would give me his face again. I learned quite a bit from this one lesson. I learned that I crowd him and that is why he turns his head away.

I gave him more room when I was standing at his head and he would leave it there more comfortably.