Today we decided to work on a total saddle up in the round pen with nothing holding Halo’s feet still. One thing you should always consider when working a horse like this is that just because they did well the day before, doesn’t mean they’ll pick up in the same spot the following day.
I’ve actually found that it takes 4 or 5 round pen sessions before they consistently join up and act right. The first few times they’ll try to run away no matter how good they did before. While we’re on the topic, what exactly do I mean when I say “Join Up”? If you can imagine walking your horse on a lead line and they’re following along behind you, then imagine the same thing without the lead line or halter. When you get your horse trained in the round pen they will do this naturally without having to tie anything to them.
As expected, Halo took flight almost immediately and seemed content with running. This brings me to another point though. When you’re working your horse in the round pen, the goal is not to get them tired, sweaty, and worn out. The goal is to teach them something before they die. So if you get your horse running crazy and they won’t stop, you need to start making them change directions sooner and in between those turns, walk directly away from them.
Turning your back to them relieves the pressure and should get them to stop running. To be clear, if their feet move, you make them move more around the pen, but we’re only looking for a couple of trips in each direction with the turns being towards us not away. After those two trips, we’ll turn our back to them and try to get them to join up. Then the entire process starts back at step 1 and we try again.
Let’s talk a bit more about the joining up thing. If you get your horse to turn and face you but they are not following you. The best course of action is to walk towards their hindquarters and see if they will turn and face you again. Without turning towards them, kiss to them and see if they turn or run. If they run then you’re back to your two trips around. If they turn, then continue to walk towards their hind end, and have them continue to turn. Eventually, they’ll start following you.
Now back to Halo. I got busy and handed her off to Ethan to finish up. The goal was the saddle and standing thing, but first I wanted him to climb all over her bareback. He walked around both sides and climbed on until she stood there and never moved, other than getting her balance.
Once we finished making sure she was totally comfortable with him climbing all over her back like that, we shifted to putting a blanket and saddle on her. Keep in mind that each one is a separate step. First, we place the blanket and have her join up for a few turns, then we move to the saddle and do the same. However, Halo started running again with the blanket so we started back over with the entire process.
I have found that it is best to get in your mind that you’re going to exercise your horse in the round pen and not focus on any particular goal. This way you don’t get frustrated when she’s acting out, because she is getting lots of exercise. When she does everything right there is little exercise being done.
Just remember, your horse is learning, you don’t want them to learn (or think) that you want them to run around the pen. So we’re not chasing them or even letting them run. We’re making them turn and do things along the way with the goal of them joining up. Don’t let them run until exhausted because you’re teaching them the wrong thing.
Eventually, she figured everything out and Ethan saddled her up and got on and off the same as I did the day before. We removed the saddle, placed it back on the fence, and then went through the process of saddling her up again to make sure she understood. A second day without riding but 2 days of really good experience and good manners for the days to come.
