For the past 25 years or so, the round pen has become a very effective tool for training horses. First we need to determine the size we need. Here’s what I prefer: approximately 55 ft (anywhere from 40 to 60 ft will do).
A hotter horse needs a bigger pen, a lazy horse a smaller pen. Some folks like their pen 8 ft high with solid walls. I don’t. I like open walls and like it to be only 5 ft high.
The Concept of the Round Pen
The round pen is a place where you can still a horse’s fears, and gain its trust and respect.
What you need to know before you begin is how to read a horse. This may well be the most difficult thing for some people to grasp. Simply put, it’s learning to understand the language of equus.
The Language of Equus
Horses read people a lot quicker than people learn how to read horses. And, horses never stop learning – positive or negative. Therefore, it’s important for us to know what the horse wants, how it thinks, and how it’s mind works.
Horses have the same senses we do, with some differences. Their sight is monocular and binocular. Their memory is very good, including their short term, long term, and recall. Their sense of touch and smell are both more sensitive than humans, as is their hearing.
What Do Horses Want?
Horses want to be comfortable, so we need to show them how they can become comfortable. Next, we want to be able to control the horse, so to control the horse, we simply control its movement.
In the round pen, without any physical restraints, you can do this just the same as one horse would do to the other. At the same time, keeping in mind that while doing this, you want the horse to become relaxed and comfortable, come and join up and follow you, accepting you as the lead horse. When this has been accomplished, you are ready for the next step.
Misuse of the Round Pen
There is a school of thought that you should put a horse in a round pen and chase it until it’s too tired to move, and then chase some more. What this really does is stress and traumatize the horse.
This practice should not be permitted, because it is possible to take a horse from very little handling, through its first ride without turning a wet hair. People should not only watch videos, but also go to someone who can give them hands-on lessons in round-pen traning.
The round pen will change a horse’s attitude very quickly. It should also change the handler’s attitude. It is not a place for punishment; it is a place to come together.
Bernie Nikkel grew up on a farm in north central Manitoba, where all the farm work was done with horses. He started field work when he was 7 years old. Now, at the age of 71, Nikkel has worked with horses almost all his life, or at least the last 45 years.
He moved to Alberta in 1972 and was a 4-H leader in the light horse program for 22 years. In all, Nikkel has started about 1,000 horses, the last 300 in the round pen – all saddled without ropes or halters.
For the past five years, Nikkel has taught two classes per year called “In the Round Pen with Bernie Nikkel” at Olds College in Olds, Alberta. He has also taught colt starting and horsemanship clinics at Fairview College and Lakeland College, and is an Equine Canada Certified Western Coach, teaching the rider prep program, coaching reining, trail horses, and western pleasure, horsemanship, and western equestrian.
As Nikkel says, “I don’t train many horses anymore, but I teach others to train their own, either here or elsewhere in weekend clinics, and in mostly group settings.”
To contact Bernie Nikkel Training Stables, call (780) 674-4541 in Barrhead, Alberta.
