Most round pens are fifty to sixty feet to allow the
horse to bend and achieve proper bend and balance at the walk, trot, and canter. The round pen
can be used for simply exercising the horse, as a temporary paddock, a place to confine your horse
while you work with it without having it tied up, and many other ideas. You should concentrate
on driving the horse around the round pen at all the gaits. While you're driving your horse, you
should start to notice him consider looking toward you - when this happens you should move, while
backing - increasing the distance between you and the horse. This is called drawing. If he doesn't
pick up on this, move back behind him and make him travel onward. Think of pulling him off the
fence with an invisible rope, and to pull you must back up...try approaching and petting him.
If he won't stand still, just start over and pull him in again. Remember that the ability to drive
the horse forward comfortably is something you never want to lose because you've overdone the
hooking on when starting out with the horse. Always encourage the horse to stand still rather
than relying on exhaustion.
For a really good and informative article on the round pen while I'm working on
my page, check out this website: http://www.kersur.net/~santa/rp1.html
And this one: http://www.naturalhorsesupply.com/roundpen1.shtml
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