Has anybody made their own 'round pen'

fairlady

fairlady

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Jul 14, 2007
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After watching Monty the other night I am feeling a bit inspired....although
I am sure it will be short lived:bounce:

Really fancy trying join up with Sioned, well AND BERT, lol, but obviously
cannot afford to go and treat us to a 'round pen'.

Was thinking there must be a way of making one, electric fencing or
such like.

Last time I attempted anything else like this with Sioned in a 'squared off'
bit of field and 'chased her away' I did such a 'good job' she b*ggared off
over the other side of the field:bounce:
 
I unintentionally made one of electric fencing - I just didn't have anycorner posts so made it round and it's working beautifully or was til it got pulled apart by next door haha
 
Just get the mesh fence panels building sites use. If you phone round you can get slightly damaged ones cheap. Generally nothing wrong bar a loose few wires but fails health and safety so useless to them.
 
Going to play devil's advocate here, FL....

Whilst I appreciate that you thoroughly enjoyed yourself last weekend, may I ask whether you actually feel that either Sioned or Bertie have issues with you that you *NEED* to do join-up? And if you still want to proceed, it is definitely something I wouldn't recommend doing more than once with either of them so don't make anything permanent.

I'm not knocking MR or KM as I love their ideas and principles and apply many of them myself (although I'm not a dedicated follower of any one NH discipline, I pick out the bits that I think apply to my situations) and if I was forced to choose I guess I'd pick them as my favourites but I will say this. When I helped out at one of Kelly's Perfect Manners weekends a couple of years ago, the course members used the site's own horses to learn and practise join-up. Now, sorry if this sounds cynical but I think that those horses have learned the drill... they know that they will have to trot around the edge of the pen a few times and then when the human in the middle turns their back to them, they turn in and walk up to them and get a big pat. Similarly, people who take their own horses take them into the scary pen where loads of people are standing around the edge of it watching, send them away so to me, their horses are BOUND to turn in and approach their owners when the pressure is off... in that situation their human is the only thing they know... and anyone who has paid to go on the course AND go to the bother of taking their horse is sure to have a half-decent relationship with it before they've even started.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed watching people blossom from not being very confident and assertive around horses to having their morales boosted and seeing them blossom into far more confident handlers. This is not a knock in any shape or form, just my observations.

Do have a go at join-up but I think you'll find that your two may get confused by the initial send-away when it isn't something you've done from the start.

And if you do try it, do let us know how you get on.

PS. When I loaned Buster, a 17.2 WB last year I would feed him and Roo in the field. Buzz would always finish his feed first and would then try snaking around to steal Roo's so I would send him away. Eventually Roo would finish and would wander away from his (very empty!) bucket but Buzz would always want to "make friends" with me again before he even thought about trying to see if Roo had left him any leftovers... it was quite a startling revelation and just shows that it can be done loose in the field.
 
I have done join up with Ziggy when we were new to each other (in a manege) but don't feel the need now.

If you would like to do it (and it is very satisfying) You don't have to have a round pen. If you read Richard Maxwell's "Train your young horse" or "Unlock your horse's talent in 20 minutes a day" he shows you how you can achieve the same outcome in an ordinary school or even on a line.

I have to say I got the strongest join up with Ziggy when he refused to be caught and I chased him away in a 4 acre field! I was knackered but in the end he stuck to me like glue!
 
Yeah, I understand exactly what you are saying Domane, was thinking more
of an Area to do things, as well as join up with them, BUT to be honest
what you say is so right, I spend most of my time telling them to go
away cos they are right beside me, so we have probably already
'joined up' and its also very true what you say, Sioned was quite confused when I chased her away because usually I am welcoming her in, lol, that ideal was even more 'short lived' than usual

Think I will just electric tape/fence 'an area' off this year to work with them, so that when we enter that particular bit, they will learn that this means some one to one time doing something.:wink: may just stop Bert taking
off on the lunge as well ! HAH. xxx
 
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I have a round pen, made with electric fence posts and electric tape. It is only temporary though. I use it for groundwork at liberty (but not join up really as don't really do join up to be honest).

Saying that once I have done the next few bits of grounwork at liberty lessons with Harvey that I'm doing then it will probably be taken down again.

It can be useful though :)

.... I also have a grass school (permanent) made out of wooden stakes and electric fence tape.
 
I made mine just from plastic posts and tape the tall ones not the short.

I did a lot of work online on the 12 and 22 and moved onto the liberty.

Any horse can jump out and leave if they really want to even over post and rail.

I don't do join up and if i have done it's something you would do the once, once you have driven the horse away and they have come back you don't need to keep resending.

You can leave this area set up, i made mine about 50ft round initially, it's useful for ridden things as well.
 
Just another voice of caution.

I have a lovely RS pony who's previous owner tried join up on...result a pony you cannot point near, hold out hand etc. It is not as simple as it looks and needs excellent timing and horse reading skills. I have another horse with complex issues that the approach turned into a dangerous experience even with an expert.

It is not a 'method' that suits all horses.
 
I took the corners off the school of the first yard I was on. Did some work with Joy at liberty and quickly came to the conclussion, 'Why a roundpen?' Joy and I don't need one and I personally think there are a lot of people who would be the same. As a handler I can see her energy and adjust as appropriate. I personally think too much is place on the importance of a round pen.
 
I agree with the above i do know someone who claimed they cannot carry on the work the trainer did as they don't have one. Um, Why?

It's just something MR uses it doesn't mean you have to have one. The proper one has limited uses.

I agree with EML as well, if not done with timing you could make things worse as with anything that's done by inexperienced people. When you learn to ride you learn on a horse that knows it's job.

My filly is ver insecure and stays with me, the last i want to do is to send her away and wait for the signs she wants to come back, she wants to be with me already.
 
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