I was watching TV again on Sunday and an ad came on for a Round Pen, and I thought back to how many babies I broke without one.

Now a days they really try to make you think you absolutely have to have a Round Pen, or training as we know it, cannot happen.  When I was young, no one owned a round pen.  I don’t even know if they existed.  Back in the old days, when we used to walk 5 miles, through the snow, up hill, bare foot, to get to school (only kidding), we used a lunge line and a lunge whip, and I have many calcium deposited on my fingers to prove it.

Not everyone has the room for one, or the money to purchase the materials needed to put one up.

There are pipe round pens, plank round pens, solid round pens, solid walled round pens where the walls are on an angle.  Each one has good points, and questionable points.

Free lunging is close to impossible without a round pen.  I have chased loose horses, trying to get them back while they were dragging their lunge lines behind without a round pen.  But what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger, and we don’t make the same mistake twice.

When we purchased this farm it already had a round pen.  Open planks, even planks on the gate.  Do I use it?  Yes.  Would I build one if I didn’t have one?  No.  I like the open planks because it allows air to flow through, and in Florida you need all the air you can get.  Many people don’t like the open plank, or the pipe round pens, because they want solid walls so the horse has to stay focused on the trainer.  Personally I think the horse has to learn to focus on the trainer with or without other distractions all around them. Eventually the walls will not be there and you start from scratch.

I understand the free lunging, but when I’m working with a horse I want him to also have the feel of me on the other end of the lunge line.  From lunging I go to ground driving so it’s one step of progress at a time.  I’m not in there to chase and play with my horse, as much as to teach them the touch communication of my hand through the line to his body.  Yes I teach voice commands too.  It makes it so much easier to get them to relate verbal to touch.

It’s so rewarding to get on the colt or filly you’ve been working with, and have him understand everything you ask the first time he’s ridden.  And it’s so less abusive to your body.  I disappointed my husband many times by not giving him a rodeo to watch, as my youngster and I just rode off into the sunset together.

So do you need a round pen?  It’s up to you and your pocket book.  Can you do it without one.  Oh yes you can.