Re: Re: Spooking / round pen work

["Tracey" <tracey@tbt.co.za>]

>In the round pen they learn that THEY can control the horse's movements.
They learn if they do THIS the horse does THAT.  It takes a lot of the
mystery out, and gives them a clue how a horse's mind works.>


Hi, Jeri,


This conversation is going round in circles, and I'm getting deja vu, as I'm
sure are a lot of people.  I am still skeptical that people are getting a
"clue" as to how the horse's mind works from inside a round pen.  I think
that you will learn certain things about equine behaviour from a round pen,
but that the amount you learn will be limitd by the fact that:

1.  The round pen is an artificial environment, under controlled conditions
which have very little correlation with what the rider or horse will
experience on the trail or even, for that matter, in an arena; and

2.  The rider is on the ground, and not riding the horse.  I honestly
believe that a horse's reactions to certain stimuli is different when he has
a rider on his back to when he doesn't.


I would therefore, somewhat tentatively, suggest that it can sometimes be a
little dangerous for a rider to achieve confidence inside a ring - it can
make a rider over-confident and unprepared for what he / she might face
under uncontrolled conditions.  Unfortunately, I've spent too much time with
"arena riders" who believed they were better than they were, and learned
their limitations the hard way when their horses were eventually taken out.


>I guess the reason it doesn't appeal to me is that I never had any fear of
horses.  I always had complete confidence in my ability to control a horse.
Sometimes I was wrong, but that's a whole nuther issue.>


No : it's the whole point behind my opposition to the round pen as a
"confidence booster".  Your confidence came from dealing with real-life
situations, and was therefore a lot harder to knock than any kind of
"ring-acquired" confidence.  I came out of law school feeling very
confident, based on my prowess at moot court, to argue anything that came my
way.  Imagine my surprise when I was faced with real-life situations, like
lying witnesses, lost papers, dumbass magistrates, and untrustworthy
colleagues.  My confidence was knocked back immediately, and I've had to
rebuild it in the "real world" - and it'll take a lot to knock it now.


Tracey
>