Beginning Round Pen Work

When starting a young, green horse in the round pen your only goals are to teach the horse to move forward (drive from the hind quarters/ back inside hip), stop (step in front and calmly, clearly say "Whoa") and turn to go the other way.

At this point you do not care if the horse turns into the circle or out when she does reverse direction.

You don't point to redirect her. You don't 'stab at the ground' to get her to stop or use a lot of verbal directives (surprise: horses don't speak english) or flail about with any forms of frantic and unnecessary motion.

Your goal is to be calm and in control and communicate in a clear, simple and direct physical manner that the horse will understand.