If you have been following my round pen series - and please do read the other entries if this form of training interests you, one of the things I really dislike about the Roundpen is how it can actually form bad movement on the part of the horse.

I have seen people (both in person and in videos) spend way too much time, chasing the horse about, showing off inside turns, while meanwhile they are only training the horse to move in a poor and sloppy way that will, in the long run, be detrimental to the riding and advanced training of the horse.

Let’s examine some photos of ZZ, my young filly of three years of age, and her recent adventures in the roundpen:

In the above photo I have marked some interesting things to look at in red. The U-shaped smile over the horses’ back clearly shows she is hollow and inverted. With poor use of the back, it causes her stride to become short. The neck and jowl is stiff, indicative of being on the forehand.

If this shape were to continue you would have a horse trained into one of the poorest postures for riding – she would be heavy in the bridle, short strided, and probably would end up with a sore back and poll. It would be hard for her to move properly under a rider, and her rider would have the feeling she was stiff, short strided, and unresponsive to the aids.

In this second photo some of the same events are happening but with a bit of a twist – a nose twist that is! The back is still u-shaped, although not as bad, and the stride is short, though not as short as it was in the previous photo – do you see that?

In this second shot, the filly has tilted her nose to the outside, causing the left shoulder (inside shoulder) and neckline to stiffen. Here she is traveling in an incorrect bend or crooked. Inside of shaping her spine and ribs to the curve of the roundpen she has inverted herself.

When under saddle, this will not only cause on the forehand issues, but also great difficulty in trying to get the correct canter lead (in this photo it would be the left lead) because the stiff shoulder and hollow back will not allow the right hind to start the gait with the athleticism needed.

This is just the beginning of ZZ’s roundpen work, so we have many sessions to do to shape this sloppy, crooked and hollowed back horse… However, the next time you see someone chasing their horse about in the roundpen take a closer look and ask yourself what all that is really training their horse to do.