42/ FEBRUARY 2013 THE RIDER
20 Steps In The Round Pen - Steps 3 and 4
By Russ Krachun “Kozak” Horsemanship
Hello my friends, once again I am happy to come back to you with my discovery of “20 Steps in the Round Pen”. I want to continue to share with you my discovery of my safe and easy way to communicate and build a foundation of a safe and enjoyable relationship. It is my belief that by starting in the round pen that this is where you build the foundation of your lasting relationship between your horse and you. It is impor- tant that you finish this work the right way and be safe and not to just run your horse around in the round pen and ask for your horse to join up. I do hope that you enjoyed and understood my first two steps in discovery pro- gram from the last article, and most importantly that these steps work for you and your horse.
In step # one in the last article, I explained how we can control our horse from the left and right directions consistently, and remember it doesn’t matter in what direction your horse changes direction either to the inside or the outside, as we will accomplish this later. We con- centrated only on the one cue, to make our horse go to the left or right direction consistently. In step # two we introduced the extended touch. We asked our horse to go forward and threw the lasso on the horse until the horse stopped, relaxed and accepted the rope.
So, let’s come back to the round pen and our horse and I will continue to share with you my “20 steps in the Round Pen with the next couple of steps in my program.
Step # Three -“Ask Your Horse to Go Forward, Stop and Face You from the Left and Right Directions”
In this step it is very important to understand what we want from our horse before we even start as well as the goal that we are going to reach. We want to teach our horse in this step to STAY STILL when we ask, and to TURN 90 DEGREES from the pen, and to FACE US. In this same step we are teaching our horse to respect our space, the horse must stay still close to the pen and is not allowed to come to us yet. We are teaching our horse patience as well as starting to build trust. It is because the horse stays still, faces and looks at us.
even run away from you, or may not respond to you at all. I am completely opposite when I ask my horse to trust me. I will not let my horse come to me until I finish all my previous work in the round pen. I do not trust my horse yet, and my horse does not trust me yet, because we have not built our relationship and trust between us yet. It is just time and hard work in the round pen that will create this trust between us. It is very important in this step that we use consistent and clear queues, when we ask our horse to go forward with our body language and use our clucking voice. (Remember the first step) We have to ask our horse to go for- ward and after a couple of nice calm steps you will ask your horse right away to stop and face you. It is not necessary to ask your horse to run around the round pen and then ask your horse to stop and face you. Remember we are teaching your horse to STOP, STAY STILL AND FACE YOU.
You may find that your horse will want to come to you when he stops to face you, don’t let him yet as
he might challenge you or be curious about you. The horse does not trust us or we do not trust him yet. Be safe and build this trust by using this safe “20 Steps in the Round Pen” method. Since the horse has both a left and the right side of the brain, you will have to work in both directions in order to complete these steps. The horse is also not allowed to turn out- side and change direction when you ask him to work for you in this step; he is only allowed to turn inside. This may take some time, so take your time with your horse and complete this step.
When our horse travels in a nice calm and consistent direc- tion when we ask, we will step away and release the pressure and show our body language to come to us.
You will see that your horse will stop, however it is possible that your partner may not turn right away
and face you, but will look at
you. You will open your shoul- ders and look at your horse and say in your mind, “LOOK AT ME, I AM YOUR FRIEND, TRUST ME AND I WILL TRUST YOU”. It is very impor- tant to look in your horse’s eyes and start to feel your partners sole and try to read his mind. When you go away from your horse and turn your back and then try to join up means that I am afraid of you in the horse’s mind in the wild. So look at your horse, open your shoul- ders, and start to feel this amaz- ing feeling of “TRUST”. So let’s graduate our horse to step # four “Turn inside from the Left and Right Directions” Let us ask ourselves again, what do we want from our horse in this step and what is our goal? Don’t try to accomplish this step, if you have not fin- ished the previous step consis- tently, as it is going to be very hard for the horse to understand what you want from him. In this fourth step we want to reach our goal for the horse to turn inside (by turning inside the round pen, with head turning in toward you), and for the horse to under- stand that he can continue to go forward without being upset as well as to continue to build trust with you. You will find that 80% of horses will turn outside from you and just 20% will turn inside and still be nervous and upset. That is why we teach our horses to go forward, stop and face us (Step # 3). We are preparing our recipe by making it easier for the horse to under- stand us. This step will eventu- ally teach our horse to come to our space when we ask him and then to join up together. But not yet, because we have to finish our desensitizing steps in order to safely touch and be around our horse.
Let’s ask our horse to go forward in the direction that we decide and cross the horse’s shoulders by stepping back and inviting him to turn inside and change direction using our body language. Let the horse calm down after this turn by travel- ling a couple of circles around the round pen and ask again to change directions by turning
inside after he calms down. Don’t be in a rush, take your time and your horse will
(stop and face you). When you put step # one and step # three together we end up with step #
four (go forward, turn inside and change direction by going forward). Take your time, think and try to understand these steps and you will see improvement with your communication with your horses.
Remember, Be Safe!!
Again, make sure to read our next month’s issue to con- tinue to follow the next few steps of my “20 Steps in The Round Pen” and build a stronger relationship with your horse. Please visit our website
www.greenvalleyfarm.webs.co m or follow Russ Krachun “Kozak” Horsemanship on face book for more information. If you would like to see Russ Krachun in action or ask ques- tions in person, he will be per- forming at the All Equine Show in London March 15-17 as well as the Can-AM Equine Event in Orangeville March 28-31/2013
Disclaimer: Russ Krachun “Kozak” Horsemanship has no control over the application, suitability, and animal behaviour or husbandry skills of the end user. The user assumes all responsibility and full risk to all personal, property and injury, damage or loss direct or indirectly arising from the user or misuse of this information. Animals can be dangerous, please use common sense.
Photo Credit: Lisa Davison
www.canterraphotography.webs .com
I have often seen many mistakes by others when they work in the round pen by run- ning their horses around and then turn their back and ask the horse to join up. I THINK THAT THIS IS VERY DAN- GEROUS! I have learned by making my own mistakes when working in the round pen with my horses. Some horses, domesticated or wild may try to challenge or dominate you. They show this by using their body language such as shaking their head to scare you, run toward you and try to bite, or may even cow kick you when you turn to face your horse when asking the horse to join up. In some cases the horse may
understand what you want from him. If you find that when you ask your horse to turn inside he makes a mistake by turning out- side, immediately ask him to go forward in the same direction that he was travelling in before he made the mistake and ask him again to turn inside. You may spend a couple of days before your horse will under- stand what you are asking from him, take your time, there are no rules when you are working with your horse. We want to build a healthy relationship from the start. If you are going to rush things, your horse will be nervous and it is going to be very hard for you to earn this trust from your horse. You can use this step to prevent many problems such as the horse doesn’t come to you in the stall, or the horse runs away from you in the paddock or the horse will not stay still, the horse not changing directions on the lunge line, pulling back problems, shy horses and many others... So you can see in order for you to accomplish step # three, we needed the help from step # one (teach your horse to go for- ward) and so we will ask our horse to stop and face us in the round pen. To accomplish step # four we needed step # One (teach your horse to go forward) and we will also use step # three
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