Roundpen work w/ gaited horse?

[AstraeaDrafts]

I'v never owned/trained a gaited horse before and have recently, by chance, now have a TWH...I was told that your not supposed to do to much roundpen work with a gaited horse, only striaght work, because it ruins thier gait...is this true? myth? opinions?

[TWHLuvR]

That is a myth (with a little, teeny tiny bit of truth to it). If you're going to be working on gaiting issues then *some* work is best done on straight lines, but first you need to identify what you're working on (for instance, trying to get a hard pacer to get into a stepping pace, a rack, or a running walk). If you have a horse that is on the trotty side then you'd probably be working toward a rack/saddle rack.

If the horse gaits nicely as-is and you don't have gaiting issues to work on but are looking to condition, work as you would with any other horse (just remember to keep your medium gait whatever the horse's saddle gait is rather than allowing to fall into a trot or pace). There are lots of people out there with gaited horses that teach them a different cue for the trot and a different cue for their saddle gait - this allows them to compete in dressage shows while still having a gaited pleasure horse.

I'm a HUGE advocate of the book "Easy Gaited Horses" by Lee Ziegler. Go to Amazon.com or eBay (or better yet, www.leeziegler.com - there are fabulous articles there, too) and buy a copy for yourself. It will help you out tremendously.

Do you need to work on gaiting with your new horse, or is your TWH gaiting fine under saddle and you were just trying to determine if there was any truth to this?

Good luck with your new horse. Post pics - I'd love to see your new horse.

[AstraeaDrafts]

Thanks TWHluvR...that was very helpfull!!

Mainly just wanted to know if it were true or not. I didnt want to 'ruin' him before I even started. LOL. I'm not to familiar with gaited horses (hes an intresting project for sure) so anything helps, I will definatly look into getting that book!!!

I actually am still just doing ground work with him...I have however ridden him half a dozen times, mostly just sitting and letting him get comfertable with me on him, I did take him for a trail ride (walk only though), hehehe, he just followed the other horse like a little puppy. He is an amazing little guy, nothing fazes him.

trying to post a picture for you...sometimes it just doesnt let me

[AstraeaDrafts]

well not the best pic, he's a bit of a dork lol
But you can see how cute he is, all fuzzy!!

[Thomas]

You might be interested to know that in the UK round pens are as rare as rocking horse poo.

I've never used a round pen, don't own one and having seen folks "work" their horses in one I don't even understand what they add to horse training.

I can however totally see the problems that could be caused by making use of them.

[Mercedes]

Originally Posted by Thomas

You might be interested to know that in the UK round pens are as rare as rocking horse poo.

I've never used a round pen, don't own one and having seen folks "work" their horses in one I don't even understand what they add to horse training.

I can however totally see the problems that could be caused by making use of them.

I don't like them either.

[shell88]

^I'd really appreciate it if you two could elaborate on what you find disagreeable about roundpens.

[Thomas]

I didn't say I found them disagreeable. I said they added nothing.

If you really want a horse to go round in circles then you could put it on a lunge line or just do it in an arena.

I personally never want young horses going round in little tight circles though.

The most a horse learns in a round pen is to go and turn and stop. You can also use it just to establish very basic leadership. You can do that anywhere and including in an arena or small field.

It has little to do with training the horse to UNDERSTAND what it is doing and to feel relaxed about it. That's another thing entirely and there's a host of better ways than doing it in tight circles and putting strain on an unbalanced horse. So I've never felt the need to have to have a constrained area and pay to have a silly circle to waste a bit of land.

[slammie]

I have used both a lunge and round pens when doing ground work with my Pacing bred Standardbred and with other breeds.

Like every other training AID they can have a use or not depending on the horse and situation.

Depending on what breed of a gaited horse you have they can be good or bad.

I have a horse that is both diagonally and laterally gaited and he will do whatever I ask him on the ground. Now, you have to understand that I have the wonderful luxary (sp) of TIME. And no matter what breed you are working with time is the big one for me. I do not like 90 day wonders. My horse has 4 years of very intense training undersaddle and before that he was a race horse. He has always been a champion at whatever he has been used for and for that I am grateful.

I barrel race him in National Barrel Horse Assoc runs and he is ready to go to test in Dressage and he does 2 gait western pleasure classes. And I trail ride him.

Here in RI at the moment we have ice everywhere but yesterday I had enough room in his paddock to free lunge and work and he was right on the money.

I guess all I can tell you is to do what feels right to you.

JMO

[AstraeaDrafts]

Well I dont have a round pen yet anyways lol...was looking into it but as of today I now have THREE gaited horses...two standardbreds just arrived!!!