Shawna Karrasch works with her young filly Henley
This video is about getting started with the Reverse Round Pen. What is that exactly? Just that – a round pen in reverse! Made with cones and poles, the horse is on the outside of the ‘pen’ and the trainer is on the inside.
What Shawna likes about using the Reverse Round Pen in training is that it gives the horse freedom to choose if they want to participate or not. From a Positive Reinforcement approach, this provides us with a lot of information. Of course there are times when we might like the choice that they make. But that challenges us to take positive steps towards improving their motivation and focus. Plus this set up leads to the development of good biomechanics skills.
The young horse in the video is Henley, who is just a yearling. She is new to the concept of the Reverse Round Pen. It was an unusually cold day where the temperature dropped quite a bit overnight, from mid 80’s to low 40’s, so Henley was fresh and had extra energy. Shawna kept this in mind as she decided what to do in the session.
Henley is in the elementary stages of the Reverse Round Pen, so Shawna focused on simple upward and downward transitions. In the video, you can see that she showed a remarkable amount of self control, especially for a yearling. Henley chose to stay focused and kept her head in the game. This was encouraging!
We hope you enjoy the video.
