When a Horse Won’t Move in the Round Pen

A reader's question, and my answer. It comes up often enough to be worth setting down.

I am training my first BLM mustang. He leads, backs, and gives to pressure pretty well, but we are struggling in the round pen. When I send him off with a lunge whip or flag he does not budge. A plastic bag on the end of a lunge whip worked for a while, then he stopped moving forward and got frustrated — not aggressive exactly, but pawing and clearly irritated. I am not sure what to try from here.

Why close-up softness does not transfer

When you say he leads, backs and gives to pressure well, I take that to mean while you are connected to him. It is easy for a horse to listen when he is close, or on a lead, because he knows you can correct him quickly if he picks the wrong answer.

In a round pen you are a long way off. It takes more pressure to teach the exercise in the first place. Eventually it will take almost none, but at the start you have to exaggerate your body language. That is what a training stick and string, or a flag, is for — an extension of your arm, balancing the difference between a 100 lb animal and a 1,200 lb one.

He has worked you out

In my experience 99.9% of BLM mustangs are lazy, cold-blooded animals. It makes sense: they are built to survive, not to perform. They are also clever and very good at finding ways out of work.

It sounds like yours has figured out that if he simply stands still, you will eventually give up. I have trained a lot of problem horses that would stop and face you rather than send off. Horses are professional people-trainers.

Be more stubborn than he is

Remember your pressure stages: ask, tell, demand. In the round pen that is point, cluck, then spank.

Most likely he has no reaction to the point. He may have none to the cluck. And from your description, none to the spank. That is fine — he is still learning. What matters is that you do not give up before he gives in. Point, cluck, spank the ground, then spank him. Start soft and get as firm as necessary. As much as it takes for him to find the right answer.

Here is the catch, and it is the important half: the moment he lopes or trots off, release everything and leave him alone for as long as he keeps moving. That is what teaches him it is easier to respect your space than to be bitten or kicked by the leader — which is you.

It is a trade

I would like to tell you horse training is all rainbows. It is not. Horses are strong animals that need a strong leader, and they test you to see whether you are worth following. You cannot have a 1,200 lb animal disrespecting you; that is genuinely dangerous.

So: as soft as possible, and as firm as necessary. You respect me, I respect you, and we get along fine. Overstep and I will put you back in place — exactly as the herd would. And remember that a kick or a bite from another horse is far worse than a stick or a lead rope.

What you need: a halter and lead set — the feel and the weight are what carry the cue down the rope, which is why a heavy, stiff rope does this better than a soft one. The stiff four-knot halter and the 14 ft weighted lead are the same pieces sold separately.