What kind of exercises do you do in the round pen with your horse/s? Other than just walk trot canter transitions ? And what are the benefits? 
I use a round pen only when I am starting a youngster. I prefer to get on for the first few times in a smaller space. Then I just work on moving forward, stops and turns.
I also lightly work( free lunge) them at the walk/ trot and do some directional changes while saddled. It keeps them focused on me and listening.
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What I don’t do is wave a plastic bag on a stick and then expect pony to join up with me.
You can longe with or without a line, on voice cues or hand cues or anything.
You can do any kind of inhand work or ground work that suits your fancy, without worrying you are getting in the way of the resident Dressage Queens.
You could even ride a little bit, particularly if you just wanted to work on lateral movements.
The benefit is that the horse is contained so you can free longe without the horse disappearing down the end of the arena.
I don’t use ours much. I find it’s too small and too hard for my mare and she stocks up behind if we run in it much.
Thanks
I saw a couple of YouTube videos with Clinton Anderson where whenever he got the horse to change direction he really got on their case if they turned head to fence instead of head to face him… Is this something to worry about in your opinions?
My horse is pretty respectful already for the most part
Once a week or every other week I longe my young horse in the round pen with side reins to work on his balance and strengthening over the top line. The sessions are short, because the work is a bit more intense than under saddle. We do mostly walk-trot-walk transitions.
I also use it for in-hand work because it is out of the way of other activities at the barn, and my horse already associates it with “time to focus”
I haven’t paid a lot of attention to Clinton Anderson but many folks have strong opinions about him.
My rule of thumb is don’t try anything you see in an online video out of context of working within a whole program. New horse owners often grab one piece that might not be so important and fixate on it and cause other problems.
Find a local groundwork trainer to teach you a system, rather than getting too worried about isolated moments in a system you dont fully understand.
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Agree - more to it than can be learned from a video - the feel part.
Excessive round penning can be very hard on the joints and legs - limit the time and speed or run the risk of splints and ankle problems as the torque can be too much, especially on young horses.
Mostly round penning is for starting and teaching - not for a lifetime.
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I’ve been watching a re-rider/ adult beginner start trying ground work of various sorts. Her horse leads, handles, goes walk/halt/back in hand, does in-hand lateral work and longes perfectly well (for me at least) but she hasn’t quite got her skill set together to do these effectively. So she switched over to free longing, and trying to get various effects with a plastic bag on a stick and shaking the lead rope, etc. But since her basic problem is faulty timing and body language, the “ground work” she picked up from online videos actually made things a lot worse and the horse became difficult for her.
She is now taking lessons with a ground work trainer and learning some skills, which is great.
But basically, IMHO, you need better timing and horse sense and training ability to make liberty, ground work, all that stuff, work for you. Most people who have trouble handling their horses have gaps in their timing and skill.
If someone can’t effectively longe a horse with a rope and a whip, then they can’t effectively use a plastic bag on a stick in a roundpen, either.
This was my first up-close observation of a beginner getting intro trouble with groundwork. I know lots of people who incorporate groundwork but already have decent skills. This was my first time observing the lure of groundwork ideas to beginners who lack the skills to do “traditional” handling (ie, walk the horse up and down the road in a halter, longe, the real basics).
I now fully understand the “Parelli problem” of these methods getting sold to folks who can’t quite use them effectively
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Lunging does nothing for a horse. The reason for a round pen is that the horse can move about freely while still staying close enough to the trainer that the trainer can exert pressure on the horse, but far enough away that the horse can’t hurt the trainer. When you attach yourself to a horse with a rope or lunge line, the horse can bolt and drag you. In a round pen, if a horse bolts, it just goes around and around until it realizes that running does not provide escape, it’s just hard work.
Anyone who pays attention to a good groundwork program will notice that the horse is always positioned in a way that the trainer does not get run over or kicked. The reason you want an inside turn is to keep the hind end away from the trainer. There is way too much information to put in a post, but the basic groundwork done in a round pen sets the horse up to be safe to work around. Most people don’t get this, they think you are tiring the horse out or some majik joining thing, but you are just getting some controls on the horse so you can move along in your training program without the horse bolting, kicking, etc.
Unfortunately most people don’t bother doing thorough groundwork since it’s boring and repetitive and nowhere near as fun as riding. But skipping that foundation sets you up to have a horse that spooks, won’t stand still for mounting, jigs on trail rides, needs to be sung to the entire ride, etc.
I personally prefer Warwick Schiller as the devil is in the details and he points them out. If you allow your horse to turn his rear to you in the round pen, what happens out in the field when you go to catch him and he is feeling frisky or doesn’t want to come in? Or if you are turning him out, will he wheel and kick at you as you remove the lead? There are a multitude of little things you can do in groundwork that translate to other situations that go a long way in keeping you safe and healthy while working around these large animals.
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So would I be better off not doing any ground work/ round penning without the help of an experienced person on hand?
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Are there any simple ground work exercises that don’t require a lot of instruction and minimal chance of screwing up? Lol
Think, it is easier to try to reinvent the wheel, when all you get is a bunch of strange shaped wheels and bumpy riders.
Not so good when you are training a horse you will later have to re-train out of unwanted behaviors.
One example, some like to saddle a horse and then turn it loose “to get the kinks out”.
Then they wonder when the horse resist for any reason, why it goes on bucking sprees?
They have been teaching the horse bucking with a saddle is good.
The horses have been practicing bucking and learned that is acceptable.
They are becoming experts at it every time someone thinks is funny for them to buck with a saddle.
Until someone points that out to them.
I say, better learn from someone that knows, makes life better for the human and horse.
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IME, I use a round pen to install basic manners and response to voice commands/body language. Once a young horse can be groomed and handled all over its body, leads appropriately and understands giving to pressure, all of which I would do in the stall or barn aisle, I might lunge it in a round pen until I was sure it understood voice commands, especially “whoa”, and could walk/trot/canter/halt calmly and without fuss in both directions. After that, I’d be riding.
There is also some value in doing some strengthening work in side reins in a round pen or lunging in a larger area, but that is something that requires an experienced eye.
I’ve started babies with a round pen and I’ve started them without one. In general, it’s nice to have but not an absolutely, positively have to have. A reasonably sized ring works just fine.
Back in the day, I have two youngsters to start and no round pen and no ring - just a 15 acre field. I ground drove the snot out of them before I got on them; I wanted to be really sure brakes and steering were installed before I threw a leg over.
Of course, if you are in a crowded area and your horse responds to voice commands, hopefully he has been trained to only respond to your voice command. I prefer to have my horses respond to my body, most of all in the show pen or warm up area. I don’t want him responding to someone over there cracking a lunge whip or someone next to me smooching and clucking, or the audience applauding a good round. Or if there are multiple rings and you can hear the announcer in the next ring loud and clear going TTROOOOOOTTTT please while you are walking and waiting on a canter depart.
LOL. I was trying to ride in the arena with a public lesson program one afternoon. There was a girl who was terrified to trot and every time her horse trotted she tipped forward and shouted whoa! and the lesson horse stopped. The instructor was busy with other students and just letting this happen. I didn’t say it was a good lesson program.
Anyhow, every time that girl shouted whoa, my rather green mare slammed on the brakes.
You would be better off getting instruction in all aspects of riding and handling a horse, if you are new to all this. Would you learn to ride just from a video? No? Same with ground work. You need someone to tell you what you are doing wrong.
The two mistakes beginners make with ground work: One, the horse doesn’t respond because they are not using the correct body language. So they up the pressure and upset the horse, because they are basically yelling at him in a language the horse doesn’t understand.
Or they are too tentative, horse doesn’t respond, and they back right off and let the horse walk all over them. Or don’t understand that you need kind consistency 24/7 with a horse, not just in the round pen. So they let horse walk all over them in the stall and then wonder that horse crowds them in hand.
The thing is, correct body language in the handler will get the correct result in 99 % of reasonably broke horses, and even many maybe most horses that aren’t broke.
Incorrect body language will not get the correct result even in horses that are broke.
For instance, I can longe my mare, free longe or on a line. Sometimes I need to get after her just a little at the start. When my teen leaser last year tried to longe her alone, maresy lay down and smiled for treats. And wouldn’t get up again. Granted, that’s one of her performance tricks
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It’s a wonderful thing for brand new greenies and school horses to respond to voice commands. With a horse that was going down a different path, of course, you gradually transitioned to different aids.
As an instructor of beginners, having horses that respond to voice commands is wonderful, and can often be a safety measure. Of course, when the beginners get a little more independent, you have to spell the commands. I had some schoolies who learned to spell, too. 
But to the OP’s original question; I mostly agree with Scribbler’s excellent responses. Lunging or round penning can have a place in training, but doing it in a worthwhile manner requires tact and timing - it’s not a novice level skill.
Ok thanks. I mean I’m not new to horses but I’ve not :o​​​ridden or been around them much for 10 years. When I was a teenager I thought I was quite experienced because I took lessons and was in Pony club but I think I have many gaps in my knowledge :o and could probably benefit going back to some basics that’s for sure
Lessons and pony club don’t do anything much in the way of groundwork. Lots of students and instructors both are good riders, and end up being functional in terms of longeing and handwalking horses. But students don’t want to pay for time off the horse, and the instructors don’t necessarily have any groundwork skills. All fine until someone needs to deal with a green horse or a problem horse on the ground.
The questions you’ve asked on this forum, like “how do I get a horse to stand still for mounting?” (I’m pretty sure that was you, apologies if it wasn’t) are good questions, but they also show you don’t have those tools in your training toolkit.
Thanks . No I never did learn much as far as ground work.sometimes i wonder if I should be the one in for 3 months training instead of my horse.
I really do think I need to re learn everything from scratch as I’m sure I have bad habits too
