3 Year old cob difficult to lunge

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julie111

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Hi, i have a 3 yo cob gelding who is taking off when being lunged, unfortunately i don't have an enclosed area to lunge him and have to do it in a corner of a field. I lost him several times today then eventually after 1 1/2 hrs i managed to do 10 mins on each rein (tbh i think he was knackered) Has anyone else had experience of this and what did you do that helped? He is 14hh and built like a brick outhouse. Thanks in advance.:)
 
Each time he gets away you are re-enforcing his behaviour, does he understand how to lunge properly or are you just starting. A safe enclosed area is really required, it is hard to expect him to be good if you are doing it in his field.
I would go back to the beginning, walk him in circles practice halting get him listening and wanting to work with you, otherwise he is not going to enjoy the work especially if it follows a battle.
Long reining may be a better option as two lines should give you more control but you may need to have some help to get started.
 
Get some stallion posts and set them in the arena so that you create a lunge pen, get rid of the line and work lose, only a few mins at a time and as calm as possible, until he is going nicely loose, then add the lunge line again if you only ask for a couple of mins on either side at a walk, but he should be more in the zone and understand that he can't run from his work by now. A couple of minutes keeping everything as chilled an calm as you can, you want your energy in your boots! Then lots and lots of praise, slowly increase length of time on lunge and introduce trot etc.

Whilst I understand where Mis l toe is coming from, there are times when walking away from a battle is the best thing, there are also times when winning it is the most important thing! But with these cheeky, rude young brutes you have to trick them sometimes into doing it your way because If they want to piddle off with you, in reality there is no human who could stop them on brute strength alone ;)
 
julie111 said:
It is all part of his education, he is long reined out regularly with a quiet cob and i think doing a little bit of lunging will be good for him. I didn't post to ask for sarcasm!!
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I was not being sarcastic, a lot of people have no particular aim when lunging other than whizzing them round to let off steam.
I wondered if he was being backed or getting prepared for driving or what. I currently lunge my [aged eight] horse [two reins] in order to make him less stiff on one side, also to get him obedient to aids, he was not lunged when he was broken to ride [aged four], as he had been broken to drive, and was then long reined, loose schooled and then backed.
He does not lunge with one rein as it does him no good, he resists bending and it does not promote contact.
He also took off when I tried to lunge him on one rein, I could not hold him, and even though in an arena he totally panicked and I thought he was going to jump out while attached to the lunge rein. From then on he was only ever lunged with two reins.
A lot of people will tell you that lunging a youngster can strain the joints, though it is a traditional method of schooling and breaking.
I don't know if you use the rein attached to his bit, but this may hinder his mouthing, if he is going ballistic you don't want him to feel pain through the bit.
 
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Omg again with the joints thing!!! Please do not assume that everyone lunges their hordes at break neck speed for unhealthy amounts of time. My boy is rising 3 he did about 15 x 10mins sessions in autumn, mostly in walk 2 mins trot and broke into canter for a circuit twice, this is hardly damaging, indeed he has way more chance of damaging his joints while prattling around in the field. Yesterday was his second lunge session this yr, and consisted of about 7 mins walk and 3 mins trot, with lots of transitions... Some planned by him, some by me:) on a long line in a controlled sensible environment there should not be a problem for the limbs
 
Agree with pearlsasinger, I might ask for a couple of circles whilst long lining to establish the basic idea of it but certainly not if they were so unready it took me two hours to manage it. Nothing wrong with teaching them to lunge in a field when old enough though.
 
Ditto the above - I wouldn't be lunging a 3yr old either!!! I would do a bit of long lining and if determined to teach him to lunge it would be at walk in a controled area for minutes at the most to give him the idea - especially as he is a cob his joints will be shot if you keep doing that! I don't lunge mine until they are 6 upwards when they have the balance and have pretty much stopped growing! - he is still a baby mentally and physically so shouldn't be doing anything for more than 10/15 mins anyway as their concentration isn't much longer fighting with them for an hour and a half is totally counter productive!!!!
 
bumper said:
If you already longline him, you could lunge with 2 lines. It's easy to do once you get used to it, although not for long on a circle at that age :-)
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I'll second this. Lungeing provides no real purpose for a baby other than letting them learn voice commands. So if you've already done long reining then don't bother lungeing, or do it with two reins until he gets the idea.
 
Longlining is great, and to add a little something extra you could incorporate the occasional bit of circle work.

I'm not a huge lunging fan, and wouldn't be lunging a three year old. But the very ocassional circle won't do any harm.
 
In very basic terms, lunging you have the horse on the end of the lunge line working in a circle around you. Long lining you have a lunge line on each side of the horse (like very long reins) & you are behind. Longlining you can move in lots of different ways, just like you can riding & leading.
 
I'm the same I wouldn't lunge a 3 yr old but would long rein.
In this case I think I would do as somebody else has said and set up and border via posts and fencing but I wouldn't be doing any work in his field, I think play and work should be kept separate and not in the same field. Is there anywhere local u could hire? Just a thought
 
littlelegs said:
In very basic terms, lunging you have the horse on the end of the lunge line working in a circle around you. Long lining you have a lunge line on each side of the horse (like very long reins) & you are behind. Longlining you can move in lots of different ways, just like you can riding & leading.
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Aha - longreigning, I know what that is :o sorry.
 
No probs, sorry I thought it was just a basic question, I know a few people who say long reining & I end up saying it if I'm around them a lot too.
 
If you can't get access to an arena, would try two lines if you are confident with it.
Even if you can build or borrow a round pen, I don't think this will help the actual issue - that he needs to learn to behave on the lunge. You really do need an enclosed area to start with - he is just learning that if he gets loose he can hooley about. The walls/fence help you keep control and once he realises you can hang on he'll stop trying to get away.
Plus an arena with a good surface will give you and him more confidence - there's nothing worse than trying to hang onto a strong youngster on slippy grass.
My youngster was round penned when being backed and he's great at that, but I have to be able to lunge him to get him out and about at shows and when hiring arenas - he's too big and strong to just get straight on (and I'm not agile enough to leap on when he's fresh!)
I always use a cavesson and a lunge whip to keep the 'triangle of control' and have gone from being able to lunge in a smallish school to a big outdoor arena at a show. Side reins of some sort, even if it's just the reins from his snaffle looped over the stirrups, help with control and empahsise that he is working, not playing.
If you only lunge once or twice a week for 20 mins or less you won't hurt a well grown three year old. It's more important that you are both safe and he learns manners.
 
ironhorse said:
If you can't get access to an arena, would try two lines if you are confident with it.
Even if you can build or borrow a round pen, I don't think this will help the actual issue - that he needs to learn to behave on the lunge. You really do need an enclosed area to start with - he is just learning that if he gets loose he can hooley about. The walls/fence help you keep control and once he realises you can hang on he'll stop trying to get away.
Plus an arena with a good surface will give you and him more confidence - there's nothing worse than trying to hang onto a strong youngster on slippy grass.
My youngster was round penned when being backed and he's great at that, but I have to be able to lunge him to get him out and about at shows and when hiring arenas - he's too big and strong to just get straight on (and I'm not agile enough to leap on when he's fresh!)
I always use a cavesson and a lunge whip to keep the 'triangle of control' and have gone from being able to lunge in a smallish school to a big outdoor arena at a show. Side reins of some sort, even if it's just the reins from his snaffle looped over the stirrups, help with control and empahsise that he is working, not playing.
If you only lunge once or twice a week for 20 mins or less you won't hurt a well grown three year old. It's more important that you are both safe and he learns manners.
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Thanks for your reply. I keep the lunging to an absolute minimum but i do long rein him out lots. I will try looping some side reins as you suggested. Thanks again.
 
thatsmygirl said:
I'm the same I wouldn't lunge a 3 yr old but would long rein.
In this case I think I would do as somebody else has said and set up and border via posts and fencing but I wouldn't be doing any work in his field, I think play and work should be kept separate and not in the same field. Is there anywhere local u could hire? Just a thought
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I don't do any work with him in his own field, his field is his space, any little bit of work is done in another field. Thanks.
 
If he longlines well why not just get him to progress onto a circle with two lines. I wouldn't want to use side reins to make a youngster lunge myself, but even if you do you still need to solve the problem of warming him up first without.
 
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