Any lunging aid to encourage horse to stretch?

Sol

Sol

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My aim at the moment is to encourage Dan to work longer and lower, to help him relax & soften and move forward without stiffening & hollowing.
I thought it would probably easier at first to help him begin to really understand the idea and build up the muscles he isn't used to working on the lunge, without a rider to hinder him.
I have a pessoa copy but this is too inconsistent I think and he tends to duck down for a few strides, then come back up which isn't really what I want. Is there anything better suited?


Thanks,
Sol x.
 
A bungee. Can either go from poll, through both bit rings, between legs and clip onto girth underneath or lunge roller. (if no ring, just a piece of bailing twine on girth or roller).

Or

place over horses back, come between front legs and clip onto bit rings.

Is an excellent tool for encouraging long and low and with no restriction as it is elastic. Oh and cheap!
 
My physio recommended a Chambon to get my girl to work low and to lift her ribcage (if that makes sense).
 
I have used a pessoa to fabulous effect on my old boy who was recovering from a back injury. Was my vet who told me to use it on the long and low setting between his front legs.

Friend has also had great use out of a bingee for helping her boy!! Its Hevs on here :)

Nikki xxx
 
Pessoas are great for getting the horse to work long and low and build up topline. I fyour horse is being inconsistent with the contact, you just need to be patient and gradually build up the tie you use it for. Literally start off on long and low setting for 5 mins and gradually increase as horse starts to accept that way of going
 
Bungee may be best option I think, I'll look into it :) I've heard the idea of putting something over the back & through the front legs before, this seems like it might work for him rather than anything over his poll (has been known to hold a lot of tension around the poll which I don't want to encourage in any way...) Will look into the chambon too :)

Thanks!
 
It is not the gadget, but how you lunge......get someone really good to show you how to lunge properly........and use long reins as well
 
dressedkez - that would be not just slightly, but majorly difficult. I don't know ANYBODY that lunges and tbh, know very few people who even know vaguely how to lunge which I find a bit worrying :o I've had a few sort-of lunging lessons from my last instructor and that's it, the rest is text book knowledge but it works mostly ;) I do lots of transitions, spiraling in & out again, switch reins frequently & don't do more than 25mins including walking the horse for a decent length of time and don't stick to a perfect circle. I try to praise good behaviour, and use common sense for everything else!
I lunge with two reins occasionally, although it doesn't seem to go down well with this particular horse and causes him to almost panic a little.

I'm not after a quick fix, I just see it as more beneficial that he is encouraged to work correctly sooner rather than later, rather than building up the wrong muscles further and finding it progressively harder to do as he's asked.
 
Another vote for the chambon :) My physio reccommended using a chambon on my mare combined with what I can only describe as the 'back part' of a Pessoa just to remind her where her bum was. This combination was brilliant for her, totally transformed her way of going :)
 
Vote here for learning to lunge properly....a horse should stretch for a soft contact on the lunge.

I always lunge from a snaffle, with a roller or saddle and side reins used correctly, not to pull horses head in, and usually use two reins, chopping and changing as you would change direction with long reining...and no, I don't have a school and it works with all horses so long as you are calm and have patience.
 
reccomend the EquiAmi , i used it on my pony and it made her much more balanced- it shows a difference quite quickly, although major improvements came for me within 3 weeks of lunging twice a week- she is much more balanced and i like the idea of the horse having to support itself. www.equiami.com
 
Alfies Slave said:
Vote here for learning to lunge properly....a horse should stretch for a soft contact on the lunge.

I always lunge from a snaffle, with a roller or saddle and side reins used correctly, not to pull horses head in, and usually use two reins, chopping and changing as you would change direction with long reining...and no, I don't have a school and it works with all horses so long as you are calm and have patience.
Click to expand...

Thank goodness not the only voice in the wilderness! You are so right, and at the end of the days the horse needs to learn to go from the hand and leg - so best to emulate that at the start without gadgets - one should be able to feel from the ground as one can on-top - you can't feel with a gadget......can you??
 
Kinda makes me laugh about how people go on about the horse /should/ do this, and /should/ do that....... Ok, have you ever sat down with the instruction book & said to your horse 'you know, you ought to be doing it like THIS, yeah?' Nah, it doesn't work.

So going on and on about what SHOULD happen is a little pointless ;) He also /should/ work a certain way under saddle, but he doesn't, hence the effort to correct this. He also ought to jump in a snaffle, but we've given up that battle and he now jumps very well in a pelham (: So, enough of the should's unless there's going to be useful advice on the end of it?
Better still, if any of you who obviously know how to lunge want to come & tell me where I'm going wrong, do! I'd be very grateful.

Thanks to everyone who's actually suggested something, I'll take a look at the options when I get in tonight (:
 
Hello. I am a vet physio and I use Bungees and chambons. Also use the pessoa when I feel it may benefit. I always start in a bungee and 99% of my patients work posturally very well in them. :)
 
My cob goes very well in a pessola. However, our clydesdale far prefers a bungee and my WB liked the chambon, where the cob does not.

I also like to use a roller and alternate my lunging with sometimes using two reins so I can lunge a circle, change the rein, doing a bit of long reining and then lunge again. I personally never stay on a circle unless I have to and use the whole school.

Lunge whip, Farra needs one to push her forward but never flicked near her, Chancer occasionally needs the end flicked at him, and Fleur you used a schooling whip as she did not like the lunge whip, purely as a pointing device if she needed pushing out.

I do not use side reins as when I lunge I want them going long and low to stretch, if I want them to gather up and take contact, I prefer to do this ridden as I can then have feedback from the feel of them which I can't get from the end of a rope.

What I am saying in a rambling way, is that whilst all of them lunge well in the way I want, long and low and steady trot, each needs a different way of being lunged, so it might be worth experimenting with various aids.
 
Thanks again :)
I think I'll start by trying a bungee and see how we get on.
I'd love to be able to do more on the lunge/long reins but although there are 4 arenas at the yard, there's only one that lunging is allowed in as the other 3 have membrane which the YOs don't want tearing, and there are always jumps up in there so we have to just work around them which usually means just sticking to the end of the arena (though it is HUGE so it's not too bad)
 
"place over horses back, come between front legs and clip onto bit rings. "

I have never heard of doing this - my bungee wouldn't go over his back down his belly through his legs and attached to the bit - it would put him on the wrong shape/outline.....
Is there a picture you can show me of how this actually works??;):D

I have a bungee but dont think its right for my Beastie - saving for a pessoa :D
 
Crackajack - I -think- it means similar to the 'gadget' linked to on the first page? So basically just encourages the horse to drop it's head? I know I've seen pictures somewhere....
 
Crackajack said:
"place over horses back, come between front legs and clip onto bit rings. "

I have never heard of doing this - my bungee wouldn't go over his back down his belly through his legs and attached to the bit - it would put him on the wrong shape/outline.....
Is there a picture you can show me of how this actually works??;):D
Click to expand...

I've done this with draw reins - put on as described then tie in a knot over back to shorten appropriately for the horse/pony. Works really well, better than a Pessoa for two of mine. They come up and into a more consistent contact, but have the freedom to stretch down if required. In a Pessoa, one of them tilts her head to the side on one rein (her stiffer one), but does not do that when I use the draw reins like this.
 
I am going through this with my mare and, on the advice of my excellent instructor, am using side reins passing from bit to girth between front legs, so they act like a harbridge (sp?). She initially fought like mad against the restriction, but quickly worked out that the way to make herself comforable was to stretch down and forwards.
 
Longline with 2 reins on a circle. My girly is really respecting this and is startign to work long and low. I do have a pessoa but not needed it yet as the long lining is working well.
 
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