Anyone's youngsters who simply wouldn't lunge?

Devonshire dumpling

Devonshire dumpling

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Has anyone had a young horse who they were breaking who just wouldn't lunge? and what was the reason? I don't mean hammering around for 30 mins, more just teaching some basic commands during the breaking process?
 
No. Not just mine but others I have worked with either for myself or for an old boss. Some were more work than others but all did lunge.
 
I used to say my lad won't lunge, however I knew it was a case of the blind leading the blind, I can lunge a horse who know what to do fine, but after trying countless times myself I admitted I needed a bit of help and my instructor got us on the right track within half an hour, I had got to the point when I though he just didn't want to lunge when really he had no idea what it was I was asking. Never underestimate the value of a bit of experienced help :)
N&F
 
no, they will all lunge in my experience but i think its something lots of people dont find easy to do or teach
 
No never I have never come across a blank canvas who would not learn although some take much longer to get it than others.
I have however bought some older horses who have been lunged badly in the past and some have been very difficult to settle and one who never got that lunging was not running around in circles.
 
Ohhh I don't, our instructor (who is very talented) was with us... we didn't even get to trying too much, he was ill treated in the past and something seemed to flip in him, he had a panic attack only out 3 foot from the handler , and went over/through a 5 bar wooden gate..... we decided to just get him walking away on a regular leadrope and still have a few issues... instructor and ourselves have decided to give him a year, and carry on with positive training, bless him,he is a bit of a sheep with us, done lots of join up and think he now needs to learn to leave us!
 
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Mine wouldn't when we started with him at 3yrs old, evidently according to my RI who was helping me he had the worst attention span she had ever seen, so didn't bother,we let his brain catch up with his body and just hopped on when he was four,
 
Yes- whilst working on a yard where everything else was quite simple to break one sorry looking big horse arrived. He was bought at auction for his breeding, but had been neglected previously and kept in a dark cow shed apparently.

Took us weeks to get him to trust us enough to even lead him and when it came to the saddle it took another few weeks, some days he got it other days he just freaked out. His was purely fear related even grooming took hours.

I left to come to uni when i was just beginning to make progress with him and gaining his trust, would be great to see how he is now! (Hopefully trusting and happy)

:)
 
Freddie is only just 2.... so we are going to wait until next summer, he just didn't get it and to be honest he still has that edge to him, which says I am out of here (he's 15hh+ and 500kg) nobody can hold him when he panics, but we have him bridled, saddled and walking out lovely in hand, he needs to mature a bit I think and forget whats happened to him X
 
I had the problem when breaking my youngster that he wouldn't stop on the lunge line!
Is your younger old enough to ride? If so that makes things a lot easier, whenever I ask for an upward transition I click and when I want a downward transition I say 'annnd woahh'. I did this every time I rode whilst giving the necessary signals, this helped him to associate the words to the actions! Which is then applied to lunging!
I also used a bridle to lunge in, instead of a halter/headcollar which gave a little more control. My lad is very sensitive and forward so I don't lunge with a whip but if you do then lower the whip and keep it away from him which takes the pressure away. Also make sure to adapt a relaxed tone and stance, make sure not to be too intimidating/overbearing!
Trust me, time and patience are the way forward!
 
Yep, a rather large maxi cob who just panicked and tanked everytime you tryed even without a whip and quietely leading him around. Went straight to backing him with no problems then about 6months later when he was more confident with us gave it another go, got by just being quite and sticking to walk and trotand not bothering with a whip.
 
Devonshire dumpling said:
Freddie is only just 2.... so we are going to wait until next summer, he just didn't get it and to be honest he still has that edge to him, which says I am out of here (he's 15hh+ and 500kg) nobody can hold him when he panics, but we have him bridled, saddled and walking out lovely in hand, he needs to mature a bit I think and forget whats happened to him X
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I think that's a good plan turn him out with other let him be a horse catch him now and again handle him put him in the stable now and again .
I have seen horses who have had bad treatment in the past react very badly when they don't understand something .
I always carry a dressage whip when leading young ones I don't use it it's just there so they learn it's no bit deal if they are a bit backward I start lunging by using the dressage whip and teaching them what ' out 'means as a command the whip is for directing not for driving forward at this stage i will. Walk with them and gradually teach them to walk away from me .
Some nervous horses are best started without a helper some nervous types find two humans too much and progress quicker one to one .
Good luck with him he does not want to be lunging or anything to much until he's three anyway.
 
We set up a pen with some electric fence uprights and a run of (non electrified) tape around it... Much easier to get our clingy 3yr old lunging in there than the open field which is the only other option...

Although he's developed a new trick - hop ahead of the body line the lass breaking him is lunging him on and then quickly spin to come back towards her - which has her moving like an olympic sprinter to try and get behind his shoulder again... Clever wee beastie... My money is still on her though...

I can lunge one of ours that is totally voice controlled and a doddle... Absolutely rubbish at doing it though and revolving makes me fall over, so letting someone who knows what they're doing sort out the youngster... :)
 
I think you're probably right to leave him a while, then try again in a few months with a different approach. When mine was 2/3 he would only lunge in one direction and forgot the whole concept on the other rein. I long reined instead, established left and right and there you have it, lunging with two reins. Good luck!
 
We had one that just would not leave the person lunging and walk on. I enlisted pro help and after they lost their temper and battered her I called it a day on the lunging front, got on and rode her. Lovely horse great hack, brave on roads and xc. Wasn't mine though so got sold on. Still with person was sold to I believe.
 
My youngsters I start on the long reins, then do circles on the long reins, then start to lunge from the inside off both lines and if I want to I can then take outside rein away ... so never had a problem with them learning it this way.
But I see a lot of clients whose horses will not lunge, run in, have built up habits over the years, etc! ... I find a second lunge line sorts out almost all cases.

ETA: I start long reining at 3 if I feel horse needs some early learning ... but rarely do any circles/lunging before they're 5 as don't have a proper surface to lunge on so worry about joints/etc!
 
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This is the thing with him, he's a dream to handle, we have totaly respect from him, hell I plaited his tangled tail yesterday, he has been angelic for the farrier, we have him yielding, walking backwards, over tarpauline, he knows stop and walk on, he has been out on inhand hacks (10 min ones) saddled and bitted (hes rather large and wanted all this done this summer. He was totally feral when we had in Jan and thought humans were evil, but the trust is amazing now. All we asked of him was to walk out from us about 5 feet with the gentle wave of an arm, no lunge nothing, he just doesn't get it and freaks, in my heart of hearts I think he's just too young, so shall carry on with handling and desensitising and manners, he will also learn to come in overnight this winter:cool: He may be a different horse next summer, I don't think he would care if we backed him now, he's very calm with us, it's just this lunging milarky that fills him with dread! Our trainer who is very very quiet and calm with him and took only waved a hand not even an arm, has suggested we stop too and if we really wanted him to lunge he could go to her house where she has a roundpen, but I am not fussed, we will do it when he's ready XX
 
i wouldn't be bothering with lunging yet, especially as he is still young and such a big lad:)
why don't you try getting him to stand, then you walk away to the end of the lead rope, give it some gentle pressure and get him to walk to you, once he's happy with that start doing it on a lunge line so you can increase the distance between you . :)
 
Ron is 18 and won't lunge! I get the impression no-one ever taught him, and he just freaks out and bolts. He's an absolute saint to handle in every other way though, so I can't complain, and just don't lunge him ever. not the end of the world IMO!

I'd agree, leave it til next summer and concentrate on other things for now!
 
Ibblebibble said:
i wouldn't be bothering with lunging yet, especially as he is still young and such a big lad:)
why don't you try getting him to stand, then you walk away to the end of the lead rope, give it some gentle pressure and get him to walk to you, once he's happy with that start doing it on a lunge line so you can increase the distance between you . :)
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Oh yes he does stand and come on the leadrope, what a good idea with the lungeline

JenHunt said:
Ron is 18 and won't lunge! I get the impression no-one ever taught him, and he just freaks out and bolts. He's an absolute saint to handle in every other way though, so I can't complain, and just don't lunge him ever. not the end of the world IMO!

I'd agree, leave it til next summer and concentrate on other things for now!
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HEHE bless dear Ron! Yeah I am not fussed, I am not one to ever lunge a fresh horse before getting on and to be honest we won't ever feel inclined to lunge him anyway I doubt! X
 
mine just didnt get it before e backed her - we had help from very experienced people it didnt help that she had the attention span of a nat!! we gave up and just hopped on - have never needed to lunge her shes fine after time off and if i dont have time to ride she just stays in the field! she can now lunge but its quite hard work to begin with and she'd rather start in canter then go down the transitions then back up ect so we just dont do she'd probably pick it up if i did it every day for a week or something but i dont tend to lunge so its not a problem atm - occasionally free school her for fun but have probably lunged her twice? - will wait untill her attention span is more than 5 seconds!!
 
I remember when I thought it would be great to lunge my big cob as a teenager. Basically he just turned around and galloped full pelt away from me stripping all the skin off my hand. :eek: Happy days.

I started again in an enclosed school, with someone walking him round for me, until he got the hang of it.

Paula
 
Training a horse to lunge on a circle starts with in-hand training.

Young horses which 'freak', or exhibit adverse behaviour, in response to attempts to lunge them are likely to have no idea what is being asked of them. Older horses which don't lunge are more likely to have learned evasions.

It's amazing the amount of people who'll state that their horse won't lunge, and that it does this that and the next thing when asked, yet these people say nothing of how they go about getting the horse started. It's usually human error which causes problems with lunging.

Young horses are easy to start on the lunge if they are first taught to yield the shoulder. This is done initially in-hand, with the handler teaching the horse to yield head/neck/shoulder, firstly with a training stick, then with the hand, and then by becoming assertive and stepping in toward the horse. It takes about five minutes to teach.

The horse must also be worked in-hand and should learned to lead, back up, yield fore and hindquarters, and should be thoroughly desensitised to stick, rope, and hands all over his body.

During this process the horse learns to read his handler, and the handler teaches the horse that when he exhibits drawn-up, assertive posture, the horse must be attentive and yielding, and when he becomes passive in his posture, the horse can relax. The horse becomes aware of the different uses of the training stick, and learns when he must yield to it and when he can remain still and accept its touch.

This, if done properly, is what allows the horse to learn to trust his handler. It is trust and experience built through good in-hand work which prepares the horse for lunging and long-reining. Horses thus prepared are not likely to 'freak' when asked for a bit more, such as lunging.

So, having been prepared by being taught to yield his fore-end/shoulder, the horse can be set up for lunging. The handler steps in and asks the horse to yield his shoulder. As the horse responds, the handler steps back and into the driving position and raises his posture, and/or the stick, to send the horse on. The handler must then work the horse quietly, and be prepared to step toward the fore end if the horse attempts to turn in, and keep the horse going on by using voice, posture, and/or raised stick.

Having done all that preparatory work together, horse and handler trust and understand and respect each other, and so more advanced work is less likely to be dogged by evasion or end in disaster.
 
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Given his age, and that he is accepting lots of other things, I'd agree with your trainer and leave the lunging for a while. He's not old enough to do more than a couple of circles anyway, really.

Sounds like he's done a lot since Jan, which is brilliant, but he probably will need some turnout-and-growup time now, so don't get carried away and do too much.

When he's a year older and you want to try again, a round pen does make it easy, and there are lots of things you can do to help him understand lunging/longreining. Have not yet met a bad-to-lunge horse that could not be sorted out.
 
Sorry but never got the lunging thing!
In all my years of helping people with behavioural work, lunging has always been a problem for me.
It is not a natural consistent gait for a horse to have, I have been informed over the years that it is good for: getting a horse supple, helping with discipline, getting the horse to concentrate, the list goes on.
The amount of clients I have that will lunge their horse when there is no respect from or to either party
So basically you have an owner standing in a school with a horse going around them for absolutely no reason what so ever .
Take your horse for a walk, get to know it, get it to do things that are achievable and that earn your respect and, you his.
Then when you feel the time is right (when you are confident around all parts of your horse, including being on its back) ask yourself this.
What do I want to do with my horse, and I will bet the answer is not to ride around in small circles!
 
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