Best lunging aid to build up topline..

EquestrianFairy

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 October 2006
Messages
6,502
Visit site
There are so many!

I need something to help improve and build up muscle/topline that isn't complicated and a mass of confusion for me.

I find the Pessoa very confusing.

I normally tend to ride rather than lunge but the youngster is very under developed and I want to introduce some lunging to help him along.
 

PolarSkye

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 July 2010
Messages
9,492
Visit site
There are so many!

I need something to help improve and build up muscle/topline that isn't complicated and a mass of confusion for me.

I find the Pessoa very confusing.

I normally tend to ride rather than lunge but the youngster is very under developed and I want to introduce some lunging to help him along.

Waits for the deluge of "gadgets are evil/the devil's spawn" responses . . .

. . . :).

P
 

blitznbobs

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 June 2010
Messages
6,248
Location
Cheshire
Visit site
learn how to use a pessoa - It's the best and only gadget I use (unless you call side reins a gadget) and does the job a treat...

Blitz
 

soulfull

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 July 2007
Messages
6,507
Location
Staffs
Visit site
I used to use a Pessoa. But then found the Equi ami. IMHO it is much better and far less messing around setting it up :)
 

sueonmull

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 November 2005
Messages
181
Location
West Coast Scotland
Visit site
I had good results with a pessoa but, to make sure you're not missing any obvious causes for his under development I'd be asking your vet to recommend a physio who can take a look and work with you to resolve any issues. The pessoa is fiddly but you do get used to it.
 

EquestrianFairy

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 October 2006
Messages
6,502
Visit site
I had good results with a pessoa but, to make sure you're not missing any obvious causes for his under development I'd be asking your vet to recommend a physio who can take a look and work with you to resolve any issues. The pessoa is fiddly but you do get used to it.

Thankyou, physio and vet out Friday to double check all is ok to go ahead :)
 

Dizzydancer

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 July 2010
Messages
4,549
Location
Staffordshire
Visit site
someone on here did some videos in draw reins- placed over whither then through front legs to bit- if you also put a tail bandage round bum attached to roller both sides you basically have a cheap equi ami.
i think if you Google lunge in draw reins it will come up on you tube.
 

Goldenstar

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 March 2011
Messages
46,020
Visit site
A lunging rope placed over the back through the forelegs and clipped to the bit , look at the horsehero website and you find a clip of it in use.but beware if your horse is built on its forehand this may not be the best thing.
Another cheapy put on a roller use a tail bandage to tie behind the horses bum and to the roller and use a bungee ( inexpensive to buy ) .
These are two inexpensive lunging aids to try .
 

paulineh

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 July 2008
Messages
2,111
Location
Hampshire / Berkshire
Visit site
You can get the Equi ami for less than £70 and the combo for under a £100. It it's the only training aid I will use. The combo is great because you have the lunging aid and the riding aid. This has been recommended by my Equine Osteopath and I have found it invaluable to help not just young horses but old horses and use it on all my rehab horses too.

Unfortunately if you want something that is good and works you have to pay for it.
 

EquestrianFairy

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 October 2006
Messages
6,502
Visit site
Thanks for that- just had a look at the videos.
Is that the same as the Kalvakade Ho lunge aid as I have someone I can borrow that from as it happens but it doesn't go around the backend?
 

Goldenstar

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 March 2011
Messages
46,020
Visit site
There are issues with pessoas ,
Horses find it very easy to learn to block and lean on them .
The swing from side to side means it's easy for horses to develop a side to side nose wobble .
When I try horses I can always tell if they have been 'Pessoaed ' .
 

montanna

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 July 2013
Messages
627
Visit site
IMO I hate pessoas as they sock them in the mouth as soon as they track up. They encourage them to lean and I have seen so many going round and round on their forehand with the owner in the middle thinking how fabulous they look.

Equi Amis are fab - bought one for my rising 4yr old who thought that lunging meant hooning around in canter like the wall of death with her head sticking up in the air... she hates side reins or anything fixed and just runs on her forehand with anything forces, the equiami suggests rather than forces and self centres so really easy to use/put on/adjust.

Best £70 I have spent in a while. I have had it about two month, used it once a week and already seeing results. This is in conjunction with a good schooling program so I wouldn't say it has all been down to the equiami, but it has definitely helped.
 

Antw23uk

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 October 2012
Messages
4,058
Location
Behind you
Visit site
The groom at our yard uses an Equi Ami and swears by it and if her horses are anything to go by its a cracking bit of equipment, her Welshie has a topline to die for and she puts it down to hard work and the equi ami.
I had a lesson with my boy in it the other day and it was just brilliant. So brilliant in fact I put it on my B,day wish list and should hopfully be getting it tomorrow for my birthday :D

I also asked for the combi so will get the ridden part as well :eek:
 

HeresHoping

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 July 2012
Messages
2,335
Location
Between the Moors and the Dales
Visit site
EquiAmi all the way.

And I'm with those who don't like the Pessoa so much. I've seen it cause a number of problems in quite a few horses, one of which was my own.

I had a TB with mild kissing spines (and a whole host of other issues but we'll ignore those for the moment) and the rehab programme involved building up to lunging up to 5 times per week in Pessoa for three months and then to start riding.

He developed enormous shoulders but no topline was appearing even after three months. And certainly no bum. Frustrated, I called in a very well known professional (one whose books are plentiful) and asked for help. I was well aware that you need to get them moving from behind and to my eyes, he was. But something wasn't happening and I obviously wasn't doing it right.

It transpired that in all this time the TB was was hauling himself around on his shoulders and leaning dreadfully on the Passoa. He was the same in the Chambon although he did snap up a bit better.

They can't lean in an EquiAmi. Within four weeks we saw a change in his physique (bear in mind we were lunging up to 5 times per week for 20 minutes by this point so it wasn't a slow and gradual process as is recommended when you start). However he did then start to evade it by coming above the bit and tucking his tail in - and then refusing to go anywhere but up. That's when I knew something really bad was wrong with him so we stopped. PM revealed a poorly healed fractured pelvis from his PtP days and torn SI ligaments.

I'm using the EquiAmi now on a youngster once a week. I think it is doing wonders for him. He was dreadfully unbalanced (still is in canter) and like an ironing board but the lunging allows him to find his own balance whilst working from behind into a soft contact and his suppleness has improved enormously.
 

samlf

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 August 2011
Messages
749
Location
Kent
Visit site
The only lunging gadget I'd use is an equi-ami.

I much prefer long reining to lunging though, so I'd choose that over lunging with any gadget!
 

Bernster

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 August 2011
Messages
8,029
Location
London
Visit site
Vet recommended pessoa for mine and she does seem to have gone well in it. Has built up topline and getting a juicy bum. It's a combination of feed, lunging and schooling but I think it's certainly helped.

I am however thinking of trying the equiami lunging aid as I've had the pessoa a long time (and one of the clips has just snapped) and it does come with a riding aid which I might try out (although schooling is going so well atm hoping not to need anything else). If anything, I'd prob go for the equi ami (or a fix that does the same job if there is one). I've had so much use out of the pessoa that I think the cost is worth it.
 

wench

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 December 2005
Messages
10,260
Visit site
I use a rip off of the kalvakade one. Worked really well on one horse, not so much on another one.

Easy to use and very cheap if you just a set of draw reins instead!
 

mischamoo

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 October 2011
Messages
380
Visit site
Another vote for the EquiAmi, I have the combi so both lunge and riding aid, use both aids regularly on my two TB's, one of which has KS, has helped wonders with getting his back stronger and done a great job on the younger TB for her balance and tracking up. Much kinder to the horse than a pessoa and on my two, they're more accepting of this than any other training aid I've used before.
 
Top