How do you lunge a newly broken horse?

[Frances28]

Hey guys,

So, I have been breaking in my 4 year old. Last week I took him out on a mini hack - fully tacked. It was marvelous!!

Today I thought I'd lunge him. Now, I have been doing lots of join up and it works wonders i.e. he runs around then comes into me and the rest is you know. When I try to lunge him he keeps walking into the circle towards me. Perhaps it's confusion. I cannot, for the life of me, push him out and get him to walk round in a circle. He's not nervous of my schooling whip either!

How do you do it????

I always appreciate all your help and advice, it helps allot.

 

[spider]

Could you get someone to lead him round the circle? Sounds like he's a bit confused as you wanted him to come to you before.

 

[moneypit1]

Be quite tough with him at first so he respects your space. If you have to push his head away from you to get him going do so whilst bringing the lunge whip close to his hocks. Keep the line taught and be careful to go in the same direction as him, it is very easy to walk sideways or turn on the spot. When you approach him, approach the saddle area not his head as this will teach him to 'turn in' and you do not want that. Good luck. xx

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I had the opposite issue having done join up with my youngster, every time she caught my eye on the lunge she thought I was sending her away, cue hooley off!

Try giving your baby some firm eye contact as they are thinking about turning in.

I would also long rein a lot more than lunging with a youngster, partly because its better for the joints and partly cos much more like riding aids, but also cos you dont get falling in issues but can still teach voice aids.

BTW after a while of long reining we returned to lunging with no probs so it helped with that too.....

good luck!

 

[checkmate1]

To be fair join up and lunging are two very different things in a horses mind, i.e lunging you are (in their mind) sending them away and not responing to their 'please I'm sorry let me come to you signals', which is why I think Kelly Marks and co frown upon it a bit (so I gathered when I read her book). However if you want to lunge its just tough! Send your horse away on lunge and mean it, eye contact etc, I remember when I was teaching my youngster to lunge I had the exact same problem, I did a circus type whip crack right in front of her when she came is (it even scared me!) she reared up and went out and trotted around and never ever tried to come in again! (Lol, I could not believe at the time it worked!)
I lunge the 'proper' way and I also long rein/lunge with two lines, the horse cannot come in then as you always have a contact with the outside rein as you would when riding.

 

[checkmate1]

To be fair join up and lunging are two very different things in a horses mind, i.e lunging you are (in their mind) sending them away and not responing to their 'please I'm sorry let me come to you signals', which is why I think Kelly Marks and co frown upon it a bit (so I gathered when I read her book). However if you want to lunge its just tough! Send your horse away on lunge and mean it, eye contact etc, I remember when I was teaching my youngster to lunge I had the exact same problem, I did a circus type whip crack right in front of her when she came is (it even scared me!) she reared up and went out and trotted around and never ever tried to come in again! (Lol, I could not believe at the time it worked!)
I lunge the 'proper' way and I also long rein/lunge with two lines, the horse cannot come in then as you always have a contact with the outside rein as you would when riding.
Good Luck!

 

[snip]

Firstly you need a lungeing whip which is longer than a schooling whip and designed for lungeing. Your horse would appear to be confused since you have done some join up. Direct the point of the whip towards the horse shoulder and if he tries to come into you use the whip as you would if you were riding and wanted to stop the horse from falling in with your leg. Be careful if you try to lunge with two reins especially if you are new to it and be sure he moves forward into the contact and that you are not causing him to overbend.To be honest though if he was my horse nd he is happy to hack i would keep hacking as it`ll give him something interesting to do rather than going around in endless circles which is not that beneficial to a youngster or that interesting for him either. Good luck with your baby i hope you have lots of fun together.