Lungeing advice please!

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beatrice

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Firstly a little background...
Bea 6yr old, 16.2hh, idxtb. Stressy, quirky, spooky type of girl but very talented and i love her to pieces! I have had her about 8 months now and i am only just starting to crack her under saddle.

I am having trouble lungeing her. However this is not new behaviour and she has done it since i bought her.

Basically, when i first push her away from me she goes mental! She shoots off, bucking, rearing, kicking out, leaping into the air at a rather speedy canter. When she is doing this she creates large holes into the school which she then almost falls down sending her off again! (imagine a horse getting stung by a few bee's!). When she is doing this she also cuts in on the circle so she is doing this very close to me!

I had started to solve this by starting her on the circle walking beside her and me gardually moving away from her. However this now does not work as soon as i am a couple of metres away from her it starts. When she starts i always got her to come in on a smaller circle and generally that would stop her however she is now doing this very very close to me and is starting to get dangerous!

I have thought about sending her forwards but i can't as she cuts out some of the circle and comes close and she is really flying around doing this! I struggle to move her away onto a bigger circle as i can't lunge her with a whip and i can't flick the lunge rope at her as it also sets her off (she is very responsive when i ask her to move forwards with my voice and once settled comes back very well from my voice). Once she has settled i can move her around just by moving myself towards her and move her all over the school and she will stay on a big circle.

She is not in any pain as her back, teeth, saddle etc etc are checked on a regular basis. She is not scared of anything as she works in the school under saddle fine (she never does this when ridden).

After about 5 mins of this she settles and works beautifully, soft, round and working through from behind.

I used to think it was because i didn't lunge her that often and she was just letting off some steam, however recently she has been lunged quite often and her behaviour is still the same.

So basically does any body have any ideas about whats causeing this or what i can do to try and minimise it and hopefully reduce the risk of my getting injured?

Cookies if you got this far and thankyou in advance!
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does she long rein? if she does you can try to start her off on the rein then move her around you until you are lunging with one of the lines around her quarters, thats how i stopped my lad from cutting in on me, makes lunging lots easier. Might take a few attempts to get the hang of it but at least then you can turn her away from you so that it isnt as dangerous
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I have never tried it with her as i have never long reined myself and i don't think she would be the best horse to try on.

However i may see if someone on my yard can and give it a go as that really makes sense!

Thankyou!!
 
What about loose schooling for 5/10 mins before putting her on the lunge? Ditto lunging with two lines, or maybe trying long reining, as long as you are safe and wont get kicked!
 
If you can lunge with two lines this may help - but not everyone likes to do this - bladeyboy's suggestion is good - I have recently started longreining my mare again and it has done her the world of good as I can send her forwards and be out of her way too!
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I'm not allowed to loose school where i am, we have a huge arena but the fences arn't that high.

I don't think she would ever intentionally kick me but she is the type of horse to panic if shes not sure of something.

May give the long reining/2 lines ago. However would like to give it ago with a horse who has had it done before!
 
it gives you more control of them when you are teaching them on the lunge, blade's too strong for me when he is only on one line but this way he is much more responsive and easier, keep us up to date how you go on, long reigning is really easy to do, you will probably need help to attach the reins at first until you get the hang then you should be fine! good luck
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I have never had need to lunge with 2 reins before so i think i will give this ago!

However when i lunge her i use elasticated side reins so do i attach the 2 reins the the bit aswel? As i currenly use only 1 rein i attach this to the caveson.
 
for the first attempt i'd leave them off, it will let you have a bit more control and she wont panic with the outside pressure. I love long reining, i think it teaches them so much more voice control, hope it solves your problems, if not we'll have to go back to the drawing board!
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If you can try long reining then do that, you shouldn't need side reins as well. What happens if she is lunged with someone on her? My old horse wouldn't lunge at first and had to learn with me on him keeping him out on the circle.
 
Is she like this when you ride her, or just when lunging? My mare gets quite hyper in the first few minutes of lunging then settles to work unlesss I work her everyday - my instructor thinks she's just having a few moments of fun
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I had this problem, so i used two lines and the bridle, this works well for me and my horse... as the out side line pushes her away from me and keeps her going... I have good control.
 
Please forgive me if I've missed it anywhere but has she actually been taught to lunge? Is she playing up cos she doesn't understand?

As a few have mentioned already, I also like to use two reins to long rein as you have more control. It might be best if you can get someone to stay by her head when you first try until she gets the hang of it. With two reins, particularly on a fresh/wild/disobedient horse, you can control both sides of her and the speed much better.
 
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Muddy grey – I have never tried lungeing her with someone on her as I am worried she would do the same and some one would get seriously hurt.

Zalacca – She has only done anything like this once with me on her and that was when she had a fit at a cattle wagon that pulled up next to the school and didn’t have rubber on the ramp and she flipped out. She is generally a tense horse but normally she will only put the odd skip in when asked to canter or she jogs, nothing really!

Irish draught – She does know how to lunge as after the initial mental stage she works beautifully, which is another reason I don’t understand the behaviour.
There has only been one occasion since I have had her when she hasn’t done this and I did nothing different that day to any other day!

I think I will give the 2 reins thing ago, however may get somebody else to give it ago first with her as I have never used 2 before.
 
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