Lungeing problem - advice needed please!

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FinellaGlen

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I lunge my pony once a week on average and she is very keen to go "up through the gears" but not so keen to come down again. I can get her back down into trot from canter after the first exuberant canter (!) but getting her from trot to walk is more tricky.

When I do manange to make her slow down she turns in so I point my whip at her shoulder but this seems to make her trot again which I don't want. She will eventually walk but she comes in very close to me. I don't have a problem getting her to walk properly when she starts off, it's just when she has to come down from trot.
 
have you tried lunging with 2 lines instead? maybe she doesnt like the lunge whip? i always lunge with 2 lines, use the back one to drive them on instead. You have more control breaks wise too! Is she a youngster unbroken?
I dont canter horses on the lunge but thats just preference.

Sophie xxx
 
I would ask for walk nicely, then (presumably you have side reins on) give a tug on the longe line, so the outside rein comes into play, then if that doesn't work, gather up all the line, so you end up near the horse, trying not to turn it in, and make it walk, if you are insistent and consistent it'll work in the end, it took me about two sessions to teach the 10yr old we have now, only this summer.
 
Ditto lungeing with two lines, much easier IMO and easier for them to understand. Use body language to drive her away from you. I can recommend the allen book :lungeing and long reining.
 
Thanks all. I lunge once a week or sometimes once a fortnight. I use side reins and lunge off the bit. My mare is 9 years old. I am not lungeing to remove excess energy but rather to give her some variety in her work and to try and get her more balanced in canter in the school. We also hack out twice a week, have a weekly lesson and do flatwork and polework - I don't jump as I have a bad back. She works in a nice outline when ridden and is snaffle-mouhted. She is probably the least complicated horse I've ever had when I think about it!

She hadn't done a great deal of schooling before I got her a few months ago but she is improving all the time and she isn't scared of the lunge whip (thankfully)! She does respect it but she's definitely not scared of it. She only gets hay and a few pony nuts, a bit of carrot and apple and a handful of chaff and she is turned out in the day and brought in at nights.

She isn't difficult at all and I think it is me that is causing the lungeing problem rather than her to be honest. I would like to try lungeing with two reins or long lining but I've never even seen it done so I am not sure where to start. Any pointers?
 
Thank you Katy. Our posts crossed! I will have a look for that book as I don't want to wade in with my own ideas on how to do it only to get it all wrong and spoil what is actually a very nice pony.
 
It sounds like she has been round pen/loose schooled trained. All of mine are taught to turn in to face me and wait for my next command - I almost never lunge, mine are almost always loose in the round pen. Perhaps this would be an option to see how she reacts?
 
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