Lunging advice please for first horse

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horsey_girl_83

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I've just took a horse on full loan. He has been ridden, but not in recent years. He can be a little wild and hasn't done any schooling that I know off.
He craves attention and just wants to follow you.

My problem is when I try to lunge him, he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't like it when I'm stood by his shoulder and doesn't react to vocal commands (although he does when I'm leading him round the field). He keeps trying to turn and face me!
I've used to lunge whip to try and put some distance in between us and encourage him to walk forwards in the right direction, but he doesn't seem fazed by it at all. He ignores it and turns to face me, or just stamps his feet!
I don't feel safe using the whip in any other way than just raising it up or gently nudging him when he is facing directly towards me!
He's a large cob (16hh). Any suggestions please?:)
 
I have a suspicious mind so I will go ahead and ask this even if it's a stupid question: are you sure he was ever broken in? Do you trust the owners with his history? Have you ever seen him ridden?

Assuming my questions are stupid...then consider: how experienced are you with lunging? Could he just be taking the 'p'? Has anyone else tried lunging him?

If he really doesn't know how to lunge you may need to teach him, for which you need another person at his head leading him to start off with. Have you tried long reining? It's probably a lot better for him than lunging.
 
Thanks for your quick reply. I do appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

I have seem him ridden, but not out of the yard. I don't think he has been lunged before, he hasn't got a clue what to do.

I've never lunged before either, which doesn't help. I am confident around him and did used to work with horses, but didn't do much schooling with them.

I will have a go today with someone leading him round and will look into long reining.
Thanks for the tips :)
 
Easy solution: get an instructor to teach you to lunge! She can teach you with a horse that knows its job (very easy to pick up the skills, should be a matter of one or two lessons) and then get her to start your cob as well so she can assess how much he knows.
 
I'd second that. Get someone more experienced to lunge him - he is probably taking the P at this point. After all - why run around in circles if you don't have to! Then get a couple of lessons in lunging so you can do it.

Be very careful long reining. If he takes excpetion, espeically if you are not experienced in long reining, he could lash out. Not all horses like the feel of two reins around thier hindquarters. Also if you drop or tangle the reins you could frighten him. In my view longlining if you are inexperienced is far more dangerous - for both of you - than lunging.
 
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With a well behaved horse that knows its job its easy enough to pick up the basics to be able to lunge for exercise. Lunging a less straight forward horse or starting one does take more skill but if you get someone to teach both of you (separately) no reason you can't do it.
 
Yes of course, you shouldn't long rein if you don't know how! Sorry I took that as given but maybe I should have been clearer! Easy to get some lessons on how to long rein as well though! Useful skill to have. Good luck!
 
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