Lunging advice

[Jenna gresty]

Hi there, ok so first a little about my horse back ground. I was ridding from 10years old-20years old I had two horses in that so I am not a complete novice, but I am 35y now and I am buying my daughter (4years) her first pony..I have never lunged before I have been watching U tube videos ect..Please could anyone give me advice on how to start off is there any good books..?
Another question is my yard is new and a working progress so we have no arena or enclosed area apart from two fields. (We do have access to a small arena but it is only small) Can you lunge in an open field? With NO other horses in?

Thankyou all in advance

 

[twiggy2]

get some lessons, so much of lunging is about your body language and positioning so it is much easier to learn with someone watching you and placing you if needed.

 

[Shay]

Ditto twiggy - there is no way to learn how to lunge from a book or videos I'm afraid. Not only do you have your technique; a good half depends on the pony too. What they have been taught - if they have been taught to lunge at all, or if they have good or bad experiences. And how cheeky they can be - especially ponies! You need to learn all that with an instructor.

You can lunge in an open area but if you are using a field you need to be fairly sure the ground is level and as free from stones / obstructions as possible. And obviously if you make a mistake and let go (try not to!!) pony will bolt to the far end of the field and refuse to come back which could be dangerous with a long line trailing. Repeatedly going over the same small circle will also churn up the ground - although that might not matter depending on your soil etc!

 

[Barnacle]

Yes, you can lunge in an open field. However, if the pony has not been lunged regularly, an open field may be an invitation to run off and you have to be prepared to keep hold.

Make sure you have gloves (I am terrible and do not lunge with gloves but if you are lunging a new horse, you should always wear them as you have no idea how they'll react and rope burns are horrible), a nice thick but not overly-long cotton lunge line, either a lunging cavesson or a headcollar and a whip. I recommend using a schooling whip rather than a lunging whip. The thing I HATE to see is people accidentally flicking the horse with a lunging whip. Lunging can be very subtle and a schooling whip is all you should ever need if you go about it properly.

Note that you CAN lunge in a bridle but I wouldn't suggest it for your first few times as you can hurt the horse's mouth if you end up pulling on the bit a lot. You can find videos on how to attach a lungeline to a bitted bridle easily on youtube but, again, don't do this unless you are very confident in both your own abilities and the horse's understanding. Later you may wish to lunge with a roller and side reins etc (I only ever use loose side reins to get a horse stretching but other people use side reins and other gadgets to push and pull the horse into a 'frame' - I would avoid this as much as possible). To start with a lunging cavesson so you can attach the line to the noseband or a halter is best.

Assuming you've got your horse attached to a lunge line etc, now stand your horse so it is pointing in the direction you want it to go. Take a few steps back so you are facing its shoulder. Your arms should now form a triangle with the horses body so that if you stretch out your arms, one is in line with the head and one with the hindquarters (so you are the tip of the triangle and the horse is the base and each of your arms is either side). The arm pointing at the head should hold the lunge line, the slack of the line should be looped loosely and held in the arm pointing at the quarters, which will also hold the whip. Never let the line touch the ground where it could get tangled in your horse's feet and never let it wrap around your arms or any other part of your body as you could get very, very seriously injured. Adjusting the line length so it doesn't drag takes practice but if you hold it how I described, you'll be able to use your whip hand to adjust the length. Some people hold all the line in their line hand and just the whip in the other - that makes it difficult!

To get the horse to move forward, make a movement towards the quarters and point your whip and say "walk on" (or whatever command you'll be using). Try to give the voice command and whip command simultaneously. You can also back this up by clicking. I use clicking to encourage small increases of speed/energy within paces. If you have trouble getting a response, flick the whip a little. If the horse really ignores, a smack on the ground should do it. Occasionally you get really unresponsive horses - for them I suggest adding a flag to the end of the whip but once they understand the commands, just moving your arm with an imaginary whip will work! It's about giving a clear signal - not the whip in itself. Always, always relax your body language the moment you get a response. You do not need to be constantly saying "walk on" unless the horse is slowing down. You don't need to be flicking with the whip either. Just ask for what you want and stop asking once you've got it. Ask again if the horse looks like it's slowing down or speeding up.

Once walking, if the horse tries to turn out, give a gentle pull and release with the line. If the horse goes to turn around to change direction, step FORWARD and use your body and whip to keep it moving. If the horse doesn't know how to lunge it is CRUCIAL you do not let it turn the other way or it'll learn it can do this and you'll have a real job on your hands. Some horses will have a minor freak-out if they've never lunged before and you ask them to step it up a gear and will try to turn tail and run. For this reason, keep the circle small when you first ask for trot as the horse won't be able to pull away as easily as it'll be less balanced when moving faster. As soon as you know there won't be any overreaction, give the horse more line so it can go on a bigger circle so as not to strain the legs.

One of the problems you may encounter early on is the horse falling in. If the horse falls in always step FORWARD and point your whip at the quarters or belly. You can also wiggle the lunge line and couple this all with a voice command like "out" or "away". As soon as the horse is moving away, relax. Getting the horse more forward will also encourage it to step out and keep on a bigger circle.

The other side of this is horses that pull. For them you have to slow things down and give a gentle tug of the line every time they start to pull and release immediately when they soften. This can take a while to stop but it's a less dangerous problem than horses that fall in.

ALWAYS step FORWARD when you are moving with the horse. A lot of people think lunging means you stay totally still in the middle and the horse runs around you. Often the result is that their body language is far too subdued and horses will start to walk all over them. You should not have to move a lot while lunging but I think it's better to make a small circle as well by stepping forward every time you turn with the horse. NEVER step back unless you want the horse to turn in and walk towards you (which I do ask for when changing directions just don't do it when you expect the horse to keep going!).

The commands I use to speed up and slow down are a series of words for specific transitions, accompanied by clicks and body language. What you use is not as important as that these stay absolutely consistent. A click should only ever be a request for movement, raising the lunging hand should only ever be to ask the horse to slow down etc etc. You can really train a horse to do anything in-hand that you can while ridden... Including transitions within gaits on the lunge. So you can get quite creative with your commands once you are comfortable and communicating clearly.

Something you might find the first few times you lunge (depending on the horse) is that speeding it up is very easy but slowing it down is not! If this is the case, just let the horse tire itself out a little before you try to teach commands for slowing down. Then you can try lowering your whip to the ground, raising your arm and very gently resisting the movement with the line and keeping your own body just behind the horse's movement on the circle. Eventually they get it and slow down. Then relax and let them do the same to reward.

Once you are comfortable with speed changes, you can also encourage the horse to lower its head/neck and step under itself more by making minor adjustments to your body language and the positioning of yourself and the whip and line... But I think to start with these are the 'basics'.

As others have said, having someone to point things out to you might be simplest. Lunging is a conversation between you and the horse and you need to be able to pick up on subtle cues from your horse and they in turn from you. Learning to adjust and be clear in your own behaviour is the hardest part. It doesn't come naturally to everyone and I've seen some people get really rather frightened by a horse that is normally wonderful on the lunge because they could not adjust appropriately and gave mixed signals. It can also be genuinely dangerous with horses that are new to the concept so it is also worth asking the previous owner to demonstrate so you know what to expect.

Adding a rider to all this is usually trivial. A lot of horses (assuming they are broken!) actually are better on the lunge with a rider on their back. So the hard part is making sure you and the horse know what you are doing without a rider - and once that's sorted, just put the rider on and do as normal.

 

[Jenna gresty]

Thankyou every one for getting back to me. This was my first post on here 🙊 and will take all the information on. I have found a lady on my new yard that will help....So I feel a little better now.

Jenna x x x