Lunging cobs......

Supertrooper

Supertrooper

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Does anyone find their cobs (especially big ones) struggle with lunging? Our shire x cob is 16.3hh and I don't know if he struggles with it or if no-one has ever taught him how to do it.

The first time I tried he just kept running at me and reared BUT we'd not had him long then and he trusts/respects me alot more now. I tried again after this but with a friend walking by his head and I gradually backed away until he was lunging round me and friend moved away from his head. We kept him on a big circle and only in walk and he did fine.

However I then heard that in one of his previous homes he'd taken off whilst being lunged, his owner had to let go and he was careering round school with the line round his legs. After hearing this I havn't lunged him again but I would like too.

He isn't scared of the line, when friend and I tried he wasn't worried about it or the lunge whip. I'm just worried that if he did go I wouldn't be able to hold him.

Any thoughts? Or people had anything similar?
 
Markie doesn't lunge at all well off of one line, put 2 lines on and it's a total doddle! I'm guessing, as he's done a lot of long lining, that he's just not used to one line. I've only tried once to lunge in just a cavesson. After that near death experience, it's bridle, roller and side reins!
 
my cob loves to lunge, very keen and relishes the work.

Use a very long lunging whip and a single lunge line through his bit and over head to the other side.
 
The horse I'm riding at the moment is a pro at lunging, despite only ever having been lunged when backed, on the days I cannot ride, I pop her on the lunge for 10 mins or so, no need for a lunge whip, just ask for walk, trot and canter and she does it, she would make a fab vaulting horse lol I guess she was started off very well in Ireland and they took the time to teach her this :)
 
Another vote for a near death experience when lunging cobs. Mine however is a tiddler at 14.3hh, but its no fun for either of us. He is not scared of it, and to my knowledge hasnt had any bad experiences with it, but its either dam hard work or scary. He is a typical cob in that he hates being in the arena. He either is bone idle and I expend as much energy as him by chasing him around, or he is utterly vile, bucking and trying to escape.

I cant use a cavesson as I have no control, and a pessoa just makes him really vile, so its a bridle all the time for us, plus nice long lunge whip. However, when he is good, he is good and he is brilliant with voice commands. However, at 19 years old he isnt lunged a huge amount and I think thats the way he likes it.
 
My big cob Billy would aim his hind hooves at your head if you dared to try and chase him forward on the lunge and he meant it :eek: Grace on the other hand is very amicable on the lunge at first she just wouldn't move but now she works very sweetly on the lunge at walk and trot although canter is a different subject but we are getting there one gracey step at a time :)

I lunge from the bridle with the draw rein arrangement on her. If I am lunging to get the cheek out of her before hoping on I tuck the reins behind the stirrup leathers.

(ps mine is only just over 14.2hh but shes a chunky beast lol)
 
. . . our cob mare Nelly responded to being lunged by shoving her large, feathery hind feet about an inch from your face . . . so we didn't bother. She wasn't scared, she was just bolshy (but we loved her).

P
 
mine isnt dangerous he just cant be bothered with it.

If you catch him at the right time he can be a poppet......
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if not every other srtrde he shows you his bum and hooves! :rolleyes:


What I will say though is that I always tried it on a much bigger circle to make it easier for him when he had had a break from it for a while, circles are not easy for a big old cob that is unfit.
 
Try longlining instead as the two lines will help you guide him. Use your body position to keep him moving forward and not come in towards you, stay behind his shoulder and make lots of turns to keep him interested. My highland always found single line lunging very difficult but after a bit of practice and lots of praise he was a wiz on the longlines and I jumped him using them as well which he loved. Good luck.
 
Thanks for your replies. I tried this afternoon but he wouldn't go away from me. I tried leading him on a circle and gradually stepping away from him but he just kept turning in towards me, even if I waved the lunge whip at his back end!! He is the same when you lead him though as he always wants his head by your shoulder, if you try to go by his shoulder to get him to walk on he'll turn his body?!? Any tips on this pls xx
 
Most of the cobs I know don't particulary like being lunged.

Fudge is quite aware of how to lunge, however he finds it a bit boring, is hard to get moving with two reins and just turns and faces you with one.

I'm ok with lunging and can lunge all sorts so the funniest thing is when I've had a couple of instructors try to show me how it's done and he's really played up, he even mowed one of them down when he'd hd enough :D

Oddly he's great to long rein.

My others seem to quitel enjoy being lunged.
 
Supertrooper said:
Thanks for your replies. I tried this afternoon but he wouldn't go away from me. I tried leading him on a circle and gradually stepping away from him but he just kept turning in towards me, even if I waved the lunge whip at his back end!! He is the same when you lead him though as he always wants his head by your shoulder, if you try to go by his shoulder to get him to walk on he'll turn his body?!? Any tips on this pls xx
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Sounds like he still hasn't worked out what you want him to do, so he using your body language to try and work it out. I would suggest that you walk him into the school on the lunge line stand in the middle with him and send him away from you.

When i first started lunging my boy (who is a cob standing at 16.2 and just turned 4) i would shake the lunge line at him and say walk on - (cue wtf look from pony!) follow this by squaring your body if needs be waving arms to make him realise he has to go away follow up by waving the whip, he will soon work out that he can only go on the circle.

To help him go forward once he is out on the lunge stay behind his head, if you move in front of his eyeline he will stop as this is what your asking him to do! To start with you will probably not get a great circle and will have to move around a fair bit but as long as he is moving forward when you want him to its a good start.

When finishing make him halt and stand then you go to him, otherwise he will think that when he has had enough he can come to you and you'll finish.

My boy lunges well, and it really gets him listening to my voice which is great, especially when we are going through transitions

Good Luck

p.s I also use the word "and" before i ask for something as I think its his cue to pay attention to what i say next which seems to work x
 
Our cob didn't get lunging to start with. She would do squares and couldn't keep her
balance or tempo, often plunging forwards cuing rather scary water skiing moments, we just kept doing little and often on the largest circle possible along side ridden schooling work, by the end she was doing really well.
 
I just think they need some help finding where their feet go sometimes! :D

In all seriousness, my loan cob enjoys lunging, she seems to acquire a new found fitness that doesn't show while schooling!
She does struggle with canter but she's the same ridden, but we're working on it.
 
Supertrooper said:
I tried leading him on a circle and gradually stepping away from him but he just kept turning in towards me, even if I waved the lunge whip at his back end!! He is the same when you lead him though as he always wants his head by your shoulder, if you try to go by his shoulder to get him to walk on he'll turn his body?!? Any tips on this pls xx
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He's learned to evade by turning to face you. Waving the whip at his quarters will only make the problem worse.

Chasing horses on with a lunge whip, especially if they don't understand what to do, will cause them to be reluctant to allow the handler any further back than their shoulder. They soon realise that turning to face the handler gets them off the hook.

Teach your horse to accept you on either side of him, and to allow you to touch him all over without worrying and moving away. Then teach him to yield his shoulder and to step away to the side when you put pressure there.

Once he learns to yield his shoulder, you can send him away quietly around you, by stepping toward his shoulder and lifting the whip toward his quarter, and you should be able to prevent him turning in if you don't drive him on too forcefully. If he wants to fall in, or looks as if he is looking to evade, step in toward his shoulder and raise the whip to send him out and on.

Be prepared to move around so that you are working him, and watch him closely to see where you need to be.
 
Sidney is a 16.2 chunky Shire x TB, very cob like. He lunges well, but broncs when lunged in canter. He has always done this, whether lunged in a headcollar, or in a bridle with a Pessoa on. I've come to the conclusion that the circle is just too small for him in canter, so I rarely canter him on the lunge. There's nothing wrong with him - he did it before and after having hocks treated for arthritic changes.

I think some horses just find it hard to balance on a smallish circle. He's very obedient, and there's no reason cobs can't lunge, I just have to be sensitive and not ask him to canter very much on the lunge.

Isabelle
 
Thanks so much for all your replies. Has made me consider trying again as I honestly think he doesn't understand what I'm asking him to do. I've noticed when he worries about something or doesn't understand he will start mouthing which if I'm right is a babyish thing to do?

Will definately try your tips and would it be worth having someone walk by his head initially on the circle?? I think really he needs to learn it as though he was a baby so how would I do this??
 
Well I have a 13.2 new forest who doesn't lunge... Unless u would like to be booted into the next planet? Or if u needed her to show off her bucking skills! But ridden wise she wouldn't ever dream of behaving so badly! And she has very good ground mannors, just doesn't like being lunged...
 
All cob's i've known were fine to lunge.

I wonder how much of it is because they're never taught properly? Most cob's are quiet natured and many are broken to drive young. I suspect a lot of then are broken using the 'get on and go' method, or are longreined from behind for driving. Then more 'sports horse' type by contrast seem to, by and large, be started 'traditionally' and lunging therefore makes up a large part of their initial education.
 
Sorry for a stupid question, but why should a cob be any differant from any other horse? Surely if they are taught to lunge correctly being a cob should make no differance?
 
itsmylife said:
Sorry for a stupid question, but why should a cob be any differant from any other horse? Surely if they are taught to lunge correctly being a cob should make no differance?
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This.

A horse is a horse. For what its worth my cob lunges better than any of the blood-types on the yard. Not because he is a cob, but because I have trained him to. My little sports pony also lunges fantastically.
 
itsmylife said:
Sorry for a stupid question, but why should a cob be any differant from any other horse? Surely if they are taught to lunge correctly being a cob should make no differance?
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I'm probably wrong and i'm sure someone will correct me, but maybe it's a preconception that because cobs tend to be far thicker set than the tb types it is perhaps harder for them to pick up the bend or something as they may lack the natural suppleness of more dainty types?
Just a thought :)

Ronnie lunges and long reins fine, but the lunging definitely took longer to teach and I wondered whether it was because of the more consistent bend. I get better work when I long rein, we can do more maneuvers with the extra rein too.
 
Heres some pics of my boy he's very supple on the bends, note how much I move in relation to the storage unit, its imporant to move with him to make the circle as big as possible, i use a long red lunging whip as well, to send him away and trail along behind.

To start off I had someone lead him from the nose with a shorter lunge line as I stood in the middle. He picked it up amazingly in only 3 sessions.

The fitness they pick up is incredible, he lost a lot of excess fat last year through lunging, and became cardiovascularly very fit.


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