Lunging. Good or bad for horse. opions please.

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blossom01

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I was always taught that lunging puts extra pressue on horses legs and after a horse was broken in, lunging needn't be used. BUT now I have a more "lively" horse, I have found myself lunging my horse to excercise him, espically if he has not worked for afew days and feeling rather well. I am of the opinion now that it is far better to lunge him for 20 mins than to hack out on the road and trot him for ages to work him until he settles. (I have no school)
has anybody else's opinion of lunging changed. and if so why?
just wondering.......
 
we lunge if the weathers really windy or short on time.having said that i think it is harder work and as we have to use the field ground conditions have to be right.experience has taught me you have to find whats right for your individual horse.
 
I lunge alot more then i ride due to a dodgy back and having to take it easy so i find that lunging is good for keeping weight down
 
i lunge mine if i cant ride out. i find it just stops him getting fizzy. he had a week off recently and i lunged him gently two days before i hacked him out again, jst to burn off the excess energy and to exercise him. altho i do have to admit, i dont tack up and do it all properly, i usually just use his headcollar.
 
i think lunging is harder work than anything else but equally i would hack for 2hrs cos its easy, school for 45mins -1hr because thats more hard work but also have breathers in the middle
BUT if i lunge its just for 20mins so hard work short time therefore imo not harder than hacking for hours!

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Lunging is fine if your doing it right for that particular horse. Wizzing a fresh but unfit horse around on a small circle for example could cause an injury at some point.
You have to take into consideration the ground, very soft ground is hard going, same as hard ground.
Is your horse fit enough to be lunged continually with out regular walks and stretches in between?
Is your horse supple, balanced etc to lunged on anything smaller than a 20m circle for example.
A horse can be slighly lame on the lunge but look sound enough when hacking out or simply riding using the whole of the school.
Old injuries may show there ugly head again after been lunged all the time.

So its down to just using you common sense really, lunging is great and fine so long as your horse can cope with how you lunge it etc.
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I was always told 20min lunging is the same work as 1hr in the school. The size of the circle also makes a differance to the work done a smaller circle is harder work.
I lunge lucy a fair bit as she needs to be fit because we do endurance. I trot for 5mins on one rein then 5 mins on the other then do a couple of 1-2 min canters on each rein. This keeps her quite fit when i don't have much time to work her.
 
i usually lunge for about 15 2o mins about for times a week put mainly in walk and trot an maybe a little canter but i usually loose school him or have him just on a head colar because he his good and does not pull me about!x
 
Lunging is fine if you do it properly, not for too long, and not all the time.

Have you thought about long reining as well? I like LR as it gets them stretching down and working properly, plus you can move on to lateral work on the LR as well as just going around in circles. I do all sorts with mine on the long reins - just work him in walk and trot as though he's being schooled...figures of 8, changes of rein, serpentines, big circles, small circles, poles, lateral work. It's much more versatile than going round in circles on the lunge.
 
Ditto Chestnut Cob, I usually long rein (or lunge with two reins) as I can get him to do figures of 8 and serpentines, Seems much more effective for me as I can really see him improving with each session. He doesn't seem to accept lunging too hapily, think he finds it easier to balance with the extra rein.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Lunging is fine if your doing it right for that particular horse. Wizzing a fresh but unfit horse around on a small circle for example could cause an injury at some point.
You have to take into consideration the ground, very soft ground is hard going, same as hard ground.
Is your horse fit enough to be lunged continually with out regular walks and stretches in between?
Is your horse supple, balanced etc to lunged on anything smaller than a 20m circle for example.
A horse can be slighly lame on the lunge but look sound enough when hacking out or simply riding using the whole of the school.
Old injuries may show there ugly head again after been lunged all the time.

So its down to just using you common sense really, lunging is great and fine so long as your horse can cope with how you lunge it etc.
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You have expressed exactly what I wanted to say Zenzo!
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I would add that in my opinion far too many use lunging as a method to get horses fit
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Horses joints are not designed to be on a continual cirle. Get the horse fit first with plenty of walking in a straight line, the old-fashioned way, gradually building up the time and slowly introducing trot work first - lunging is not a quick fix unless you want injuries. I believe that even with a fit horse it should be kept to a minimum.
 
The other problem I have with lunging is that he falls in on the circle, whereas obviously with long reining I have the outside rein to prevent that. The outside rein around his bum also gets him stepping through much better. Takes a while to get used to sorting your knitting out though
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Mine is currently LR with the saddle on, stirrup leathers right down and tied together, and LRs through the stirrups to get him to stretch. As he gets stronger and more muscled, I'll move to LR with a roller and the LRs higher.

I get dizzy when I lunge so I would imagine my horse does too, all that going around in circles!
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I don't have a problem with lunging for shorter periods, as I find it a very useful tool in analysing gait (I am by myself, so it's difficult to assess by trotting up). It's been invaluable for Henry when he had LGL last year and again when he had the beginnings of LGL a few weeks ago. I don't do it for longer than 15 mins (7.5 each way total, walk and trot), just enough to increase his heart rate and make sure that everything is ok. Truth be known, lunging bores me to tears anyway and like Chestnut Cob, I get dizzy!!
 
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