Lunging how bad is it for horses

Lunging is an extremely useful tool which is sadly abused and rarely done well. I've lunged hundreds of horses, with sidereins usually (other gadgets only if required by people senior to me, many years ago): some horses I have lunged over their entire working lifetimes and have not seen problems occurring because of it. The science of motion fella is a bit dodgy and certainly a sensationalist/contrarian IMO.

If there is "lean", you're not doing it properly.
 
I think like everything else we do with our horses lunging needs some preparation, conditioning, to be done well, done in moderation and on a decent surface, the same as flatwork schooling, jumping, hacking and even turning them out in a field, if they are unfit, ill prepared they may suffer an injury or do long term damage to their joints.

Our job as owners is to prepare them, get them or keep them fit enough to do the job required, ensure they are not carrying too much weight, either them or the rider, vary the work as much as possible and give them time out in a field every day to move about freely, miss out one part and you probably get away with it start to cut too many corners and it is more likely the horse will break, obviously some are going to break however well managed they are but I do think many are suffering from ligament or joint injuries because they are being wrapped up in cotton wool with limited turnout and only working on a surface with no hacking over a variety of terrain to help with strength and conditioning their legs.
 
I would say lungeing does much less harm than all the badly fitting cheap saddles people keep using to bang up & down on the poor horses backs!
We have been restarting our boy & I lunge him twice a week without gadgets using the whole field, poles, large circles, & re-establishing groundwork, manners, confidence etc.
Like everything horsey if its carried out in the wrong hands its bad but aren't most things we do bad for our horses such as keeping enclosed in a stable for 15 hours day upon day upon day!!
 
i lunge all the time and have had some horses the whole of their lives and never seen a problem, in fact it is so good for MINE i would never have a moments doubt, i am talking here about a period of 50 years.

i always let them trot slowly if poss use only a hc and line, go straight, use poles jumps etc, but also after a suitable period of warm up, trot on a big circle in walk trot and canter, until i can see they trotting in this` verticle balance thing` and completely submitting to the work through relaxation, and a balanced rhythm, and the sometimes do lengthened strides on the straight

if the horse is doing right there is no pressure on the lunge rein, no wall of death, no quarters swinging to the out side, [except perhaps with babies when they go on a bit pre backing] but you need to practice, i use 15 20 minutes max. sometimes less if assessing a mood before getting on

the advantages for me are, they has less weight on the legs, then when ridden, it part of getting them fit, its a safety valve, it can be fun

its stretchy, bendy, allows them to practice with their own bodies.

when you look at other things people do with horses pushing them to the limits of their bodies, i have to laugh on here very often, when lunging is thought of as so bad, when really there is only bad lungers, like bad riders etc
 
If I lunge I don’t stand still in the middle. I walk up and down the school, varying straight lines and circles. So almost like a schooling session but I’m not riding. Changing the rein every 5 minutes, the same with long reining. I don’t tend to use any gadgets on mine as they all work through their bodies themselves. I also like to see them stretching rather than being pulled into a position.
 
Science of Motion / JLC isn't exactly "science" though - as far as I can tell, he's mostly speculates wildly to dismiss other systems and promote his own - and seeing how he likes his horses to go, I'm not particularly inclined towards his system. I also object to his use of "science", since I've never seen anything more scientific in his work than Scientology...

However, on the OP's point... I don't like lunging to excess, or in restrictive gadgets. Excessive lunging on poor surfaces is always a bad idea, as is lunging in very small circles, or in any other extreme. Lunging - ideally with two reins, using the entire area, with appropriate tack and appropriate tact - is a different matter, in moderation. I don't lunge often because I don't have an arena at present. When I have had one, it has been a sporadic part of their workload - I might lunge one (of 3) a week in winter.
 
I have always lunged mine but not in an arena as I didn't have one. I used the fields and had various terrain I could use including some quite steep ridge and furrow, ponies used to love that. I always used a long lunge rein and didn't stick to a circle. Good work out for them and me.
 
I loose school mine as they're not supposed to be lunged due to joint issues (not caused by lunging I hasten to add!). They were taught verbal commands and signals first on the lunge - but I moved around the school with them so they're weren't confined to a circle. They will both happily school, do transitions and change the rein without a lunge line now.
 
The Spanish Riding School lunge their horses, work their horses to a fairly :) high standard, and their horses seem to last a long time. Lungeing a horse does not mean letting him run, pull to the outside, or lean into the circle and should not be done to tire a horse who is misbehaving as this is risking injury. Done properly it will promote discipline, balance and collection. And yes, you have to be pro-active as the horse should be lungeing mostly from your body language, same as if you were loose schooling. When you can make the horse sit back on his hocks on the lunge from your cues, you can lunge.
 
scruffyponies said:
Circles are generally smaller, and horse is leaning. I would also say that you start from the assumption that riding circles on a soft surface in a school isn't doing damage. I would disagree.
Click to expand...
Out of interest are there is there any evidence/reports regarding soft surface damage which you're aware of?!
 
I used to do a lot of long reining when training my older pony for driving, and we really enjoyed working with 2 reins. It was done in the field (as I have no arena) and was just plenty of changes of rein and straight bits with me running along beside but at a distance and rarely involved complete circuits done on a circle.
 
dree said:
Why side-reins? This is the sort of thing that damages horses when lungeing.....controlling the head and neck unnaturally. Don't get me wrong, I used to use side-reins 40 years ago, but I wouldn't use them now.
Click to expand...
When I broke my leg this summer, I paid for a freelance instructor to ride him. I don’t lunge as I’m rubbish at it He was put in side reins prior to being ridden and he was then lunged. He fell over in canter. Onto his back. He got his leg caught up in the side rein by the bit. Panicked and pulled with the leg. The bridle broke on both sides. Broke the cheek pieces. The bit cut his mouth.
 
Last edited:
BMWKIPP said:
I lunge on a regular basis, my mare is 11yo and cold backed. she has been lunged regularly ever since she started ridden work age 5 and it's done no damage at all to her joints. By regularly I mean 2 or 3 times a week
Click to expand...
Would you be happy to long-line? My ponies are driving ponies so we always long-line instead of lunge. You can do pretty much a proper schooling session on long lines...figures 8s...back up etc etc and they don't learn to shoulder lean on circles. I prefer it to lunging these days...
 
bubsqueaks said:
Out of interest are there is there any evidence/reports regarding soft surface damage which you're aware of?!
Click to expand...

i haven't gone looking for any, but so many people who school their horses seem have horses come lame with tendon and ligament issues. We hack fast, and canter on tarmac all the time, but I've had a field full of sound ponies for 20+ years. My daughter's pony with a known hock problem was sound as you like so long as you didn't ask him to go in a circle in a school, at which point he was in obvious discomfort and dog lame shortly after.
 
exracehorse said:
When I broke my leg this summer, I paid for a freelance instructor to ride him. I don’t lunge as I’m rubbish at it He was put in side reins prior to being ridden and he was then lunged. He fell over in canter. Onto his back. He got his leg caught up in the side rein by the bit. Panicked and pulled with the leg. The bridle broke on both sides. Broke the cheek pieces. The bit cut his mouth.
Click to expand...

Omg. Your poor horse!! I don't understand why he had to be lunged prior to riding, unless the instructor wanted to tire him out a bit. (Which is a huge red flag.) But apart from that issue, this is why I don't like anything on a horse being lunged. It's all totally unnecessary and just gives whoever is doing the lunging a feeling of security.....a false one.

I hope your horse has recovered. And hope your leg is ok too.
 
stormox said:
I think lunging can be excellent if you have a fresh horse and you need to ride. Better for it to have a buck squeal and rear and get rid of the high jinks on the lunge than when you are riding -
Click to expand...

But why the need to lunge? You couldn't just let it loose in the school, and do some stuff loose? And why would you want to teach a horse that bucking and rearing whilst being lunged is acceptable?
 
Last edited:
Goldenstar said:
correctly used side reins can really help horses .
I use them a lot when I start training in walk extremely long and very low .
If more horses where started like this you would see far fewer horses unable to work with the nose in front of the vertical with weakness in the area behind the poll .
Click to expand...

Why would side-reins help a horse to have the nose in front of the vertical? Personally, I believe this can be achieved without any aids whatsoever. And long and very low is putting the horse on the forehand.....I realise that most people are still taught that long and low helps the horse. But why do you think it helps?
 
Just to throw my two cents in... I can’t comment on the science or physical impact on the horse from lunging as haven’t read any published articles about it.

Lunging a truly “fresh” horse I can understand however those who lunge their horses for 5,10,15 mins everyday before riding to “settle” it are actually creating an even fitter and thus more fresh horse.
 
saddleoversofa said:
Just to throw my two cents in... I can’t comment on the science or physical impact on the horse from lunging as haven’t read any published articles about it.

Lunging a truly “fresh” horse I can understand however those who lunge their horses for 5,10,15 mins everyday before riding to “settle” it are actually creating an even fitter and thus more fresh horse.
Click to expand...

They must also lack in confidence if they have to lunge first.
 
Lunging a horse should teat it respect for you. Allowing a horse to rear and buck on the lunge is saying to the horse.....you can do what you like when you're on this lunge-line. All wrong on so many levels. And if you have to lunge before riding.....is your horse ready to ride?
 
dree said:
Lunging a horse should teat it respect for you. Allowing a horse to rear and buck on the lunge is saying to the horse.....you can do what you like when you're on this lunge-line. All wrong on so many levels. And if you have to lunge before riding.....is your horse ready to ride?
Click to expand...
I don't agree that lunging teaches the horse to respect me but I do totally agree that allowing a horse to play around on the lunge is counter productive to correct training.

I do occasionally lunge a fresh horse usually because it gives me confidence to work them forward when I know that I'm safe if they *do*have a funny moment. That in turn settles the horse because they have been given a way to channel their energy, which gives me more confidence when I mount because they've been working well. It can be a virtuous circle of confidence. If you have something fresh and athletic (and particularly something green that doesn't know enough about work to give it something hard to concentrate on) then it can be hard to make yourself ride with the handbrake off at the start of a session.

I think that's a different thing to lunging to tire them or letting them let rip. JMO :)
 
I actually avoid lunging anything if they seem a bit fresh (you can tell if my girls are wired just by looking at them!). I’d rather actually be onboard to stifle any jollies, rather than risk them doing that wall of death thing on the lunge where they nearly fall over and I practically vomit from dizziness!
 
Re... lunging for respect groundwork can be a useful tool.

This thread is interesting to me due to an ongoing arguement with a yard I work the odd day at who believe in lunging some horses every day. Like 5 times a week. In the same school doing exactly the same thing. I believe this is not onlyphysically detrimental for the horse but mentally. Now I am not saying never lunge but once or twice aweek is sufficent.
I often lunge every horse once a week, naked, (the horse that is!) Just so i can see if they are stiffer one way, pushing off evenly behind, using their back etc. I lunge occasionly more if its some rehab etc but rarely. But daily is too extreme for me. Bearing in mind this yard I refer to with the every day lunging, nearly every horse has windgalls and they have problems with soundness issues.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top