Lunging Young Horses

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People with youngsters - do you lunge your horse as part of his / her training? If so, how often?

I have a 4yr old who is going nicely - we're just hacking mainly at the mo to build up his muscles and go in the school once or twice a week for 20 mins. We're starting to work on circles but he's not that balanced yet and we haven;t tried cantering as yet!

Is lunging essential / will it help him get more balanced and build up some strenght. I'm not a huge fan but will do it once a week if it will help?
 
I lunge them to break them in but rarely lunge after that- I feel I can achieve far more on board
 
currently it is all i am doing w my youngster! mainly due to lack of well fitting saddle for the last week. to keep things interesting for him i've done lungeing over poles (fanned out around 90 degrees of the circle), and lungeing in different schools (outdoor and indoor etc). I'm trying to keep cantering to a minimum (sometimes he has different ideas!) until he has learnt to be a bit more consistent in his circle shape, but we're getting there, and i do a few strides of canter on either leg. He is a bit unbalanced as well so i don't ask for canter the whole way around the circle, as often he can't maintain the right lead for this long but it is improving. I also lunge for ten mins or so before i get on (when i used to have a saddle!) to see how fresh he is planning on being(!)
 
lungeing once a week do help. just keep in mind that the effort is hard for a young horse so keep the session short and the circles wide, easy going.
usually I lunge youngster before breaking-in in canter as well, to let them familiarize with the command and the gait. always short session, to create the habit and confidence between us, to build the right "blocks" to build up from. (and here we can start a huge topics... don't think is the case, hope my short answer could help)
;) mak
 
I lunge my 3yo occasionally. She is about to be backed (infact I am sitting on her for the first time tomorrow..!). Only lunge her about once a fortnight I guess, just to add a bit of variety. She is amazingly balanced though and is one of the best horses I've ever lunged!
 
I would say lunging as part of their education is a good idea. Obviously, I would do it no more than 1 a week, and only for 20 mins, as lunging takes a lot of hard work from the horses point of view!

It should help them with their balance, without having to concentrate on what the rider is doing.

Good luck!!
 
I don't lunge until they are 6 upwards - horses aren't designed to go in such tight circles especially when growing, as it exerts huge stresses on their joints - long lining is the best thing to help avoid things like OCD.
 
I would agree with Alexart, lungeing puts a lot of stress and strain through the joints. On a young unbalanced horse which is still growing there is potential to affect the joints and possibly growth plates if they are still active. You can achieve as much on long reins and this allows you to nice big loops, change of reing, transitions, etc. This also links more directly to ridden work as you have the same control mechanisms.
 
I lunge my rising four year old once or twice a week, but my idea of lunging may be completely different to anyone elses.....no whizzing round endlessly bent to the outside and loading the inside shoulder!!

We work predominantly in walk first - 10 metre circle then straight, 10m circle then straight - do this with maybe six circles in one circuit of the school ensuring she stays on the circle correctly bent and then change the rein.
We'll then expand the circle to 15 m and move to trot and work on changing pace, half halting and moving on with a straight line down the long sides to open her up.

I've just introduced a few strides of canter and back down and then work on walk / halt / trot / halt / trot transitions. Back to walk and stretching out

This is about 15 / 20 mins worth.

Some days we'll use alternate raised poles in a fan or in a straight line, sometimes I'll put a little x pole up for fun.

I also do a lot of close inhand work with her on other days, asking for slower steps and baby lateral work to help her learn to balance, flex and work into the outside rein from my inside leg..which at this stage is my hand, and we also longline as per the lunging but incorporate changes of direction round cones / poles too.

She's also going out inhand hacking around the lanes to educate her about traffic

Backing her in about a month ...can't wait
 
I'm kind of with those that aren't too keen on lunging youngsters....although I think it depends on the horse. Mine is a big leggy thing, and we lunged for about a week prior to sittting on him last summer as a three year old, then didn't lunge again until once, bringing him back into work this spring, and now don't lunge at all....and am not planning to lunge him with any great regularity before next year when he will be 5. I do mainly hacking and maybe once or twice a week in the school. However my other horse would probably have been fine on the lunge as a 4 year old as he is small compact and naturally more balanced!
 
My boy is 4.5 but a bit of a late starter. I've been long reining prior to backing and done the occasional big circle on the long lines that is really the start of lunging on 2 reins. That's really all I've done with him, got on him last weekend and hacked him for the first time this weekend. I'm now planning on hacking him about as much a poss to get him going forwards and build up some fitness and muscle. He'll probably go in the school a couple of times a week depending on whether there is anyone to hack with or how soon he'll start going out on his own. I am planning on perhaps taking him in the school once a week on the long reins and building up to lunging with him. We haven't attempted canter yet and I think he may have to learn that transition on the lunge as the chances of me keeping up on the long reins without socking him in the teeth are slim!!
 
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