Preparing to long rein.....what do you do?

[cblover]

Morning all. I'm after some advice and experiences of preparing to long rein a young horse. I have a clyde x cob who is now 3 and about 16hh. He's well built, although not mature and I've been working on ground work exercises to prepare him for long reining and backing over this winter if I feel he is mentally and physically ready for it. He's a gelding and quite erm....slow....for want of a better word but equally he not up to a lot of pressure as he can show signs of anxiety and really thrives of positive praise.....which he gets!

The ground work has included backing, standing, disengaging the hind quarters, large circle work at walk, pressure and release, desensitising, direction changes other general stuff like that. He's very respectful on the ground and we work well together most of the time.

I enlisted the help of a friend yesterday to introduce long reining to him. I stayed at the rear with the lines and my friend was at his head offering support until he got the idea of what we were asking. He was wobbly and a bit confused to start with but he managed. He then got a bit anxious after only a couple of mins and had a hissy fit. I tried to hold him but couldn't so off he went for a bit then came trotting back to me and just stood. I caught him, sorted the lines out and did a short amount of familiar ground work with him to end on a good note. I'll be trying again today, just a short and hopefully positive session.

So, how do you prepare for long lining? i.e. ground work, equipment you use, size of space you start off in. I'd appreciate any advice or experience that may help him get the idea. Cheers.

 

[be positive]

He would probably be happier if he could see you at all times so start either on a large circle or keep to one side so you are in view, a circle is usually best to get the initial idea, you can make it as big as possible and do lots of transitions so he starts to realise what you want, you can gradually go further keeping to one side as he gains confidence, if he gets worried go back onto the circle, it can take some a while to trust when they lose sight of the handler, I often do a mixture of long reining and lunging until they have the confidence to go out in front of me.

 

[cblover]

Thanks for the good advice. He's a good boy but needs a lot of time and patience spent on him. I'm prepared to invest that into him, but he did get a bit confused bless him. lol

 

[RoyalGreyGlory]

I'm currently long reining my TB and with him I got him lunging and then introduced the second line and I slowly moved towards his rear. At first I stayed to one side so he could still see me and as his confidence grew I moved further behind him

 

[TrasaM]

I did a clinic with Ben Hart on this. He started using one line only and letting the horse see it. He made sure that the horse got used to the feel of it by rubbing it on his sides and draping it over the back and rear also let it drag across the ground. Then did same on other side before attaching both lines. Oh yes, he also got the horse turning and moving on one line first.
I saw long lining go badly wrong recently when someone assumed the horse had been long lined before. He panicked and took off on her trailing both lines behind. Took a few minutes to capture him but luckily no damage was done. Good luck.

 

[FairyLights]

With my big cob I firstly made sure he was very happy being led around on a headcollar, groomed tacked up etc. this takes as long as it takes from days to weeks to months it depends on the horse. then I got him used to doing left and right off the headcollar and then the bit, also halt and stand need to be very well established and other things like stepping back and turn on the forehand , moving over and so on. then I got him leading well from the shoulder on a longish lead rein and kept moving back and further away. then I introduced a lunge rien and led him well off that, then another rein on the other side and had someone lead the horse whilst I walked at a safe distance behind long reining him. they must be used to the reins touching them all over and dropping and dragging on the floor before you long rein, just to be safe .