Reluctant lunger seeks help on perfect programme

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smallbutgreat

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I've always LOATHED lunging, but have a period when due to injury to myself I really need to do it three times a week to keep my little horsey fit.

She's very well behaved, but I find it basically very dull, and also want to be sure that what I am doing is actually beneficial for her. Any pointers to a good programme for a novice lunger like myself to undertake?

Currently walk on each rein for a few minutes, then introduce trot and finally canter, with a few transitions up and down. I really, really struggle to do it for more than 20 minutes, but have been told I should do it for up to 40 mins. Any advice on what I should be looking for and trying to encourage? I'm sure it must be a nicer way of being with my horse than I am currently experiencing.
 
crikey, 40 mins of lungeing is a lot of work.
i'm not the keenest on lungeing either, but here goes:
umm, lots of transitions. i concentrate on getting the horse to really listen to the voice and respond. once the usual transitions are established, you can do trot to halt, halt to trot, canter to walk, halt to canter, and try to get them as immediate as possible. increasing and decreasing the size of the circle is a good one too, ensuring that the horse really improves its engagement. trying to get the horse really stretching forward and down and swinging in its back, especially in trot, before doing any canter work, is also good. best of luck!
 
if the horse has been out in the field and is reasonably warmed up, i'll shorten the first bit, but otherwise:
3-5 mins walk, trying to get a really good swinging walk with overtrack and stretch. then a few mins of trot, slowly spiralling in and out. walk again for a little rest (lungeing is hard work, and if the surface is deep, even more so), a few walk - trot transitions etc, then a minute or two of canter (less if horse gets rushed or on forehand, do lots of up-down transitions if so), back to trot or walk, up to canter again, maybe spiral in a bit, send on a bit if idle, slow with voice if too quick, a bit of nice swinging trot (should be, after cantering) then back to walk to get puff back. change the rein, do the whole thing again!
i think with a little bit of practise you can teach the horse to half-halt on the voice... i use "aaaaaaand.... trot", "aaaaaaaand... wa-lk" etc and after a bit they learn that the "aaaaaand" part means they're about to be asked something, so they visibly rebalance themselves and prepare for the next command... really helps.
that little lot will easily take 20 mins, i should think... depends how fit you want the horse, the surface your'e working on, how hot it is, etc, how much more you do.
 
Hey ... this is SOOO helpful. I am almost looking foward to going to the yard tomorrow to try this out. Particularly see the point of the spiralling in and out, which gets rid of the deadening effect of just going round in circles.

How do I encourage horse to stretch out and to engage hindquarters while on the lunge ... sorry for the questions, real novice at work here.
 
There are loads of interesting things you can do on the lunge which can help you with your ridden work, but I also agree that 40 min is too long and would go for 20 min.

I start with walk, trot and canter forward but loose (if possible encouraging the horse to stretch down) on both reins. I then collect more, ask for smaller circles (down to 10 metres), the leg-yield out. You can vary this so that as the horse hits the 20 metre circle from the leg-yield ask for a canter transition. It's a really nice way of getting them to move from the inside to the outside and be engaged. Similarly (on a different day), you can ask for lengthened strides in trot as you hit the 20 metre circle. To complicate further you can ask for trot to walk and promptly back to trot transitions on the 10 metre circle (if this is too difficult to do and remain balanced, start off on the 20 metre circle). You can also try variations within a pace, 5 strides of more collected trot, 5 strides of more extended trot, and similarly in canter.

To encourage the hindquarters think of your position - even though you are on the ground it still matters! First of all hold the lunge line correctly, i.e. as you would hold a rein with the thumb on top. Then position your body in an open position (rather than closed to encourage downwards transitions, difficult to describe rather than show, but to encourage upwards transitions and forward movement, try opening your shoulders and increasing the triangle between the lunge line hand and the whip hand, to encourage slowing down or downwards transitions if the horse is on the left rein turn your shoulders to the right). Also, very important, to engage the hindquarters and develop balance in the horse do not walk around the circle with him, as then you are allowing him to fall in and out as he wants to. Stand still (well not completely! You still need to move in a circle, but don't move off your spot!), use the whip to create impulsion (i.e. crack it, no need to hit the horse!), and half-halt with the lunge line hand. You should get the same feeling of power from behind being contained at the front as you do when you ride.

Gosh, that's quite a lot more than you wanted to hear probably!
 
What about long reining? Then if your horse is ok about it you can still hack out so it is not all in the school?

I am not the person to explain it very well, but I am sure someone can if you need it?! Or there are videos.
 
Thanks so much to everyone who responded to my question. I have bags and bags of good ideas to try out, which I will be doing over the next few weeks, and feel much more enthusiastic about the prospects for having a better time lunging!
 
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