Should I lunge?

Normsrp

Normsrp

Active Member
Joined
2 March 2018
Messages
42
Visit site
Might sound like a bit of a silly question, I'm considering buying my loan horse a lunging cavesson and lunge line and starting to lunge him a bit in the hopes that it will improve our schooling. What are the benefits of lunging (without gadgets)? Would it improve his way of going/balance/responsiveness? I'm aware in theory of the benefits of lunging but bear in mind I've only ever lunged a horse once before and really don't know what I'm doing, so realistically I feel like I'd be stood in the middle of the school uselessly as he charges around.
 
If you have never been taught how to lunge and have no real idea of what to aim for, knowing the theory is all very well but in practise it is not as easy as it looks, then either give it a miss unless you know the horse is good and will work correctly without too much trouble or have a few lessons to get you both more established, having him rushing about going around totally unbalanced or just slopping around making no effort will probably be far less beneficial than riding, going for a hack will be more useful for most, and can be damaging if they really charge around.

As he is on loan I would ask his owner what he is like on the lunge and make your next move based on their answer.
 
I feel I maybe stating the obvious if I say you won't improve anything if you don't know what you are doing! But I'm sure you know that so I would advise you to find an instructor who is prepared to teach you before you do anything to confuse or damage your horse
Personally I do alot of in hand work and lungeing with my horses and use it to improve their way of going and introduce new things. My old mentor used to like to have horses a stage ahead on the lunge of where they were under saddle.
For starters, look up Manolo Mendez for some lovely videos of in hand work to get your eye in and see what you can achieve. There is a DVD on lungeing too which is well worth buying and watching on repeat!
 
You really need to know what you are doing and learn when its helpful vs not at all. Some horses lunge well, some do not. Its something that i feel really helped my big horse. I was told he will never canter correctly on the right rein...and so i didn't force it...but i still lunged him for exercise and suppleness and let him decide his leg...eventually he would just use the correct leg and i would encourage it. it crossed over into his ridden work and voila he would canter on the right rein. (thats a very basic summery of things...lots more went on outside of lunging but its there to be a point of how it can help)

If you dont really know how your horse will respond you should walk them on a longer line in an arena and get them used to your voice ques. You want in particular them to slow/stop by your voice not any pressure on the halter. Eventually ask them to walk on but you stand still etc but dont ask them to go any faster until you are certain they know to stop...I know some use the lunge to get energy out etc but thats not constructive lunging thats just kiting as i call it. Horse may be fine to lunge but take a kite for a few laps..as long as they come back itll be ok lol

Just to add though, i much prefer long lining and having two lines to lunge on its much more intimate and in my eyes a lot more productive but you need to be able to handle two lines and know where to be/how much pressure to use/when to use it..its good to help with driving training if you ever plan to drive lol
 
I love lunging, I find it very beneficial for the horses but I was taught by someone who has excellent groundwork skills and knowledge. It wasn't until then that I realised just how useful a thing lunging is.

I lunge with one line rather than two, knowing how to influence and move the shoulders, ribcage and quarters means i find there is no need for an outside rein.

In your shoes, first you need to check with the owner whether the horse is good to lunge in all paces, it's fine and well to learn to lunge, another thing entirely to teach a horse who doesn't know. Hardest of all is retraining a horse who has been allowed to gallop around and 'let off steam'

Then you need some lessons! There are not that many people I have come across who lunge well, it is an art form. Where abouts are you and maybe someone can suggest a few possibilities
 
Unless the horse is already very well schooled and understands how to work correctly, you are going to really struggle to improve him by lunging on a single line with no "gadgets". Most horses need something to show them the way - you don't have to tie their heads down, but you won't get miracles just from letting horse trot round you in circles without anything to encourage him to work in a correct frame. The most you can hope to achieve is more fitness
I am aware that this may be an unpopular opinion, but if I had a pound for every time I've heard "My horse works perfectly on the lunge with no gadgets", but seen the exact opposite, I'd be sunning myself in the Caribbean right now
 
Lol auslander you could say the same about a lot of stuff to do with horses. It is very common to see horses trussed up in side reins or other gadgets on the lunge overbent, on the forehand, rushing or not going forward but people think they are working correctly because they look round. Same with ridden work too
 
Wheels said:
Lol auslander you could say the same about a lot of stuff to do with horses. It is very common to see horses trussed up in side reins or other gadgets on the lunge overbent, on the forehand, rushing or not going forward but people think they are working correctly because they look round. Same with ridden work too
Click to expand...

I can assure you that I don't see horses trussed up in side reins, overbent, rushing, and on the forehand as "working correctly".
Neither do I see horses with nothing on, poking their noses, falling in through the shoulder, rushing round, on the forehand, with their hindlegs trailing as "working correctly".
There is a happy medium. I have some that will work correctly with no gadgets, and some that need a bit of guidance. I work them accordingly
 
Auslander said:
I can assure you that I don't see horses trussed up in side reins, overbent, rushing, and on the forehand as "working correctly".
Neither do I see horses with nothing on, poking their noses, falling in through the shoulder, rushing round, on the forehand, with their hindlegs trailing as "working correctly".
There is a happy medium.
Click to expand...

Why are you assuming I meant you?

I was making a general comment, I don't need assuring of anything thanks.
 
Personally, can't stand lunging. Maybe its just me? Not sure. I can understand why some do it, one friend is a dressage rider and trains movements from the lunge.. but you do need to know what you're doing to get it right, to small a circle, constantly cantering or trotting for half a hour does them no good. As above, you also get over bent, rushing, all these aids which most do no good as they're so tight the horse is fighting it. The amount of horses I've seen lunged in tiny circles for a good hour, dripping in sweat, head vertical.. for the owner to go 'ah that was a good session.' Yeah great, ruin his joints and continuous circles no more than 15m - great.
I've seen one girl lunge her horse decently in the time I've owned horses, she really knew what she was doing. A vet said to me years ago lunging is the worst thing for a horses hocks, and in a recent H&H magazine they interview several vets and if their knowledge affects ownership, and one would never lunge her horse and the other would only long rein in straight lines.. both competed too.

I barely lunged mine to back them, all long reined in straight lines with the occasional circle to get them going off the voice but always using 2 lines. That was about 4 years ago now I backed my last one and hes been lunged maybe once or twice since then. I did lunge one of them for the vet when we were trying to see the issue, he didn't forget what to do and both lunge nicely if I did decide to do it..

I personally would crack on riding and enjoy yourself, don't worry about lunging. You can train him/her to go off your voice when being ridden :)
 
i also think ineffective lunging is a bad idea.
following a yard move I am permitted to lunge again and I do lunge one of mine about once a week, i use 2 reins and a roller and I concentrate mostly on stretching and crisp transitions. I find that helpful because I can see exactly what's happening and I like having 2 reins because of the flexibility in steering :)
20 mins of stretching and transitions is more than enough work. I tend to do her ridden work on the inside track or diagonals so it's probably the most actual circling that we do!

If you want to do this then I would echo comments above about getting some instruction from someone who knows what they are doing, firstly to show you and also to teach your horse. otherwise leave well alone, it won't matter.

(that said I do like all my horses to know HOW to lunge so they can do so for the vet if they are lame.)
 
Auslander said:
Unless the horse is already very well schooled and understands how to work correctly, you are going to really struggle to improve him by lunging on a single line with no "gadgets". Most horses need something to show them the way - you don't have to tie their heads down, but you won't get miracles just from letting horse trot round you in circles without anything to encourage him to work in a correct frame. The most you can hope to achieve is more fitness
I am aware that this may be an unpopular opinion, but if I had a pound for every time I've heard "My horse works perfectly on the lunge with no gadgets", but seen the exact opposite, I'd be sunning myself in the Caribbean right now
Click to expand...

That's fair enough! The only reason I said no gadgets is just to clarify that if I did lunge him, it'd be with only the lunge line and headcollar so wanted to get feedback on just that approach, because I wouldn't trust myself to know how to correctly use anything like side reins etc. Judging by everyone's responses it seems the consensus is that it won't be beneficial if I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing which is what I suspected, so I won't worry myself about it, but I'll definitely take the opportunity to learn if I can
 
  • Like
Reactions: TPO
Normsrp said:
That's fair enough! The only reason I said no gadgets is just to clarify that if I did lunge him, it'd be with only the lunge line and headcollar so wanted to get feedback on just that approach, because I wouldn't trust myself to know how to correctly use anything like side reins etc. Judging by everyone's responses it seems the consensus is that it won't be beneficial if I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing which is what I suspected, so I won't worry myself about it, but I'll definitely take the opportunity to learn if I can
Click to expand...

I would not write it off as an idea.

My horses do a fair bit of lungeing, but that is in a 30 X 30m school and they don't go endlessly round and round in circles. We do some circles and also drive large so they have a bit of straight line, and often I lunge on 2 reins so we have loads of changes of direction.

I don't tend to use any gadgets, and I would say mine goes in good form, stretching forward and down, balanced laterally, activating on smaller circles to engage the quarters and keeping that form when large.

It is very skilled though, but that is not to say that you can't learn it. Someone I used to teach had a horse who moved in a not so good way but she was great with clicker training (dogs initially). I helped her transfer the clicker to horse lungeing (and riding) and next time I saw her she had taken the idea and run with it to a huuuuge extent. The horse was amazing! With the owner's fantastic eye and patience the horse had transformed from a stiff old ex racer to something that looked more like a finely tuned warmblood.

Dashing round in circles with the shoulder in and head out is of no use. I would get some help to assist you in seeing what you want and building on that. It will bear dividends in your ability to see when a horse is working correctly or not. It will take time and £ to get to a stage where you are positively helping the horse. If you don't want to take it as a learning challenge then I would leave it alone, as done badly it is not beneficial at all.
 
Just noticed that a local RC is running a lunging course. I don't know whereabouts you are OP but you might find something similar in your area if it's still something you are interested in learning about. The one they are doing is for a BHS Challenge award.

there is a lot to good lunging that will sit outside of a BHS course but it ought to at least get the basics installed in a safe and effective way :)
 
This is mine last year, lungeing on a normal headcollar and line, then doing 2 lines. She was previously nervous of 2 lines, but getting better, now she is a pro. Also playing with a fitness ball at the end.

This is how I like mine to work, low when just on the rope and a bot more together with 2 reins.

IMO it is worth taking the time to teach yourself and them how to go.

https://video.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t42.9040-2/10000000_199261687358610_8625205859867164672_n.mp4?_nc_cat=102&vs=5c99287610e8aa91&_nc_vs=HBksFQAYJEdJQ1dtQUNTcEJjNk9yVUFBQUFBQUFBSTQ3SjNibEFqQUFBRhUAABUAGCRHREp1NmdHS3M3R3NzeWdIQUFBQUFBQXZ2UWdhYnY0R0FBQUYVAgBLAYgScHJvZ3Jlc3NpdmVfcmVjaXBlATEVACUAHAAAGAoxMzUyOTc4MDkwFqCnv6jR3KMkFQIZBRgCQzMYC3Z0c19wcmV2aWV3HBdAckkan752yRgYZGFzaF92NF9ocTJfZnJhZ18yX3ZpZGVvEQAYGHZpZGVvcy52dHMuY2FsbGJhY2sucHJvZBkcFQAVhPkCACgSVklERU9fVklFV19SRVFVRVNUGwOIFW9lbV90YXJnZXRfZW5jb2RlX3RhZwZvZXBfaGQTb2VtX3JlcXVlc3RfdGltZV9tcw0xNTU4MDE0ODA0NTY1DG9lbV9jZmdfcnVsZQd1bm11dGVkAA==&efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6Im9lcF9oZCJ9&_nc_ht=video-lht6-1.xx&oh=5c1830c1133a3645796cdda38425fc3b&oe=5CDD9D6C&_nc_rid=6996be178134ea3
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top