Would you lunge on a slope?..

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Honeypots

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Is it a big no no or do you think it could be beneficial so long as its a gentle slope...
would the horse have to have certain level of fitness before you did?..

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How gentle is gentle? I have to work my horses in a field and although they are fairly flat, we have gentle slopes (as in only really noticable when the grass is short) and some lumps and dips in the field. I pick the flattest bit but it's inevitable that they sometimes have to work on uneven/sloping ground, and when they do I stick to the paces they are comfortable with (I usually only walk and trot). I also stick to 15/20 mins max.
 
If your gentle slope isn't the side of a mountain then yes, provided the ground was good and not slippery. Kepp your circles big (even if that means you have to walk circles too. Also keep the horse in a pace he can confortably balance himself in.
 
Depends what I wanted to achieve...

I don't do much lunging. I do endurance, so when I compete will tackle pretty stiff slopes at a trot. As part of training for that, I got my girl trotting downhill without me on her, so she learned to balance herself, then with me on her back. I just ran beside her, but I guess you could lunge in a large circle, if you had a suitable field.

I must say, I reserve fast downhill work for competitions now, to save her legs. But it was useful at a certain stage in her training. As with everything, it is important to have a plan for what you want to achieve from your training, think it through and apply some common sense.

A
 
Thanks all..

My 6 acre field is on the side of the valley as in if you start running down it you can't stop!! However, at the top is fairly flat but still on a bit of a slope.
I do lunge my daughters pony and my cob on it to keep them ticking over between rides but they are reasonably well balanced. Its a good surface of lush grass..the only dodgy bits to avoid is the sheep poo!!
I have a new horse who has has done very little over the last year and is undermuscled and wonder whether I should not be lazy and take him up the lane to the school to lunge him.
Actually..I think that is what I will do with him until he picks up a bit...it'll do us both good.

Oh for a horsewalker..lol
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I attended a Monty Roberts demo at Gleneagles. I have never single line lunged since then I use long reins. In his demo he showed a horse which disunited on single line but was much improved with two lines.

He claims that nuclear med. in the USA shows up hot spots in spine and pelvis of horses who are single line lunged.
 
Do you long line or ride in circles or only ever in a straight line?...
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Tbf...I don't lunge a heck of a lot...I'm more of a hacker but have a horse with no top line and would like to build it up a bit before he starts any major ridden work..long reining is great but I'm 40 and fat and where I live there is a serious shortage of flat land
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Actually...maybe longreining would be just the thing for both of us
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