Help! My horse won't lunge!

E

Elle78

New Member
Apr 19, 2005
11
0
0
Hi everyone,
Whenever I try to lunge my horse, he he won't walk, trot or do anything other than follow me! I have tried everywhich way I can think of, and he just follows me and faces me rather than walk around me. I have a lunging whip on one hand and the rope on the other, I always make sure that my whip and leading hand are in a V shape, I face his shoulder, I start off with a shorter rope to try to direct him etc....still no luck at all.....
I would liek some suggestions from people who have experienced the same problem, cheers, Elle
 
make sure you swing or crack the whip until he starts to move and then the second he even decides to take a step, let the line out and stop your whip as a reward. Also, you say all he does is follow you, you shouldn't be walking untill he is moving, stand still and almost chase him away, dont give him the opportunity to follow you or stay with you. Hope that helps a little!
 
Cool, will give it a try. When I say he follows me I mean when I turn to face his shoulder he turns and faces me, so he contstantly just faces me rather than going around me....:(
 
Are you familiar with Parelli? In the circling game, to get the horse to leave you (say you want him to go to the right), you 'lead' or 'direct' the horse out with your right hand (but don't move your feet) and then swing the end of the rope towards his neck and shoulder with your left hand, swinging it in circles, keep swinging it faster and closer to him until he moves away, and he may need a few little slaps with it to get the idea (just depends how sensitive he is). Let him do a couple of circles then bring him back in by swinging the rope towards his quarters so that he swings them outwards and his head comes towards you. If he trys to come in before you give him the signal, stop him and then send him out again straight away.

It may be easier to do this with a 12ft rope to start with and then progress to a longer one.
 
Thanks for that, it sounds like it should work! I am currently doing Level 1 parelli, I don't think we have covered that far yet, will keep you posted. Thanks for your advice!
 
It sounds like he's never been taught to lunge - you'll have to teach him. Or do it the Parelli way as you are doing that.

If you want to lunge him properly, get an instructor first off to start him off, then get some pointers about lunging him yourself.
 
Hi

Had similar problem with my gelding, would send him out, but just kept coming back in or would do a couple of circles then come back in.

Eventually got help of more experienced friend and he got the idea, but worse on the one rein than the other. I then took over with her watching on and advising what to do. He generally now has the idea but can be a bit lazy I also aim to keep the sessions short to prevent boredom.

It really did help getting an more experienced person to help.
 
Dolly used to do the same thing. I had a friend come and watch me, and she said that I was confusing her by stepping back from her, instead of sending her away from me! I'd never noticed myself doing it, but by stepping away, I was encouraging her to follow.
 
Elle

Dos he lead ok ? if so, just "extend" your leading. This is the approach Mark Rashid uses.

The difference with "conventional" lunging is that instead of facing the horse, you are turned more in the direction of movement. I actually got shown this different lunge style ages before I "found" Mark Rashid, and have always found it much easier ;)

And you can start from just leading. The only difference is that instead of having the lead rein/rope in the hand near the horse, have it in the "outside" hand, and have any whip in the "inside" hand. Lead off and walk around in an arc - but gradually feed the horse out further from you (this relates to what showjumper said about getting the horse to move away from you, not the other way around !). As you progress, your circle can decrease (but don't walk backwards, simply walk "into" a smaller circle), and the horse stays out. Use your leading hand to give direction, and the "whip" hand to ask them out or more forward. You can use the parelli "zones" to direct them - to take shoulder out, hip out etc. Just don't ask for too much hip or they disengage and face you !

Mark then uses HIS speed of pace to indicate to the horse whether to go faster or slower. They take a few goes to "get" it but soon cotton on ;)
 
Horses need to be taught the verbal commands to walk on, halt, stand, trot etc really before they start lunging. This is done when you lead them around on a day to day basis. Once they really start to understand these, then you tack up horse for lunging and take a helper with you. You stand on the inside V - shape as you described and helper is on the outside of the horse by halter / bridle to help guide. Say walk on and as helper starts walking so will the horse. Say halt the helper stops and so will the horse. It should only ever be the person in the middle calling commands. If you use his / her name to get their attention and then use which command you wish to give is also a good idea. The helper should never talk to the horse or look at him, pat him etc as he needs to concentrate on what the handler in the middle is doing. Do this for several minutes on each rein. Call that a day, then do the same again next day a little longer and progress. During on time the helper can let go of the bridle / cavesson and just walk next to the horse. Gradually several steps away and then not there at all.
I would only start in walk and trot, halt and stand for the time being, until you have built up to being able to do it on your own.
If he does start to turn in again, bring him in and send him away again. If this does become a problem, go back to the handler until the issue is resolved. Make sure you stand behind his shoulder in the middle of his back with you middle position of the V - shape.
Take your time and you will reward yourself with a horse that is very capable of being lunged. From then you can introduce canter, spriralling in and out in walk, trot and canter, lunge over fences, trotting poles etc. Introduce side reins and build up muscles over the top line.
My cob was horrendous to lunge, kept cantering off as soon as we got into the arena, so we went back to complete basics and gradually he has learnt to go off in a walk and be calm about things. I wonder if he thought that cantering off from the beginning would make the session any less time!!!
Good luck, it will pay dividends.
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back