Having trouble lunging?

Question

I am not very experienced with lungeing(sp?) horses. But I hv a young gelding who I know would benefit from it.

He hasn't done much either...any tips? I always seem to get myself tangled up in the rope lol and he has a LOT of energy so it is hard to keep him going round nicely. He always tries to run off, I have to battle to sop myself being dragged after him. Dignified as always :)

I normally loose school him instead but lunging would perhaps help him to balance himself better.

Advice appreciated !

Answer 1

I start small to teach lunging... Usually I just start off with a lead rope. I stop the horse. I walk to his left side by the girth or a tiny bit back from that and ask him to walk around me by giving a cluck and holding my right arm toward his bottom. This creates a triangle of the lead to my hand, my right hand to his rump and the horse being the bottom of my triangle. On this short of a line it is very easy to start getting across the idea of lunging. You can  do halt to walk and walk to halt transitions this way.. If you can keep him thinking and working you should have any issues... remember to work on both directions..

Next you add the lunge line and go back to the same distance as you were at on the lead...

I do use a stud chain with my younger lunging horses as sometimes they get to enjoying themselves a tad too much and can pull hard...  a 1200 pound three year old can more than pull an adult person all over the arena LOL

On the lunge line you will need a lunge whip to now take the place of your "pushing arm" the arm toward his hind end. You can now start teaching the horse to go out by stepping toward him making yourself look big and saying OUT.  The first few times he will jump away from you and try to trot or canter off. Try to focus that energy into the circle and once under control bring him back to the walk... He will understand it quickly.

Then you can start working on walk to trot transitions.... Just remember to go slow and move on to other gaits and larger circles only when he really has the idea of the circle and going forward down pat..

PS remember when lunging to only look at the horse and not outside of your circle or you will get dizzy.

Answer 2

Have you tried a shorter line? You can get ones that are only 14 feet in length.

Do you have access to a round pen? It's easier to lounge in those, especially if you are not real experienced.

Have you tried putting the horse in a rope style halter? They afford more control without having to move up to a chain.

I have to say I do not recommend lounging in a chain. My trainer has these funny little metal circlets that are great for problem loungers, alas I am not sure what they are called.

You could also try practicing lounging with a horse that knows how to, so that you can get practice on holding the rope etc.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Hi I would really suggest ground work like gaining control of his feet, leading with the inside leg, asking to do certain things with each leg etc.

While lunging appears beneficial, Later on you will wish you hadn't. Your horse will develop a brace against the lunging & end up harder to control

Picture you learning to walk or run except you had to run in a circle while attached to a rope. You probably would lean out away from or against rope. You would brace yourself while circling. You would be required to lead with the inside foot yet leaning the other way against the rope.It is not a natural way for a horse to run. In the round pen he leads with the inside & leans into the turn. More natural  Round Pen

Those of you out there that are lung fans. No offense

Answer 4

rule number 1- don't ever hold the lunge rope so you can get stuck. you need to hold it like you would a hand reel whilst fishing, so that it feeds nicely out of your hand as you want it to. always have it so that if you need to you can drop it.

start in a round yard, if you don't have one you can put a few posts round in a circle and then wrap white tape around it leaving an opening for you and your horse to get in. he'll see the cirlce and it really helps if their not used to lunging.

buy a lunging whip to get him started, hold it behind his back legs to keep him moving and when he slow's down lunge in towards him and tap him on the bum to keep him going. your not hurting him your just using it as an extension of your arm.

if you associated certain noises or words with an action eventually you won't need the whip he'll know when you make that noise you want him to go etc.

i do my horses for 20-30 mins eachday. practice going clockwise and anti-clockwise evenly 10-15mins eachway. when you say wow he should come in towards you and stop. practice doing a trot then a canter, tight cirles and small, the more relaxed they get and the more used to it they will naturally do a bigger cirle. slow down to a walk when your about to stop to help coll him down and if it's in the afternoon put their rug on as soon as your finished.

horses are used to you working from there left side so the opposite direction will be abit confusing at first, you need to face them in that direction, maybe lead them that way round a few times first. you hold the lunge rope in your left hand when their going anti-clockwise then swap back the other way (i'm using my hands to see left and right it's confusing without it in my hand and i might have it back to front, you'll know it feels wrong the other way). lunging is great for disapline and training and is very rewarding especially if your horse is young and your teaching it. goodluck and have fun, just be carefull not to get tangled... it's not fun!

Answer 5

I don't know much about lunging, but I can tell you what I've inferred from my earliest experiences.

Don't ever wrap the line around your hand! That should be common sense. Wrap it into large circles and hold the tops, like rope or a garden hose.

Are you lunging your horse with a nose chain? That should slow him down. Some horses can get away with only the halter, but younger horses often need a bit more reinforcement. Don't jerk on it if you try the nose chain though, it hurts the horse and you probably won't like the reaction or the outcome. I had a horse who literally backed into his stall if he saw his owner coming with the nose chain, not because the owner was abusive, just heavy handed.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

There are a few tips like keep behind his shoulder so you are pushing him forward and he knows what you want him to do, start slowly just getting him to walk for a few days and then build up speed.

Have you ever tried ground driving, My horse is a standardbred so he has been broken to harness but hasn't done much as he never raced and I got him as an unbroken to saddle 3 year old.

Be careful if your horse doesn't like you behind him, What I have done with him is I have 2 22 foot reins and attach one on each side of his bit, so I have full control of him, . and I have his saddle on (he is broken to saddle now) I put the stirrups down (like you are going to ride) and put the reins through them so they don't drag, I started by just walking around behind him and turning right and left and he soon got the hang of it, he wasnt worried about the reins near his back legs, as I have done a lot of rope work with him. U might need to work on having ropes near his hind legs.  I worked up to having him go round me in a circle and changing direction, etc. I also do serpintines, and zig zagging in and out of cones etc.

This applies to lunging and ground driving, make sure you choose particular words for each turn or gait you want to achieve and stick with them, don't use other words, have a praise word and a word to tell him he's being naughty, I found this hard as I think i talk too much in general, and keep it simple to start with just a few simple words/gaits/turns until he gets used to it, and move on when he gets it right and keep practicing each thing.

It is great for strengthening the horses back and suppling them up, or training a young horse.

Hope this helps

Sandi

Answer 8

Choose the area you will be lunging him/her in, make sure it the area you are going to use EVERY TIME, at least until the horse is trained enough to know.  Start by drawing lead, as if you were going to lead the horse don the trail, right hand to clip @ the halter, left hand holding extra lead, extend your right hand out, giving the horse ground room, lead the horse in the circle several times, every time the horse tries to step out, lightly swing the extra lead in your left hand, into the horses chest, just enough to gain a quick, high level of attention, slightly jerk downward on your right hold, stop the horse, then slightly nudge and proceed, walking around again and again, After a few rounds, give the horse 12 to 18 inches, and continue on, reward by talking to the horse, periodically say, "walk"..........."walk"........letting the horse associate the word "walk" with the level of exercise you are commanding. same when you pick up to a trot, eventually, you will say the word, and the horse will obey you, I have some who I lung daily with NO lung-line at all. I teach all of mine that way, and have superior luck with it. ALWAYS reward good manner as SOON as the horse executes it, and be firm and fast with attention getting methods when the horse steps out. When i finish lunging mine, I always, lower myself, just kneel down, and my horses know, I'm saying, "good job"........"your finished"...........and will stop and slowly approach me. Choose what you want your horse to know, how do you want to lung him/her?.......what commands do you want to use?.........I knew one older trainer, who had a 13 yo thoroughbred who would approach the walker, after a good lunging. Its all in what you want. Be very uniform, and regular, and firm with your correction/reward, and you will see very good results, in not much time at all. And like a few here have said, NEVER wrap the line around your hand/arm, always leave yourself an out when working with one to teach it. Also, you want to start by using both directions, if not you will end up with the very common problem, lots of people have, "my horse won't lung left, or right, well, you need to teach it complete, when you teach it, not only half the way, good luck.

Answer 9

Go to this website.  Hope this helps you!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2149264_teach-ho...