Lunging Problems???and workin some of his fat off too?

Question

I have a 13.3 gelding who is under the impression that he is still a stud. and i cant get him to lunge properly. when ever i try to lunge him he just keeps walking into me, and i cant get him to go out into the circle. when i try to get him out, get just swings his butt around out in a circle, but he doesn't actually move his front end. it is really frustrating as he needs excercised as he is SO fat. he is almost obese.hehe. how else can i get him excercising and work some of the fat off? i can olnly ride him in the weekends at the moments cos that is when i have some time to take him over to thye place where i cn ride him. how can i get him lunging properly too?

Answer 1

I would try a lunging whip. They "re enforce" your leg and push him out. Try that.

Answer 2

Does your horse know how to lunge?  Is he just ignoring you, or is he uneducated?

Lunging is a strange concept to many horses, and they often aren't trying to be bad. But most of the time we encourage our horses to stay with us, and follow our body langauge to know where to go, and that all disappears with lunging.  And for most people, forcing a horse to lunge is difficult because you do have to get firm and CHASE them away and forward when they resist.

I would suggest first of all to work in an enclosed area such as a round pen, corral or riding ring.  Get a decent lunge line, use gloves.  A training stick will probably be better at first than a lunge whip, but you can use either.  Halt your horse and walk away from him so he is facing ahead.  Raise the hand that is holding the line and click your tongue.  You can use whatever verbal cues you use when riding such as saying "walk on", or whatever.  When he doesn't respond, and he probably won't, take the stick and tap in the air near his hip.  Tap three times - one, two, three and on the fourth time take the stick and crack it firmly on his hip.  If he moves forward, stop cracking him.  If he stands still, bump him again.  I'm not telling you to beat him, but there is no use making gentle little soft bumps he can ignore.  Make sure you are not standing in front of his eye, but slightly behind him so he has to move forward.  If he tries to drag you around the ring just hold your ground and keep him moving.  If he backs up, keep up the pressure of bump, bump, bump.  The moment he moves forward stop the pressure.  If he only walks forward 10 feet and then stops, that's fine.  Allow him a moment rest and then ask again exactly the same way.  Raise your rope hand, click your tongue and begin to swish the stick in the air near his hip.  This time you might not have to actually bump him, but maybe you will.

The secret is - mean business.  You cannot be all soft and gentle and loving.  Yes, this does scare them at first.  But if you are consistent and give pre-cues, soon they'll learn to move forward without the bump.  I suspect you are being too kind and gentle, this is especially tough to do with young horses who are loving and trusting, but if you want to teach him to lunge, then you have to make up your mind you are going to do it.  And it won't actually hurt him.

If he is obese he is going to have a tough time moving fast on the lunge line.  I would stick to a steady working trot for the first week before loping.  And make sure you get him in turn-out as much as possible, and cut back on his feed.  A fat horse is prone to so many health problems that you need to consider obesity almost life and death.

I would suggest buying Clinton Anderson's 6 DVD set on "foals/weanlings/yearlings" even if your pony is mature.  He'll give you really clear ways to teach a horse to lunge and other ground excercises.  The set cost me $70 on eBay and was well worth the money.  Good luck.

Answer 3

use a whip and stand more behind him. you should always be behind the girth line when lunging but try to over do this untill he learns to move out. dont stand directly behind him but stand at an angle with his hip and really try to drive him into a forward motion. another thing I have seen people do is take the whip and run it lightly over the horses body befor you lung so the horse knows you have it. dont ever hit your horse just give him a tap only when he needs it. A whip should be used as a sound deversion not a beating stick.  

Answer 4

It sounds like my bestie's horse. He's only a 2 year old and he's being trained atm. SOunds like your horse is doing the EXACT same thing my best friends horse does.

If that's case it might simply be that he doesn't know how to be lunged. If you have a round yard you can use it will help teaching him how to be lunged (its hard to get them to go in a circle at first)

here's a site about teaching horses to lunge, hope it helps! :)

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

Answer 5

Get a lunge whip and keep it aimed at him so he can't come in.  

Answer 6

maybe you could like half lease him or something along the line like that

Answer 7

when your horse turns into you, flip a lead rope at his side  not hard  but hard enough to make him know you have it. If he wont respond, you could try this. Step in with your foot closest to him and kiss or cluck, which ever you normally do, and he should really move to the fence. you may need to put the lead rope into that too.

Answer 8

A good way to ride him in a good, fat burninggexercisee is trotting a a hill, and after his haunches are toned andstrengthenedd, canter him up hills. But if you don't have any hills around, then just regular working, especially long trots, not short canters is fine.

About lunging, free lunging works better if he is safe enough. Then there is no accidental pressure pulling him to the inside. Then, using a lung whip or lead rope, flick the ground just behind his shoulder to get him to the outside. DON'T whip him. If he is really not going, just flick him with a lead rope or lung whip LIGHTLY. Don;t go overboard with punishment.