Lunging my horse?

Question

While lunging, I thought that the horse normally lowers their head a little, and that lunging teaches them to relax into a lower outline. So I am doing it more with my 4 year old gelding, the problemo is that he still seems happier to stick his head up hiigh in the air :( (I don't have side reins)

Am I doing something wrong here, or will it come with time? He is more used to being loose schooled.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Get a surcingle and some side reins that have a rubber donut. They will help your horse learn to lower his head.Make sure you do not use the reins to "force" his head down though. He should go into position with encouragement, not force.  Also, when riding, giving and taking lightly with the inside rein while keeping the outside rein steady encourages him to lower his head. It is easier to start this on a circle. As you go on the circle, lightly squeeze and relax, squeeze and relax the inside rein while keeping the outside rein steady. As the horse bends and lowers his head, let the outside rein out a little.

Answer 2

It's true some or most horses relax their heads while lunging, but you say your horse is happy, so why force his head down if he won't feel any better? with time he will probably begin to lower his head anyway.

Answer 3

where are you attatching the lunge line? if you dont have one then you need to get a lunging cavesson...

i think also you should get a curcingle and some side reins... a curcingle is about 25$ for a cheap one in Dover and side reins in Dover are like $17... for the side reins with a new horse definitely get ones that are elastic... so he wont hurt his mouth if he fights them at first... also if you can for lunging use a plain snaffle or even a loose ring with a french link or dr.bristol might help him bring his head down...

hope it helps!

Answer 4

Every horse has a different head set, one thing to you do to make it lower is show him where you want him to carry his head.

What i do with my 7 year old WP mare is i bit her up with a surcingle. i put her in a snaffle bit (ONLY a snaffle bit can be used for lunging, no other bit) and i take the reins through the horses legs and tie the them to the tie loop that is on the bottom on the cinch. make sure you don't tie it to tight or else the horse wont be able to move correctly.

or you could just ride with a martingale.

Answer 5

This is completely normal.  Some horses don't see why they need to put their heads down and relax.  As you lung him more he will start to see the picture and lower a little.  

If you can you might want to try side reins it helped with my horse because she wanted to relieve the pressure so she put her head down.

be patient and it will come

Answer 6

With every horse that I've ever taught to longe (and its been a lot, since I start a lot of 2yr olds), they always start off with their heads up more than I'd like.  Part of it is from a lack of balance being worked on a small circle, and some of it is just because its something new.  Some horses just have a naturally upright carriage too.

As your horse gets more comfortable on the longe line, and more balanced physically, he will start to lower his head, and lay his neck out.  You don't want to teach him to longe, and use sidereins or anything like that at the same time.  Get the longeing done first.  

You can practice lowering you hand with the line, and getting them to drop their head, or using a line with a chain on the end, and running it over their nose.  After awhile, they will want to lower their heads to get away from the pressure.

Good luck!