Longing.... Help???

Question

Hi , well tonight I visited my horse and he is not limping anymore, but just in case I decided to attempt to longe him. He is 20, and knows what he is doing, the problem is I dont. I got him to trot and canter on my cue, but i couldnt get him to back away from me or go the other direction. He also didint want to slow down his trot.

My question is: How do you longe a horse?

How do you get the horse to change gaits?

How do you get them away from you and respect you space?

thanks, all the help would be nice cause i am just learning to longe!

Answer 1

Hi,

As far as respecting your space, start with some leading exercises. I recommend watching this video sample:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMh0hyaqN...

Also simply back the horse up when he crowds you. Do this all the time you are with your horse. You can go into his space, but he can't go into yours unless you ask him too.

When I lunge a horse, I use a tool such as a rope, "carrot stick" , or whip. The purpose of this is to put pressure on the horse-specifically on the hind end. You can do this by swinging the rope in the air or at the ground say, you don't actually hit the horse with it. The purpose of putting pressure on the hind end is to get the horse to change gaits to get him to move faster.

I often take my horse into the round pen and lunge at "liberty", which means I take the halter and lead line off. This gives me an instant tool to use to put pressure, I just use the lead rope itself. To get him started, I will send him out to my left. First I lift and point with my left hand to ask him to go left. Then I start putting pressure on his hind end by swinging the lead rope in the air, in the direction of his hind end. If you're using a carrot stick or whip, you can swing it in the air or whip the ground with it in the vicinity of the hind end of your horse. To get the horse to go faster, keep applying pressure until he is at the gait you want. When he is going what you want you stop applying pressure (don't nag a horse).

When I am using the lead rope only, I can get a horse to move into a canter by tossing the end of the rope at the horse. I want to emphasize I never hit the horse with it, you just toss it in his direction.

To get horse to slow down first I am going to talk about circling with the lead rope on him. You can wiggle the rope up and down slowly. I talk to my horses, so if he is trotting I can wiggle the rope up and down and say "walk" and they will drop down to a walk. To get him to stop, I disengage the hind so that the horse will turn and face me. Of course that assumes you have gotten that down before you are doing any lunging.

Something else to work on is using your breath, exhaling loudly to get a horse to slow down or stop.

Here are a couple of example videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og3maDnLu...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_MrQ8MXx...

Cheers,

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 2

Alright...Well...When it comes to keeping him away, have a lunge whip with you in the center. If he starts to come in, first ask him to move back out by lifting your arm up or lightly flicking the end of the rope towards his shoulder. If he doesn't respond to asking, then tell him. Use the whip and sort of chase him out. Step out of the little circle and walk with purpose at him or flick the whip at his shoulder. He'll get the message eventually.

Are you in a round pen or using a lunge line?

Trotting...He may just have some pent up energy....Let him go fast. He'll slow down eventually and respond better to you...

About getting him to reverse...well, it's easier in a round pen. I taught my horse by when I say reverse and move towards the outside of the round pen in front of him, that means reverse. If you're on a lunge line, again, use your whip and hold it straight out in front of him and maybe say reverse. Even move yourself a little more in front of him until he does it before returning to center. Again, eventually he'll learn if you are consistent.

Longing in general is generally about wearing down excited horses before being ridden, touching up thinks such as ground work and whatnot...Maybe tying their head so they learn to hold it down while you ride. Lots of things...So just stand in the center of the pen or area and keep your shoulders square with him and keep his attention on you and just keep consistant. Let him know clearly what you want while on the ground. Physical cues are a big thing on the ground since he can see you.

The gait? Do you mean like...From walk to trot et cetera...Well, tell them to whoa, using a technique you find suitable to slow them down and generally cluck to trot and kiss to canter...

Sorry my answers are a little shoddy. Hope this helped...

Answer 3

When lunging horses, communcation is key.  With mixed signs and cues a horse is not going to lunge correctly.  When lunging your horse watch where you place your hands and you voice, to succeed at lunging your horse should know voice commands.  Make sure you pronounce the word the same way everytime "Trot", "Canter", "Walk", "Whoa".  To get him to get away from you use a long dressage whip to encourage him.  Verbal words and clicks can help with controlling the speed of your horse.  Just as in riding use words like "easy" to slow and clicking or kissing to encourage him to extend his speed.  Good Luck

Answer 4

well to lunge a horse you can do it on a line or in a round pen. i prefer the round pen. So to get him to go you cluck to him and snap the whip. never touch him with it though. next to get him to go faster cluck and again snap. when he invades your space open your arms out wide with the whip in your back hand and walk beside him forcing him to stay out and slowly go back to were you started . to turn him run about half way in front of him and snap the whip and yell reverse this should turn him