What are the best do's and don'ts for lunging a horse!?

Question

I'm new to lunging i was wondering what i should and shouldn't do?

Answer 1

Keep the extra line of the lunge line loose in your hand to not have it wrapped around your hand a big loop so if your horse bolts you won't go flying with them.

Answer 2

DO: Change direction if you get dizzy

DON'T: ever go under the lunge line

Answer 3

don't let the horse turn in

do move to allow a slightly bigger circle

do keep the lunge line tight otherwise the horse might turn in or tread on rope

don't lunge with a friend in the middle (everyone gets in a tangle!)

Answer 4

Dont have her canter for too long- horses get dizzy too ya know.

Answer 5

Don't:  use the lunging to "chase" the horse

Do: use it for exercise - warm up at the walk for maybe 5 mins, then trot for 10, then cool down for 5 - good conditioner if you can't ride for some reason.

Don't: Go the same direction for long periods of time

Do: change it up - use gait transitions and direction changes - these give you a feel for how respectful the horse is of you, how focused he is, how well (or not) you are doing at training him.  If you begin at the walk, ask for the trot and have to get after him to go faster, work on that - get to the point where simply asking results in a controlled trot.  Likewise for down transitions - ask for the walk from the trot, if no response pull the nose toward you to stop the forward motion of the feet then send the horse off at the walk again - ask for the trot, then the walk - be consistent in your requests.

Think of it this way:  The horse's reward is relaxation and moving about as he wishes.  Work is doing something not of his choosing - the more removed from his nature the "harder" the work seems.  what you might view as fun to him is really work, what you think is easy may be very hard for him.  The more you understand of the horse's nature, the more you understand about what he sees as positive vs. negative - and therefore the more able you'll be to interact positively with him more often.

One other thing - if using a typical halter, make it easy to change directions - for example if you hook the lunge line to the left side of his halter, then wish to change directions, you're always pulling on the left side of his face, better to have the lunge line connected to the bottom or top points to create and equal feel for him no matter which direction.  Horses see two images - one in each eye - their brains meld the image together.  A vision seen facing to the left looks completely different if you turn the horse around making him view it from the right.  His feel is the same way - isolating one side from the other for communication enhances the effectiveness of the communication.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Don't reel your horse into the middle like a fish... Go out to your horse to unclip the longe line/ switch directions.

Don't just stand in the same place... Move with your horse- you should be going around in a circle with them.

Don't hit them with the longe whip... It's only there to make noise.