new member - help with lunging please

[debsjenkins]

Hi Everyone

I just joined after being recommended to by Suze St Maur. I'll give a bit of background and then tell you my problem, I hope that's the best way of proceeding. Thanks in advance for any help, tips and advice!

I am 40 and started riding this year (had some lessons in my late teens). I bought a horse when I was feeling confident and have had a few falls on him, have lost my confidence a bit and have gone back to basics for a while. Added to that my trainer has been sacked, and they haven't found a new one yet, so I am solo for now. Also, I live in Spain and they do things a bit differently over here, so bear with me with my explanations and questions. My horse is stabled with the local stables.

So, I have a smallish (15.2 hands) silla frances castrated horse, that is trained for jumping and is 10 years old. After a couple of falls (horsey getting too excited in canter and me not being experienced nor confident enough to manage him - he is enthusiastic and strong) I have taken to doing some lunge work with him each day before riding. Previously my trainer lunged him and then I rode him. As my trainer got sacked I now do the lunging too. All was going well for a couple of weeks, but now horsey is messing about with me (Suze thinks he's taking the piss and I agree), only during work on the lunge rope - everything else is wonderful and he's being a really good boy.

When he's on the lunge he's ok, listens and keeps his gait going quite well (sometimes he needs a bit of encouragement) - however, when we come down a gear he will stop and turn and face me, not stroppy, just firmly stopped. Then he plays with me and won't get started again! I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but can't work out what.

I try to come back along side him, but he plants his front leg and moves his back ones around and follows me. I've been doing some relaxed work with him on the halter to make him a bit more gentlemanly and not rush when he's being lead - and he's doing that wonderfully. He even stops and stays whilst I walk round him and can walk away from him without him moving a foot till I tell him to (I learnt this from Kelly's videos on horsehero.co.uk). So, generally great, just he's learned this new trick on the lunge.

Yesterday the owner of the stables saw me NOT managing to get horsey to lunge, so he said he'd show me how, and did - he got him going, but it was really stressful, he really pushed horsey using the long whip thingy (what's that called? - we call it an elastico in Spain) - horsey was jumping, bucking, rearing, turning - all the calm I'd got into him over the last 2 weeks was gone in a second!

I know horsey was messing about with me - but I really want to do things the nice calm way, not the Spanish big balls, loud shouts, scare the s**t out of the horse way!

When he calmed down I rode him, but could feel he was tense (which made me tense) and he was swiveling his head watching the owner who was over at the boxes and he was not paying so much attention to me

I think I need to get a better balance of firmness (without stressing him or me) and calmness - can't ride today it's pouring down, but could do with some tips for tomorrow!

Sorry this is a long post, thanks in advance for reading and any ideas you may have!

Have a lovely weekend
Debs

[jill]

Hi Debs and welcome
The secret of lunging is to forget about the front end (that will take care of itself, you have a line on it!) and concentrate on the rear. A friend of mine always quotes something she got from Parelli years ago - imagine a white line around the girth - put on a light coloured roller if you have trouble imagining. Then make sure you stay to the rear of that line or roller, so that you are "chasing" your horse from behind. No need to chase as you have described with the lunge whip, just use as much pressure as you need (what is it with macho men and horses!!)The lunge line then steers his front end into the circle around you.
If he stops and turns in you need to be quick on your feet to keep behind that imaginary line, but after only a very few times he will learn that that no longer works and then it gets easier for you.
Good luck - what part of Spain?

[debsjenkins]

thanks Jill, I did that (focus on his backend) and I also gave him more rope to get started (let some fall to the floor between us) and that seemed to do the trick, that bit of extra rope gave him a clue ;-) will see how he is again on Monday
thanks

[debsjenkins]

oops and I forgot to say, I'm in Murcia

[jill]

Don't know if it is anywhere near but Pip Harrison (pipharrison on here) is in Tomares, Sevilla, so PM her if you are anywhere near. Mind you she is leaving in a few months I think.
Keep up the good work with the lunging!

[nestle]

Hi Debs
We all have this problem when we start, and if you have no coach then the horse will continue to 'lunge' you!! lol
When he does this and stops, try walking to his head, give him a stroke, or whatever, then give him at least 6 feet of line, step smartly to the shoulder, and drive the space at the top of his tail.. with the last bit of line or the whip. still making sure that you are behind where you would sit if you were riding.
Be aware that you do not want to block him by not giving him enough line as he moves off.
When you get good, you can change the rein this way. blocking the front, then quickly driving the other shoulder past you. Always be sure to give lots of line for the horse to take.
This method has worked well for my students, and myself.
I learnt this from a Leslie Desmond. She is a trainer from Sweden.
Best Regards

[yatva]

I also have a problem lunging. My horse will step away from me and lunge perfectly on the left rein, but recently he has discovered that he can prevent me from getting behind that line on the left rein by backing up and not moving away from me at all. I dont have a fenced in linging arena which doesnt help. He won't let me approach on that side and wings away from me or backs up if I try. Ideas ?

[jill]

You have confused me - is the problem on the near or off side? If it is on the off side, lots of horses are never led from that side so they think they should always have you on the near side. Start by teaching him to lead, be tacked up, etc all from the off side so he is happy for you to be there.
Either way, the first stage is to teach him to be confident with you on the "problem" side - when he is you can lead him from that side and gradually lengthen the lead rein (which you can swap for a lunge rein) until he is almost lunging.
Otherwise you just have to be quicker on your feet than he is!!

[yatva]

Sorry Jill, he lunges on the nearside perfectly. I have my whip in the right hand and I am right handed so it is much easier for me. It is when he has to lunge to the offside that he runs backwards. He leads from both the near and the offside, he backs up in a straight line and if I can get onto his offside to try and 'push' him away from me, he just backs up, and keeps his quarters away from me. He can run backwards faster than I can run too. There is no fence to the lunging arena which compounds the problem. I have tried backing him up into the corner of the field and he will then move away from me but as soon as the fence is no longer next to him, he swings to face me and then commences backing up. He will stand and face me as long as I am willing to stand there, up to half an hour once, I thought I would wait him out and he would eventually start moving from boredom if nothing else, but no. He is not aggressive or anything like that, just obstinate.

[jill]

yatva, you need to lead him from the off side and then swap hands so that you are holding the lead rein (or lunge rein) in your right hand. With a sweeping movement towards the right invite him to walk past you, and to follow the request you are making in that rein. When he can do that without thinking about it, you can then ask him from a few feet away, then more and more until he is happily walking past you and following your request with the rein. All you need to do then is carry on the request and lead him to a circle around you - hey presto, he is lunging, albeit on a tiny circle, and you have the position to continue on to a bigger circle without him facing you and backing away. It may take a few days or even weeks until he undertands what you are asking.
But start very very small until he understands, and remember to praise or reward each attempt on his part to follow that request in the rein. Good luck and let us know how it goes.