Lunge tips

[Wez]

My pony is doing really well on the lunge (she's a little green) but when I ask her to change direction ...everything goes wrong!!

She will not move away from me and if she does, she wants to continue in the same direction as before.

I need to get someone to walk her round until she gets the idea (I'm often at the yard on my own) but is there anything else i can do?

[Tangle]

How are you trying to change direction? Do you have a lunge whip?

When I want to change direction on the lunge I tend to come to a total halt and bring the horse in. Gives a nice chance for a "good boy" forehead rub, and lets me get my act together swapping lunge line and whips between hands. Then we can go off on the other rein. I also let the line out gradually, so to start with the horse is on a prety small circle and I can control direction more easily by opening my hand (with the line) and using the whip behind (usually just to be there, rather than as a flick). If the horse doesn't want to move away I'll bring the hand holding the line up to his neck and give a good shove or two until he gets the hint.

Alternatively, if it's what you need to do, I can't see a problem with walking with the horse for a circle or so to get them used to the direction you're going in, then you can back away while letting out the line until you're nearer the centre of the circle. It may not be classic lunge technique, but there are advantages to being near the horse ;)

Hope that helps :)

[SarahC]

This is the way I was taught to lunge my young mare.

Stand a little way off from your horse and gently push against the horses shoulder with the end of the lunge whip (hold onto the lash end so its not flapping around). At the same time use the word AWAY. Sometimes, you may not need to actually touch her shoulder, just the sight of the lunge whip in that area will be enough to move her away. Again, make sure the lash is not flapping around near her shoulder area.
If she does not move at all, alternate between a slight pressure on the shoulder to a quick flick behind to indicate away and forwards movement. This worked really well on my mare who also needed someone to walk her around at first. After 2 lunge sessions, we no longer need to do this.

Also make sure you don't get in front of your horse. Ideally you should be standing level with the saddle.

Hope this helps.

S

[Wez]

Thanks for the advice.

My technique for changing direction;
Stop her. give her a rub and a fuss.
Start to walk her in the other direction, change lunge/whip over to other hand etc.

But this is where she will not walk away from me!! she sticks to me like glue, turning her head in towards me!!!
If she does move away she wants to continue in the same direction as before...... perhaps i should give her a couple of shoves as you advised, but what should I do when she wants to continues in the old direction?

I will have a go at pushing her away with the whip but she's so fast at changing direction!!!!

I don't want to wave the whip around too much and scare the hell out of her.

[SarahC]

I don't want to wave the whip around too much and scare the hell out of her.
The whip shouldn't be waved around.
When you are trying to move her away and forwards, don't have the lash end of the whip loose and waving around, particularly while its at the shoulder. Keep hold of the lash end until she has moved off, then you can lunge as normal.
I don't walk with my girl. I stand level with the saddle, a little way off from her and gently push with the whip as mentioned before while repeating 'away' firmly. It doesn't have to be 'waving around', just motioned towards her shoulder or gently pushed. If you stand ahead of her and/or too close, she will try to follow you.
Most horses would not try to change direction and come back at the whip (if you know what I mean), they will want to move away from it. This being the case, you then immediately get her moving forwards with the lunge whip in the normal position.

Also, change the lunge rein and whip over prior to starting the next session so you are organised.

S

[Tangle]

I'm not sure if you just typed them in the wrong order, but I'd swap line and whip over before moving off in the other direction - just so you're all set :)

Have you tried opening you lunge hand? So if you want her to go to the left, make quite a large opening movement with your left hand and the line (like an opening rein aid from the ground). You can also hold your left hand, line and all, out in front of her to add to the hint that you're not asking her to turn in. All of this is aimed at making it as easy as possible for her to understand what you're trying to do. I've found with clingy horses it can be easier to walk with them for half a small circle to get them going the right way, and then gradually let the line out while you back off - that way you're not asking the horse to change from the circle that they're already on. It's a slightly different approach to SarahC's - you might find one works better than the other for you and your horse :)

It might be worth doing some "whips are friendly" type exercises - just getting her comfortable with it being around. Moving the whip should be about communication, not about fear (not sugesting that's what you have, just a general statement :)). Fifi (our mare) is not at all afraid of the whip, which gives us the option of using it quite strongly (ie cracking it behind her) if she's not listening. It's very useful, but we can only do this because she's so relaxed around it.

[Rips]

I think Galadriel's lunge article is brilliant, hope she doesn't mind me giving out the link The How and Why of Basic Lunging (http://lorienstable.com/articles/handling/300-lunging/)

My YO always said to start off getting a triangle between you, the horses head and tail. Helps if your horse is accustomed to the whip though, I don't think lunging is beneficial if they are constantly running away fom the whip.

[maren]

when you start on the other direction, keep your longe line short and get positioned behind her and ask her to go forward. it's not possible for her to turn in towards you if you are constantly placing yourself behind her and asking her to move up. keep her in small circles until she gets the idea, then gradually let out the line. if she turns in towards you, shorten the line and get behind her butt to make her move. once she is going forward well on a longer line you can move to a more traditional angle with her body and face her shoulder. if she stops or props or drifts inwards give a good wave with your line and ask her to go faster....it's harder for her to drift inwards while you're asking her to speed up.

[Wez]

Thanks everyone...Rips - the website was very good, thank you.

[Keket]

This might not be of any help since I don't use a lunge line on Coquette when I lunge her. I free lunge in a 40 foot (12.2 metre) diameter round-pen. When it's time to change direction, I tell her to halt, then turn my back on her and drop my head. She comes over to me (this is her command to come), I stroke her a few times to tell her she's been good, then I switch hands on the whip and use my body to direct her in the opposite direction. If she's not out far enough, I walk towards her, but still stay at her hind end so that I'm still keeping her moving forward.

[Adk_Katie]

Do you always start off going in the same direction? If so, I had exactly the same problem with my young mare. She wouldn't move away from me longeing clockwise. I think it was because she was nervous about seeing me out of her right eye. It sounds like this might be happening with you too because she turns her head to you. Trying to see you out of the other eye. I just practiced a lot of standing on her right side and having her be relaxed and then moved on to leading her from the right side. As soon as she was comfortable with all that the longeing problems went away. Hope that helps!