How often is it ok to lunge a horse??

[CrazyMare]

just wondering how much lungeing would be safe to do with my cob , 3 times a week?? I can only really ride him at the weekends and he piles on the flab really easy so I need to exercise him in the week too, but like I say have only got time to lunge! I was thinking because he is a heavy built horse it would put too much strain on his joints, what does everone think?? :confused:

[rache]

if you are schooling in the field or arena 3 times is absolutely fine at 20 mins each session which is equivilant to 1 hours riding!!

[ANN H]

My friend has an overweight Irish cob, and as she's a very nervous rider he never gets any exercise. She's decided to lunge him every day, which I've been told won't be v. good for him. I would say perhaps three times a week for 20 mins. or so.

[charlotte+jill!]

20 mins = 1 hr riding rache!! tut tut!! :p

I find lunging very benifisal (sp?) I lunge Scooby about 2 times a week (when im feeling lazy really) give him a good workout, I like it as you can watch them and see what they do

[Cheeky]

Yep - 20 mins = 1 hrs work :P :)

BUT!!! (always a but, eh? lol) never EVER EVER exceed 20 mins whilst lunging - this can/will over bend them - its really hard work for them working on a circle, remember. Never ever lunge for more than 20 mins, its not good for your horse!! Eeep!!

I would love to lunge my mare - well, I lie. We do try, but she has this nasty habbit of going around the circle, then cutting accross me at the same part of the circle each time - no matter where i lunge her. She can be just walking, then bolts accross me, then contiues walking?? what the??? Meh, we are working on it - slowly - but we just ride her around now (on the lunge) which she prefers (hates being alone lol).

:)

[kayjayhorses]

Cheeky- no good with a lunge whip? stops them running in at you and keeps them out on the circle, I wouldn't lunge without one, had it drummed into me that its your only safety barrier if they run in at you, you could get knocked over or kicked (may only be accidental) but could happen, lunge whip would keep them away from you.

I lunge mine roughly twice a week, but I think you should do 3 times if you can, as I am able to ride during the week on the other days.

[CrazyMare]

Thanks for all your advice :) one problem I am having lungeing him though is that I can't get him to change direction and circle round me the over way, if I stand in his path he just cuts across the middle of the school or goes past me and back on to the track, he seems to favour going the clock wise way!! :rolleyes: also i can't get him to stop and stand on command unless I go right up to him , then he thinks he's finished ! any ideas?

[ponylover88]

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[Tharg]

If you can only ride at the weekends see if you can get a sharer in.

[eventerbabe]

hmmm, depends on the horse. i never, ever lunge my little welshie these days coz its just too much strain on her joints and i'm not prepared to take the risk. lunge the big boy about once a month, if that. i find they both enjoy long reining much more, just taught toby to long rein this past week.

but lungeing is good for assesing the way the horse is going, which is why i do it occasionally with tobs. but i agree with the others, if you do lunge, try to keep it to 20 minutes and make sure you spend an equal amount of time on each rein.

[CrazyMare]

I lunge him with a cavesson and lunge line on, I find it quite hard to control where he goes and at what speed when he's lungeing!! :o

[kayjayhorses]

you need to get your horse to understand your voice, one of my mares picked this up really quickly whilst the other it took a little longer.

when you want to do upward transitions or you want the pace to be more active to need to raise the tone of your voice at the end of the words, so 'trot on' would be higher pitched and put a higher tone on the word 'on', same with walk on,

when you want slower paces, you need to lower the tone of your voice, so trot to walk you would say steady, and at the end of the word your voice should be deeper, then you would say walk on in the same way.

So upward transitions and for activity your voice should be higher and more excitable, whilst downward transitions is would be deeper and lower in tone for calming.

Keep the words the same all the time and keep them to a minimum and your horse will start to recognise them.

so basically all your would use is: walk on, trot on, steady and stand, oh and of course good girl/boy or well done when they do it right.

Spend time just doing lots of transitions, be bold and confident when you say things and once they learn it, its great.