getting the hang of the lunging thing

[notpoodle]

we're both practising lunging at the moment. angel seems to enjoy it (we only do it for like 10 minutes at a time at the moment, she gets bored easily!) and seems more willing to go forward on the lunge than she does when i ride. i lunge her off the headcollar at the moment (no cavesson as yet), no roller or anything as yet because i think we should get the basics right first!

she was obviously lunged some time in the past, so she has a good idea of what she is doing or meant to be doing. she will now also lunge in walk (she didnt last year, i could not get her out on the circle in walk for the life of me!) and trot.

im quite pleased overall, but theres a couple of issues ... with my voice commands in particular. she knows STAND (having practised that one to death whilst riding ...) and TROT ON (having practised that to death when leading and riding as well) but getting her from trot to walk on the lunge is difficult at the best of times, it can take a couple of laps. im sure i do something wrong when i ask for walk, so heres what i do, please point out any glaringly obvious mistakes on my part :D

i point the whip downwards (i have also tried dropping it altogether), put my hands back down (they seem to develop a life of their own in trot ie i seem to be raising the lunge-hand ...) and go WAAAAAALK in as deep a voice as i can manage. angel tends to ignore that for a good while and keeps trotting round at a steady pace. she seems to be more likely to go to walk when i say 'angel!oi!' in a sort of soft voice.

ive been practising trot to walk with her whilst just leading her round or just walking next to hear with no leadrope. that works quite well, as long as im immediately near her (but then, she's quite good at the 'follow the leader' thing, stopping when i stop etc anyway), just not when im on the end of the lungeline.

any suggestions?

julia
x

[Pink's lady]

any suggestions?

Nope, sounds like a typical native pony ;) :rolleyes: :D

It's really hard to bring them back to walk if they don't feel like it. They seem to just go into a daze and just carry on going :rolleyes: .

Firstly, try to get a little in front of her (oppisite of the slightly behind her position to drive her forward). Get her attention back - a tug on the line will work if voice doesn't. Once she's listening, use your voice command. Use her name in front of each 'waaaalk', in a 'oi, pay attention' tone. Don't keep repeating it over and over again though. Ask twice then just ignore her. Then ask again next lap. If she walks on her own accord, make sure you're very quick with your walk command (watch her carefully) and try to say 'aaaaaaaand, waaaaaaalk' as she does the transition. Once she's in walk, praise her. Give her a lap of walk as a breather then back into trot. Give her a few laps of trot, regualrly using 'trot, trot, trot' in time with her gait. Then repeat what you did before with the walk, remembering to ignore her if she won't stop. If she want's to trot round and round and round and round, that's fine - it's great excerises :rolleyes: :D

[notpoodle]

aha, i shall try ignoring her and starting afresh then, maybe that will work :) so far ive been going waaaalk waaaaalk for ages with the pony rather merrily trotting round and round and round ... (she does that beautifully by the way, very nice trot, despite her short legs!). i had tried tugging, but obviously with the lunge hooked on the side of the headcollar it doesnt really work because she'll think i want her to come in when i tug.

julia
x

ps: oh and she spooked ande bolted for a second when someone knocked ove a wheelbarrow (loudly ...) outside the school. that was very weird! next thing i know she had spun round and was going the wrong way, ho-hum :rolleyes:

pps: i'm planning to have her canter on the lunge one day (not for the moment, no point if she wont stop trotting when i ask), any ideas how to prepare for that, i cant really practice the canter command whilst leading her round (im not that athletic :D )

[Pink's lady]

she spooked ande bolted for a second when someone knocked ove a wheelbarrow (loudly ...) outside the school. that was very weird! next thing i know she had spun round and was going the wrong way

Could quite easily be rephrased as ' excellent form of excersie - pony showing lovely change of rein and good lengthening of strides' ;) :D

I'd leave the canter for now but I ask for canter using the word 'hup' and bringing the whip slightly closer. If Pink's not paying attention, she gets a sharp 'Pink!' and a tug and then 'hup'. Possibly a crack of the whip too. I wouldn't worry if she only gets a few strides. Just get the trot re-balanced and ask again.

[notpoodle]

i am leaving canter for now but was wondering if i could prepare for that somehow, but i guess i cant :D

julia
x

[Pink's lady]

Nope, just lots of praise when she gets it right, and staying calm and letting her reorganise when she doesn't. She'll just need time to work it out for herself. She SHOULD understand what the whips means (go faster basically), and most ponies pick it up quickly.

[notpoodle]

she'll merrily go faster, with or without the whip (on the lunge anyway)! :D

[nuttymanxmare]

aha, i shall try ignoring her and starting afresh then, maybe that will work :) so far ive been going waaaalk waaaaalk for ages with the pony rather merrily trotting round and round and round ... (she does that beautifully by the way, very nice trot, despite her short legs!). i had tried tugging, but obviously with the lunge hooked on the side of the headcollar it doesnt really work because she'll think i want her to come in when i tug.

julia
x

ps: oh and she spooked ande bolted for a second when someone knocked ove a wheelbarrow (loudly ...) outside the school. that was very weird! next thing i know she had spun round and was going the wrong way, ho-hum :rolleyes:

pps: i'm planning to have her canter on the lunge one day (not for the moment, no point if she wont stop trotting when i ask), any ideas how to prepare for that, i cant really practice the canter command whilst leading her round (im not that athletic :D )

I have that problem with mine too. She goes into a daze and doesnt listen when I ask her to walk. I try and shorten the the line and if I tug it a little she wakes up and realises what she's doing.

I always thought Lunging was easy till I tried it myself.

Have you got anyone on your yard that can help you?

[notpoodle]

yes, i do (thank god!!). ive only ever lunged vaulting horses before and that was 10+ years ago! and vaulting horses are trained to lunge and its a doddle with them because they know what you ask etc :)

julia
x

[jumpinintherai]

One thing that may be worth a try is getting the whip a bit in front of her when asking for a walk. If you can get one long enough to tap her front leg that seems to help a lot.

[amandal]

Mine's great at partial deafness on the lunge too, with her it's the tone of my voice. I have to turn walk into a 2 syllable word - like waa - lk with the second part of the word lower in voice. That tends to work (eventually) ;)

[hApPiNeSs]

Hmmm.. the opposite to Happy who stands there scowling at me, and then walks backwards.

Maybe she was disgusted at lack of equipment which meant i had to lunge with a head collar, a few tyed together lead ropes and a scooling whip with rope tyed on the end!!! :D

If a horse wont stop, my RI brings them in smaller and smaller, so they have to stop eventually. She then gives them a treat and sends them out again. Eventually they get the idea that woah means slow down.

Sometimes ive seen her give repeated jerks on the rein as well

and we want pictures please :D

[notpoodle]

after all the trouble i had getting her OUT on the circle, treating her for heading inwards might send the wrong message :D i dont want to go back to the days when she'd just stand next to me in the middle, watching paint dry, waiting for something exciting to happen :D

julia
x