questions about lungeing

[Murphs]

couple of questions.

How do you get your horse to move out on the circle and stay out? my mare tends to spiral in when workingon the lunge and when she slows down/stops she turns in on the circle .

On the left rein,she will not go off on to a circle at all -in fact she'll double back on herself and change rein to work on the right. The only way i've been able to work her to the left is to stay in fairly close contact with her and walk /trot her round in hand on a circle.

I know it's not a physical problem as she has been checked over by the vet this week as she has been really quite aggressive particularly when touched on that lefthand side.

[Mehitabel]

have you tried lungeing in two reins? then you can use a bit of outside rein to keep her from turning round. for the com ing in, try pointing the whip at her shoulder and using a command like "get out" or something. it's difficult to stop the turning in when stopping thing, but again two reins will help with that, or if she's not that responsive to the whip, try using voice commands with the whip still pointed at the shoulder. this doesn't always work, as most horses will listen to the whip being there rather than the voice commands, but can be worth a try.

[ros]

Murphs - I think it really would be worth getting a second opinion to make sure she doesn't have a physical problem. The fact that she doesn't like being touched on that side, coupled with her reluctance to lunge to the left, does seem to point to a problem of some description. However good your vet is, one person alone can't be expected to spot every single thing. By the way, is her sight in the left eye 100%, do you know?

[Dizzy]

I wonder if she is just very one sided. By that I mean has always been handled from the right. I seen one or two horses get quite upset when someone is on the 'wrong' side. Will she lead happily on the left?

I think you're doing the right thing by staying close, but it might be a good idea to remain in walk, until she's responding, then you can slowly eek out the line and increase the distance.

With the turning in, I've found it best to plan ahead, before you allow her to change down, shorten the line, but keep the circle constant, with you walking an inner circle (hope you know what I mean) position yourself just behind her shoulder, hold your line arm out to the side, have your lunge whip low but ready to push her on, then ask her to change down.

If she's going to turn in, vibrate the line, strong verbal 'no' and push her on from behind. You may find that you will have to get in quite close at first to catch her in time, so at first don't worry to much about getting quality lunge work, concentrate on obedience.

Long riening/lunging will also help, I like to start them with straight lines going into large curves to gently introduce the principals of inside/outside rein with lots of halt/walk on mixed in.

Sounds like you have your work cut out, good luck

Lesley

[Murphs]

Dizzy - you're right i have got my work cut out! I'm not very happy this morning as just when i think she's improving, i go out to the field this morning and she turned and kicked me in the knee - didn't see it coming. I suppose it doesn't help because my other mare is so gentle and whilst i shouldn't, i'm making comparisons all the time.

Anyway, back to the point in hand - i'll try some of the tips suggested thanks - ES - i'm going to ask my experienced friend who also used to instruct to come and help as i'm sure some of the problem is me and i don't think i could manage two lines just yet!!

Ros - vet checked her eyesight and all was fine. I wonder whether she has been hurt / hit on her leftside and this is why she's so defensive and that she has never been corrected. I thought about a specialist seeing her i'll discuss with the vet when he's back from hols and see if he can recommend someone.