Long reining

Well I would start talking to Ben when you are leading him in from the field etc. If you just put a head collar on and pull him and he walks great but literally start from now putting in voice commands. Walk on, whoa. Tell him what you require. If he's a plodder in some ways the better as everything is taught super controlled. Rather than him rushing.
I have some videos of me driving and harrowing with my voice commands. You made my watch them all last night. I could try to up load them although Im not sure the best way. I can do pics but not sure on videos unless someone can advice me the best way.
Got to whip off to feed the sheep before dark, I'll nip along the yard and measure my reins for you. Please nag me if I forget.

Oh yes I would love to see the videos. Don't have a clue how to advise about uploading them though. Can someone technical help?
 
I used a Maxwell DVD - there is now film of him teaching a horse to long line on Youtube.
But he does flick the end of the rope and doesnt use a whip.
My notes show that when I was taught to lunge and to long line I used no whip with the long lines, I was being shown how to ride using only the reins and voice.
This was not a preliminary to driving. Nor anything like the driving lesson I later had with heavy horses.

I am away from NR (work) and post this only because of Maxwell who may be of some help. Mary P. I am hopelessly clumsy and it was Maxwell (via demo and video) who taught me how to handle and not get tangled up with ropes. Depends on your learning style. Maxwell is a good teacher for me. And the things I have learned from watching him stay in my mind.
 
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Thank you for all the suggestions. I have another question:

Do I need to use a breast plate with a lunge roller? One book I am reading states that you do need the breast plate or the roller will move backwards. The book is quite old though so I am not sure if this is current thinking?
 
Oh and Kelly Marks' Perfect Partners which has a good long reining section - and Richard Maxwell books too - happy to whizz them over if you'd like to borrow them :)

Hi, Thank you for the offer. I have just ordered perfect partners on Amazon for 1p (plus £2.80 delivery) but can't really knock it at that price.

Which Richard Maxwell book do you recommend? I have found 'maximise your horsemanship' for 1p as well.
 
I know where you’re coming from with the backward horse MP. It’s a draft thing! I have tried lunging and other people can get flipo moving pretty decently, but I failed miserably as my energy isn’t right for pushing him on.
Long reining, I have thought about, but tbh, my long reining is basically just chucking the reins over his head and letting him donder home in front of me, he knows where he’s going.
I’d think Ben is the sort that long reining round the school will feel totally pointless and he will lack the enthusiasm to go round and round.
If it was me and I were to do it properly, I’d need a helper to walk at his head, but these days I’m reluctant to rely on other folk too much. Ive thought about it before and I think this is how I’d go about it - I’d walk him out in hand with the long reins on. I’d try walking at his shoulder, gradually moving back behind him. I know for sure that flipo would long rein perfectly on his way home, so I’d aim to be behind him by the time we get to the furthest away point on the hack. Hopefully with time, the periods of leading will get less and less.
 
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I know where you’re coming from with the backward horse MP. It’s a draft thing! I have tried lunging and other people can get flipo moving pretty decently, but I failed miserably as my energy isn’t right for pushing him on.
Long reining, I have thought about, but tbh, my long reining is basically just chucking the reins over his head and letting him donder home in front of me, he knows where he’s going.
I’d think Ben is the sort that long reining round the school will feel totally pointless and he will lack the enthusiasm to go round and round.
If it was me and I were to do it properly, I’d need a helper to walk at his head, but these days I’m reluctant to rely on other folk too much. Ive thought about it before and I think this is how I’d go about it - I’d walk him out in hand with the long reins on. I’d try walking at his shoulder, gradually moving back behind him. I know for sure that flipo would long rein perfectly on his way home, so I’d aim to be behind him by the time we get to the furthest away point on the hack. Hopefully with time, the periods of leading will get less and less.

The ultimate aim isn't to keep long reining round the school, we have hundreds of acres of parkland with hills so I will be utilising that. The aim of the long reining is to get him really marching forwards and building up the muscles in his back without my added weight on him but I need to teach him how to do this in the school before we venture out. I think that the key is to get him lunging with one rein, and then to add the outside rein - first with this rein on the top of his roller across his back, and then when we have mastered this the second rein will go behind his quarters. Once he is used to lunging with 2 reins in a circle I can move behind him, make the length of the reins equal and then go in a straight line. That's the plan at this stage anyway. We are going to keep everything in walk to start with and I have a friend who will walk with his head if necessary. I'm really excited about it. He is now trotting up soundly consistently, but his splint still needs to fuse and his back needs lots of work. It's a slow process.
 
Good luck. I'm actually following with interest as I've never long reined. I got as far as lunging in a roller with two lines but as soon as I tried moving behind Raf to get into position for long reining he got confused and a bit upset. I'm pretty sure he will have been long reined when he was being broken but what I was trying to do obviously didn't make any sense to him.
 
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Good luck. I'm actually following with interest as I've never long reined. I got as far as lunging in a roller with two lines but as soon as I tried moving behind Raf to get into position for long reining he got confused and a bit upset. I'm pretty sure he will have been long reined when he was being broken but what I was trying to do obviously didn't make any sense to him.
That's the point where a helper can really help get them past that confusion, normally in under 10 mins and once they get it you are off :)

@Mary Poppins I have never lunged Hank, well I tried once long before he knew any voice commands (he'd not long been rescued and hadn't had much human contact and no training other than having a head collar on) and it failed miserably. When it came to long reining him I spent 5 mins in a paddock with a helper to make sure he wouldn't panic about the lines on his bum/legs then we went out for 20 mins up the drove still with helper leading from the end of a rope when needed, the next day the helper started walking with him (not leading) and dropped back with me after 5 mins and he had it from there on out :) I guess my point is you said you had tried to lunge ben before and he hadn't taken to it, so I just wanted to say it is a necessary step if he doesn't get it :)
 
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Good luck. I'm actually following with interest as I've never long reined. I got as far as lunging in a roller with two lines but as soon as I tried moving behind Raf to get into position for long reining he got confused and a bit upset. I'm pretty sure he will have been long reined when he was being broken but what I was trying to do obviously didn't make any sense to him.

Give it another try with me! It will be a couple of weeks before I can start but I am getting all prepared now.
 
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That's the point where a helper can really help get them past that confusion, normally in under 10 mins and once they get it you are off :)

@Mary Poppins I have never lunged Hank, well I tried once long before he knew any voice commands (he'd not long been rescued and hadn't had much human contact and no training other than having a head collar on) and it failed miserably. When it came to long reining him I spent 5 mins in a paddock with a helper to make sure he wouldn't panic about the lines on his bum/legs then we went out for 20 mins up the drove still with helper leading from the end of a rope when needed, the next day the helper started walking with him (not leading) and dropped back with me after 5 mins and he had it from there on out :) I guess my point is you said you had tried to lunge ben before and he hadn't taken to it, so I just wanted to say it is a necessary step if he doesn't get it :)

A big part of his rehab for building up his muscles in his back is lunging so this is something that we also need to crack. The lunging and the long reining will work together to build up his core and get him stepping through using his back . Long reining will be walking out across our land and finding every hill we can to walk up, while lunging will include trotting and cantering in the school. If I can master lunging with long reins I will do this as well, but to start with I will use a roller with side reins.

I think that the reason we failed with lunging in the past was because I wasn't doing it properly. I did have some lunging lessons many years ago, but all this really involved was chasing him with a whip. I have been reading lots of articles which talk about the importance of body language, eye contact, correct positioning and most importantly ensuring that the horse is rewarded when he gets it right. I need to use consistent voice commands for upwards and downwards transitions and lots of praise. He is a horse who really wants to please, I just have to ask him what to do in a way that he understands.
 
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If you can't get started for another couple of weeks, I would definitely be walking him out in-hand to teach him voice commands. You could always put his bridle on but substitute the reins for a pair of leadropes and walk at his shoulder holding the "reins" over to one side so that he gets used to walking up front and reacting to your voice.

I always taught my baby cobs voice commands from an early age, when just leading them in, out and about. I really saw the benefit when I started backing Albi...he was great to lunge and long-line and then it was easy to introduce the leg aid, ridden, when coordinated with a voice command. Very much helped when I broke him to drive too.

I actually think Ben will take it all in his stride. He's a lovely, sensible chap and I think he'll be very accepting of everything.
 
When we got Gem she was backed (5) however was very green, the first thing we did was spend time in hand, then lunge and then onto the long reins, then back to ridden, she has been turned away for Winter so as soon as the ground is good enough she will start fittening program which will consist of mainly long reining initially then back onto lunge before any meaningful ridden work is started. We have always included Long reining in our program , both Charlie and Acorn had a lot of inhand and voice before they started long reining at approx. 18 months, with the little ones it is an ideal way of exercising out on the roads for them and when it came to putting a rider on Acorns back he just to took to it like a pro ( his little quirks aside), also a great way of traffic proofing them, Nuts took to it brilliantly last year with Devon who had never done it before so hopefully we will get both the shetlands out on the road long reigning this year, might even take a picnic and we can have a grandkids, Nanna and pony date out in Summer Hols round the villages.
 
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