Horse refusing to yield to pressure on lunge

[Cheesecake]

So, as the title says, my horse is currently absolutely refusing to lunge or yield to pressure on the lunge at the moment. He lunges fine for the other girl who cares for him, but for me just doesn't.

It's left me shaken up more than a couple times because he actually comes in at you when asked to move out. He's a bit velcro-y I guess, wants to walk right behind you on the lead, which is fine when he's being led, but obviously not when being lunged.

Today for example, I tried lunging him in his bridle, with the lunge line connected to the ring of his bit on the inside of the circle. He moved out but kept trying to come in, I pressed the end of the lunge whip against his shoulder to try and nudge him to turn out again, and instead he kicked out at the front and charged forward a couple steps. I tried a couple more times with similar results, but at this point, I was shaking too much to really be able to continue. I'm aware he's 'winning' by me giving in but he's not a small boy, and he could do some damage especially whilst I wait for my new helmet to arrive.

I've not ridden since I separated from my ex who used to rush me at the yard, and lunging is kind of the first step to get me comfortable to get back on. Any tips would be much appreciated.

 

[Jessey]

If he lunges for someone else but not you, I’m sorry to say it’s you not him! Ask an instructor for a lesson, body positioning is crucial but subtle, if you’re just in the wrong place or pointing your driving hand wrong, you can give the wrong signals and therefore get the wrong answers from the horse. You also have to use forward momentum to balance them wanting to fall in towards you.

I also wouldn’t lunge with the line connected to the inside ring of the bit, either through to the outside ring or up over the poll to it or on a connector. By using just the inside ring, with that big long length of lunge line attached, he will have felt a constant, one sided pull towards you!

 

[carthorse]

Best tip I can give you is ask the other girl to help you, your horse clearly knows how to lunge but there's some misunderstanding between you. Attaching the lunge line to the inside ring of his bridle is also going to make matters worse, it's like using only the inside rein when riding a circle and then wondering why the horse turns in.

At a guess I'd say your body language/positioning is wrong. It souds like you're very focused on the front which is acttually telling him to turn to face you, its then no wonder he gets put out if you tell him off for doing what you've asked.

Build up your confidence handling him, and look into some lessons. And don't lunge until your helmet comes!