Why Is The Standard Lunge Line So Short?

newforest

newforest

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Mar 15, 2008
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The usual length is about 24ft, my rope is only 22ft. This will only give me a 12 metre circle. Most people ride a 20metre circle, so it isn't surprising that most horses struggle on such small circle.
I just wonder why they don't make it a little longer?

Yes you can get them made to your own length and yes maybe more line would get people tangled up, but on such a small circle the strain on the horse must be considerable.

If you walk a bit with the horse they still don't get much more.
 
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Because you don't stand still in the middle? You walk an inner circle yourself.... or at least I do - on the rare occasions that I DO lunge.... I detest it. Can't see the point. Would much rather long-line - more variety and easier to change direction :D

Plus, most people lunge a horse without a rider and so it is easier for them to manoevre and balance on tighter circles than without the weight of a rider on them.
 
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Same as Domane. On the rare occassions I do lunge I find it pretty easy to do a 20m circle anyway, I do have legs!

If YO is lunging with a rider on she has a customised lunge line (ie one that she's attached half of another line to) that gives her a bigger circle.
 
Agree with the others, plus the reasons i would lunge rather then long line would be if i want to improve his way of going/strengthen, lift up/flex in the middle more and the tighter circle (full length of lunge rope) helps with this more too - if i didn't want or need him on a circle then i would long rein or free school.

I don't lunge very often and when i do it's not often 'traditional' type lunging.
 
But the circling LF you are told not to move, which is why you end up with only a 12 metre circle.
Rider or not that is a pressure on limbs.
Only noticed as thought about the assessments etc, the circle is a lot smaller than i have been offering her, i do walk the inner circle, she needs the space.
 
I am a fan of lunging, I see the benefits for the horse & I enjoy doing it. But I agree, the lines are too short! Personally I prefer to lunge on a 20m circle or bigger, and also prefer to walk a bit in the middle rather than standing still - however I do stand still if I'm lunging a young or difficult horse as it makes it harder for them to pull me over ((though it is still a close call on occasions :giggle:)).
 
domane said:
Sorry to be a numpty but I don't understand this statement.... "the circling LF"????
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The horsemanship that we do you are told to stand still and move the rope around you. It is about who moves whose feet. By not moving mine and horse moving theirs i am higher up in pecking order, in theory. So i would only get 12 metres.

Even moving around the inner circle i need more line. I have a young, unbalanced steam train/ cob, so the rope being longer would help. You wouldn't need to do so much walking to drive the horse either.
 
newforest said:
The horsemanship that we do you are told to stand still and move the rope around you. It is about who moves whose feet. By not moving mine and horse moving theirs i am higher up in pecking order, in theory. So i would only get 12 metres.
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Ah.... been there, tried that, screwed my horses brain, so didn't buy into that particular theory. Sorry.
newforest said:
Even moving around the inner circle i need more line. I have a young, unbalanced steam train/ cob, so the rope being longer would help. You wouldn't need to do so much walking to drive the horse either.
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On the rare occasion that , I actually keep the rope shorter than it needs to be and drive from the hindquarters so I'm almost walking parallel but further back - and we work the width of the school. If my horse is working, I feel it's only right that I do too!! :giggle: I just couldn't stand miles away - I would feel too disconnected from my horse.
 
I do both sometimes i walk with her when we are doing more lateral type work and we use the whole of the area. Sometimes i stand in the middle as its good practise to let her keep the gaits and direction on her own without me nagging.

She collects more when i walk with her because i ask for more of a bend and she lenthens more when asked to go around on her own.

So for me its like schooling but from the ground. I do 80% - 90% now just letting her relax at walk and trot and then i ask her to collect and bend whilst walking with her.

Its quite hard work for them to bend around you so the bigger the circle the easier it is so its always nice to be able to learn to communicate at a distance.
 
newforest said:
But the circling LF you are told not to move, which is why you end up with only a 12 metre circle.
Rider or not that is a pressure on limbs.
Only noticed as thought about the assessments etc, the circle is a lot smaller than i have been offering her, i do walk the inner circle, she needs the space.
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There are only one assignment i think where you do circling and they are for different things.

Short range which is the circling at the end of the 12ft rope yes is about not letting your horse push into your personal space. BUT that isn't standing still that is turning with your horse/you can move your feet too. Also once that lesson is learned then it is time to move on. Although you can practise the homeworks they're not meant to be used to drill or all the time - always being told how important it is to learn the lesson (some for the horse, some for the person) then to move on - no point doing for example the basic yields as basic yields over and over again for no reason.

Only other assignment i have had to do circling for is on the loading one where it is really just to show that you can move up and down transitions from halt, walk, trot and canter from using your body and energy and that is on a 22ft rope so very similar to lunging - you don't have to keep your feet still for that though.

oh and the spirals assignment but again that is 22ft rope and is about asking your horse to lift laterally through their body so is more about lateral and h/q control as well as self carriage then it is lunging and of course from that comes the changes of direction at the trot.

I have done a lot less circling with QS then I have lunging when i was working in a more traditional way.

In the higher levels there is next to none although there is long reining and working of a 50ft horsemans line for groundwork.
 
domane said:
Ah.... been there, tried that, screwed my horses brain, so didn't buy into that particular theory. Sorry.

On the rare occasion that , I actually keep the rope shorter than it needs to be and drive from the hindquarters so I'm almost walking parallel but further back - and we work the width of the school. If my horse is working, I feel it's only right that I do too!! :giggle: I just couldn't stand miles away - I would feel too disconnected from my horse.
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It's not so much about moving horses feet to show dominance (we protect our personal space for that in everyday movements/activities like everyone else such as moving over when grooming) it is more about the horse understanding that when i ask for a direction and a pace then it should keep to that direction and pace unless asked differently. It is to ask to focus on me, so to know when to change direction and pace and to soften through the middle. also helps for liberty work later on.

the rope work helps to build that connection you feel when they are further away. When it gets good it is like a understanding between you where distance is no issue.

Not everyone needs to like or do the same things with their horses though and i do believe there are many different ways to the same goal and many different goals for different people and horses.
 
Could be pnp has a fair bit of it, the level 3 has 6 to 10 laps of canter on the 22ft and no moving of the feet from what i can recall unless changed it.
The cob is not 4 yet, she doesn't do one lap. If i do 10 laps, surely i will just be lunging but without the sidereins.

Eta just looked at pdf, no moving unless doing travelling circles.
Even kf had a lot of circles in the ridden, i barely did any. Jack did not know what a 20 metre circle even was until got the 45ft.
 
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newforest said:
Could be pnp has a fair bit of it, the level 3 has 6 to 10 laps of canter on the 22ft and no moving of the feet from what i can recall unless changed it.
The cob is not 4 yet, she doesn't do one lap. If i do 10 laps, surely i will just be lunging but without the sidereins.

Eta just looked at pdf, no moving unless doing travelling circles.
Even kf had a lot of circles in the ridden, i barely did any. Jack did not know what a 20 metre circle even was until got the 45ft.
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grr, just wrote you a long reply and it deleted it!

anyway is the pdf pnp or qs though?

Just to say there is only what i put right up to the end of level 2. Harvey took 4 months to do level 1 (where there is not much ridden) and has taken 1yr and 9 months to get to near the end of level 2. He is a lot fitter now then he was before we started as the program has made him a lot fitter too. (and me) emotionally and physically.

Level 3 wise - i will just have a look at what circling there is (I have all the thingy's so will have a quick look)
 
There is circling on a 50ft rope at trot and canter (and over jumps)
transiitons from walk to halt to walk using a 22ft rope as a flank rope.
falling leaf with 22ft rope round neck
Long reining
Liberty circles at walk, trot, canter including changes of directions and flying changes.
Dragging something heavy with a 50ft ranch rope
Ridden circles asking horse to yield to the inside and then the outside of the circle for a few strides. Counter canter.

Level 2 does have quite a bit of ridden circles but most of it can be made as big or as small as you want as long as they are following the circle and you have focus.

There is a lot more in level 3 such as horsemans sticks etc and loads of other stuff but above are all the things i could find that related to circling as such and even then some of them are only loosly based on circles.
 
Errrr am a bit lost I think :giggle: What is all this about rope work and "assignments" and stuff? - I thought the thread was just about normal lunging, I've just had to go up to the top of the page to check it wasn't in the Natural Horsemanship section! Confused.com :giggle:
 
I think it's the age old problem of parelli being seen as lunging or like lunging. From my very limited knowledge the circling in parelli doesn't have the same aims as lunging so I see little merit in comparing the 2.
 
The op is talking about the length of the rope, it doesn't matter what you use it for. The point is, it only makes a 20 metre circle if you make the inner circle, so why not just make the lunge line longer and then you wouldn't have to.
For those of us who do not lunge, ie don't move our feet for whatever reason, it doesn't make a 20metre it makes 12, so for that reason i am considering the next length up.

When i longrein i do include a few circles just in walk as the other thing is she is not yet 4.
 
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Most people who lunge do walk round and don't just do circles so there's no need for a longer line. I personally favour not having a longer line as there's less to get in the way. I prefer longer lines though for long reining on a circle.
 
joosie said:
Errrr am a bit lost I think :giggle: What is all this about rope work and "assignments" and stuff? - I thought the thread was just about normal lunging, I've just had to go up to the top of the page to check it wasn't in the Natural Horsemanship section! Confused.com :giggle:
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yes sorry! my first post was about 'normal lunging' as well as circling, but then realised nf meant circling as well as lunging and that she wanted to know how much of the quantum savvy program she has been looking at had working on a circle in it and what size those circles were as she has a young horse so doesn't want to put too much strain on her from excessive circling...sorry - probably still confused you!:giggle::redface:

Joyscarer said:
I think it's the age old problem of parelli being seen as lunging or like lunging. From my very limited knowledge the circling in parelli doesn't have the same aims as lunging so I see little merit in comparing the 2.
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I don't do and haven't done parelli but i do qs which i assume is similar, however lunging and circling i think do share similarities - in fact a lot of the time you wouldn't be able to tell which one i'm doing :wink: It does equate to being the same thing a lot of the time, especially as i have never liked to lunge with artifical aids like side reins unless there is a rider on even before doing any qs.

It is in a nutshell helpful for obedience, suppleness, getting the horse to work in a more correct manner and to lift through their belly/improve self carriage and pace and that is the same for lunging or circling. In fact i don't actually think i work any differently circling to lunging but when learning circling i was more aware of where my body position and focus (belly button pointing) should be - and that happens to be in the same place as effective lunging.

What aims did you think would be different JC?
 
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