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Hi there! I'm looking for some tips regarding lunging. A month ago we purchased two horses from separate owners, a 16 year old New Forest gelding, and a 16 year old warmblood mare. Both are experienced horses, our gelding came from a riding school and a few years ago he was out competing in show jumping. My mare is a successful show jumping/xc competitor. So this is not down to inexperience or greeness! Ill get right into it and start with the pony. We were messing around with them one evening last weekend and we popped the gelding on the lunge to see how it would go. For my sister (who's pony he is) he worked well on both leads, however when I tried he refused to work on the right lead. The next day he refused to work on the right for my sister, in fact even seeming really confused about what she was asking him. We recalled having never seen him lunged on the right with the previous owners and so speculated that he's never been taught on that lead although that seemed a bit outrageous. However now for the last two days he has refused to lunge on either lead at all. He seems confused, he follows my sister around, and he wont go in the correct direction for more then two or three steps without turning in again. My mare is starting to do the same thing. The first day she, like him, lunged on the left but then would only follow me around closely on the right. So the second day I started on the right and she lunged well, but then wouldn't switch to the left. Yesterday she would not lunge at all. I know she knows how to do both leads, this seems to be more stubbornness then anything else but she's not protesting or acting out, she just isn't listening. How do we get both horses to lunge on both leads? We don't have an arena or a round pen so we've been working them in the field. We don't have a trailer at the moment so no way of getting to a local arena. Thank you for reading and any help would be much appreciated!
Edited at May 1, 2019 07:28 PM by All Breeds |
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To me, this sounds like they're testing you. It seems like they're pushing your buttons to see what they can get away with.
Easiest way to work on their lunging - start from the basics. Start having them work in small circles around you, and I mean small. Only a couple feet away from you to start. Make sure they're steady understanding the concept at the walk before you move to a different gait. Whether you use a whip or the end of your lunge rope, keep it "behind them". Essentially, you want to make sure the spacial pressure you're giving them is from the rear end, always driving them forward. Make sure you work on switching directions and changing gaits a lot once you've got the basics reworked. The changing of directions and gaits keeps their attention on you, and gains respect.
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Sorry! I forgot I posted this lol. Thank you for responding! Yeah I tried again a couple days ago and she was just bored and unresponsive to what I wanted. I tried to focus on my positioning but as soon as I tried to get to her girth area she just did a full front turn and faced me, it ended up that we were going in backwards circles and nothing was being accomplished.
Thank you for explaining how to conquer this! I've been told by others I need to get a friend to help me, which is good advice but she lives pretty far away and its hard for her to come here for an afternoon. Ill start on this tomorrow weather providing! |
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Sunny
