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To lunge or not to lunge, that is the question!

15K views 51 replies 40 participants last post by  fuadteagan 
#1 ·
I was watching RFDTV recently and heard one of the trainers (Ryan Gingrich I think) say that he doesn't typically like to lunge horses whether it is for the purpose of "getting the hot out" or otherwise.

I was wondering what everyone else thinks about lunging.
 
#2 ·
I personally don't like lunging. I find that it does not help the horse. Instead I found in ALL the horses that I've lunged before in the past it just got them more worked up.

If you are cracking a whip to get a horse to run, you are turning them into the prey animals that they are....they don't run because they think it's fun, nor do they do it because they want to...they do it because they know what is to come. And even those whom when you are about to do it that take off without you even cracking the whip or wahtnot is because they are afraid that you'll do it.

A "hot" horse normally gets hot because of their food. If your horse gets hot, they should NOT have grain, or at least no corn, molasses, or anything else that would make them crazy. Take out the food that makes them hot and you'll be fine.
My horse used to always get hot, and I would lunge him to get the "hottness" out of him, but he would be crazy when I got onto him. So one day I didn't lunge him, and though he was crazy, he wasn't as crazy as he was when I would lunge him.
 
#3 ·
I don't even need my longe whip to make my horses go. I merely say the word walk/trot/or canter and they go. I say whoa and they stop...

I rarely longe, mostly because I have heard that it puts a strain on their legs, especially if they are young horses. I have taken a hot horse to the round pen and free longed him in it though, he's gotten his bucks out and done much, much better when it was time to work....

I've also just gotten on a hot head and spent the extra time walking and trotting and whoa-ing to get his mind. I don't agree w/ the "parelli" views on longing, I personally am not a huge fan of it, however I will and I do longe a horse. Especially if I'm at a 2 or 3 day show with no turn out. I go ahead and put him on the longe line and let him pick the paces... Not to get the hot headedness out (he's not a hot head) but to let him stretch his legs. and of course he's a baby, which I said I dont like to longe young horses, which I don't but if I don't have any other options, I let him longe....

I also think some horses ARE hot heads, not because of their feed but because they are. Personality wise. And some horses don't have the best minds..... I wouldnt always blame issues on feed...

so... hmm... my vote go's for, occasional longing. I also have longed injured horses on vets orders... we started our mare of with 5 minute walks once per day for 2 weeks and moved up to 10 minutes nad so on, it took 2 months to get to longe her at the trot.... but it was on vets orders so.... it can't be too horrific... so basically... I have just rambled and given you no useful information!
 
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#4 ·
I lunge for training purposes only - not for "hotness" issues. Its a good way to teach the verbal cues for trot and canter before getting into the saddle. I do think too much lunging can be hard on the knees so what lunging I do is limited.

I will also lunge them for a couple laps if I am working with a particularly pushy or disrespectful horse - reminds them who is leader. No, they don't want to do it, but that is the point. There are times that I am going to ask them to do something they don't want to during their lifetime, and especially in tight situations they need to know who is in charge so that they will listen.

Also you have to lunge in a way that matches the horse you are working with. A higher-energy horse tends to benefit from more stopping and changing directions than a lower energy horse. Keeps them from getting too worked up if you do it right.
 
#6 ·
LOL - yes Arrow, but do you ride a 3 year old? Can't just "jump on and go" with a young just being backed horse. I don't ever lunge my 7 year old, but my 3 year old is a different story.
 
#45 ·
LOL - yes Arrow, but do you ride a 3 year old? Can't just "jump on and go" with a young just being backed horse. I don't ever lunge my 7 year old, but my 3 year old is a different story.
I ride a lot of 3 year olds and they may get a little lungeing for the first 2-3 rides but after that I just get on and ride. There is nothing sillier to me than watching someone with a "broke" horse lunge them for 15 minutes before they can screw up the courage to get on.
 
#7 ·
Arrow said:
I find it too boring for words. I just jump on and hit the trails.
I agree also! Lunging is boring, both to the lunger and the lunge-ee lol.


I have been anti-lunging for a while, even before I started Parelli. I never viewed it as a good way to work with a horse. Never ONCE did I see a happy horse while being lunged. I've seen freaked out horses, unhappy horses, frightened horses, bored horses, but never happy horses.

Even at a two day show there are many things that you can do to get a horse all stretched out besides lunging.
 
#8 ·
Cat said:
LOL - yes Arrow, but do you ride a 3 year old? Can't just "jump on and go" with a young just being backed horse. I don't ever lunge my 7 year old, but my 3 year old is a different story.
I...actually ... rarely longe my 2 year old before riding... :P
 
#9 ·
Amen to the "boring" comment! I like to get on and work on attention through transitions rather than on the ground.

I have been doing more lunging lately though. My horse tends to circle in one direction only when he gets bored and this has made the inside shoulder muscles significantly larger than his outside muscles, so I lunge in the opposite direction to even him out. The unevenness is making saddle buying a pain!

Anyways, I am bored, he is bored.....yuck!


By the way, is it lunging or longing??? Certainly not lounging!!!
 
#10 ·
I used to ride a horse, that had to be lunged before every ride, to get the beans out of him. He would leap and buck and rear on the lunge, but if he wasn't lunged first, he'd just do it under saddle instead.

Another horse I'm riding now is similar, has to be lunged first after some time off to get the beans out, or she does it when you get on-she actually fell over with me the other day because she was being an idiot, because I didn't lunge first.

I love lunging, I don't need to lunge my horse but I think it's great. I think it's a great way to establish some basic ground rules, teach them to change pace by voice command alone.

I think it depends entirely on the individual horse.

and yes, not all horses are hot off feed, others simply are just spirited in their personality
 
#12 ·
farmpony84 said:
Cat said:
LOL - yes Arrow, but do you ride a 3 year old? Can't just "jump on and go" with a young just being backed horse. I don't ever lunge my 7 year old, but my 3 year old is a different story.
I...actually ... rarely longe my 2 year old before riding... :P
I knew someone was going to take what I wrote that way, but I didn't know how else to write it. :roll: In my 2nd post I was just trying to point out that there is a difference between a young just being trained horse and an older trained horse. First post explains where I lunge. Once I get my horses going, I rarely ever lunge them either.
 
#13 ·
I'm very experienced, but don't have any interest in training a youngster--I don't think that I have the temprement for it. I always buy "made" horses--4 years old or older and trained. I don't mind a horse with some problems to solve, but I don't think I'd be very good with a greenie.
 
#14 ·
I too can't think of anything more boring than endless circles, for me or the horse. If done the conventional way I believe that it leads to more 'respect' type problems too.

Lunging a horse can be a good way of building fitness. If it's done conventionally, just in boring circles, be it to 'get beans out' it tends to lead to more 'beans' in the future, as the horse gets fitter, without working on the problem parts of the relationship or training of the horse.

I use lunging and ground driving type exercises to get horses fit and to teach or reinforce communication with young or older horses, in teaching them to respond to me at a distance. Doing it for this purpose means we rarely do more than about 3 circles in any direction at any gait, so it doesn't get boring. I also do it on hills, over or through obstacles and on walks - I don't just stand still but go places while the horse circles me.
 
#15 ·
I never lunge so to speak - not even the young horses. I do some ground work before getting on - this may involve circles but not endless trot trot trot trot round and round and round. I wouldn't call what I do lunging. Its more 'trot/walk/canter a few circles around me, and when you're doing as I ask, I'll ask you to come back in to me'. I vary it a lot... like obstacles course and I use this time to reinforce walk on/whoa/trot/canter voice cues.
 
#16 ·
I lunge. But the only reason I lunge is to get the horse warmed up a little. I only lunge for about 5 minutes each side, and even if the horse is still being naughty, I still jump on, because I dont see all the much use of continuing. I like to jump staight on and start really working because the horse is already warmed up, and then I dont have to wait for them to become warm.

Thats just my opinion though, and I respect those that dont lunge(I didnt like to before either, but it grew on me).
 
#17 ·
I free lunged my youngsters in round pen when I started them. I couldn't ride them, so it was substitution. However I don't like lunging much and do it rarely. It's boring for both of us plus makes me dizzy. :roll:
 
#18 ·
I am not big on lunging---actually it makes ME dizzy. My first horse had so much round penning done with him that he almost acted crazed in the round pen. He was very up and nervous, just waiting for the wack to come for doing something wrong. Outside the round pen, he was very calm and quiet.

I have not lunged my new horse yet but do plan on starting---but using the ideas I saw at a Kathleen Lindley clinic. The idea was that YOU walked or jogged along the horse---to the inside in a smaller cirlce as they went around. NO frenzy, no handy sticks, just you, the horse and the lunge line. I saw her start a 2 year old on lunging this way and it was so nice and calm and the horse stayed relaxed the whole time.

She is also big on doing a bit, giving the horse a break, doing a bit more, another break, etc.
 
#19 ·
Cat said:
farmpony84 said:
Cat said:
LOL - yes Arrow, but do you ride a 3 year old? Can't just "jump on and go" with a young just being backed horse. I don't ever lunge my 7 year old, but my 3 year old is a different story.
I...actually ... rarely longe my 2 year old before riding... :P
I knew someone was going to take what I wrote that way, but I didn't know how else to write it. :roll: In my 2nd post I was just trying to point out that there is a difference between a young just being trained horse and an older trained horse. First post explains where I lunge. Once I get my horses going, I rarely ever lunge them either.
NO! I didnt' take it that way! I totally understand longing babies! I do when I go to new places for 2 reasons... One is so he can see the new ring or the scary stuff and one so that I can see the new ring and the scary stuff... Doesnt make sence for me to get on him all terrified because we are in a new place, cus that will just terrify him!

I was just saying... uh... NANNY NANNY BOOBOO!
 
#21 ·
I use lunging as a training tool. I find that when I lunge (with side reins) my horse one day and ride her the next, she's much more supple, soft, and willing to come into the correct frame. I think it differs from horse to horse though. I wouldn't lunge a hot horse to get them tired, but I might lunge them to get them listening to me and not to all the distractions around them. It helps a lot in teaching verbal cues.

In conclusion, I feel that lunging is a helpful training tool for all horses, but how much you lunge differs for each horse. Some might only need a reminder lesson ever so often while others could use a lunging session once a week. I would never lunge for over half anf hour and I always try to use the largest circle possible to make it easier on the horse.
 
#22 ·
I lunge my horse before I ride. I've said this before and I'll say it again: horses are athletes. I don't lunge him necessarily to burn energy - he doesn't even get rowdy anyway. I think he's only bucked when I've lunged him maybe twice in the nearly two years I've had him, and they were tiny things. I lunge for the purpose of warming his muscles and getting him ready for work. I mean, I'm sure most of you have been on some sort of sports team. You didn't just get out there and go straight to work, and if you did you probably shouldn't have. You most likely stretched and warmed up first. That's what lunging (or for me anyway) is for.

Part of my horse's warm up is also riding and circling, etc, then he has to 'do work', as Big Black would say. xD

That's just my outlook on the matter. :)
 
#23 ·
Every horse I've ever owned knows how to lunge. For me, it's a part of their training that starts when they are young. Sometimes it is to get the fresh out of them. Sometimes it's for safety reasons when they are taken someplace new.

Then at shows, especially the week long circuits, it's a way for them to play without me being on their backs. It's kinda like their turn-out time. They get to pick the gait and the speed, and are allowed to buck and kick as much as they want as long as they don't direct it at someone (me or other horses) and they don't pull on the lunge line. And it really has seemed to work for them.

Another reason to lunge at shows is if showmanship or halter classes are first - at least then you don't have to clean off saddle makr.s
 
#24 ·
I think it also depends on discipline as well. When I broke my 4 year old, I was training him for hunter pleasure. He got lunged with side reins on a lot. Part of it was to put him in his frame, and the other part was to build the muscles necessary to stay in the frame. A few months later, after learning all our vocal commands and building some back muscle, I was able to get on him and start riding, and we rode out perfectly, walk, trot, stop, back, diagonals; everything on our first shot. I did a lot of other things besides lunging, but lunging was the building block that everything stems from. Now older finished horses, like everyone else has said, shouldn't need to be lunged before you ride them, but some of them have to be lunged. I've always owned Arabs, and there are some I could just get on, and some that would just be dangerous. My big straight egyptian arab is a monster unless lunged. I was given him from someone who couldn't afford him, and he just isn't safe unless you saddle him and let him get the kinks out. I hope to eventually get him to the place where we can just get on and go.. but it's going to be awhile!
 
#26 ·
Now I know i am no expert by any means, but I feel that lunging taken to the extream can be detramental to your horse. I use the lunge line as a starting point for a horse just starting to be trained. It gives you a better control, Once they are going around the round pen and are stopping and going on comand cues I will then free lunge. Only used the whip for maybe 3 days
 
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