i have a young ex race horse who is having some difficulty when i am lunging him.
he goes totally fine on the left but on his right he turns to face me and will not allow me to get to his side to lunge him on again.
once he decided to go again he will go on the lunge for a few rounds and then turns in again.
he does this off side reins or on side reins.
i am getting a little frustrated and feel helpless.
anyone has had this problem before?
do you know what would help? thank you
Do you have access to a round pen? If so I can recommend a website that goes into detail on how to round pen a horse. I had this problem with a race horse who always turned when he was going to the right, but it was before I found the roundpen article.
i have an ex race horse and she does the same thing... haha
i have had her over a year now and have been working on this the whole time. she is soooooo much better but it just takes time to get it. Are you using a line or a round pen? I have found that i have to be VERY firm with her. I think at the track they just let them go till they want to stop and then they are done.
On the line i have found that i have to get behind her shoulder and make her go forward. Once i get a circle or two she usually settles in.
In a round pen i just have to stay out close to her and again make her go forward. It's like you have to support them every step of the way.
Also i switch up witch way i start on, one day starting on the left and the next on the right ect.
Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!
i have an ex race horse and she does the same thing... haha
i have had her over a year now and have been working on this the whole time. she is soooooo much better but it just takes time to get it. Are you using a line or a round pen? I have found that i have to be VERY firm with her. I think at the track they just let them go till they want to stop and then they are done.
On the line i have found that i have to get behind her shoulder and make her go forward. Once i get a circle or two she usually settles in.
In a round pen i just have to stay out close to her and again make her go forward. It's like you have to support them every step of the way.
Also i switch up witch way i start on, one day starting on the left and the next on the right ect.
Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!
Ditto what Karley said. Keep your body BEHIND the drive line (girth area) and keep that whip on her! Reward her with a "good girl" when she does right.
Actually it's quite controlled. Yes, the horses run, but they are also told when to speed up, change positions, slow down, etc. You don't just go as fast as you can and hope you win! There is strategy and a lot of work involved.
Have you tried finding someone who would run along beside him for a bit around 5-10minutes each day?
I did that with one of my horses and she gradually worked out the idea.
I know a mare who used to do that Constantly when she was lunged. It can be Very annoying. You need to shorten the lungeline and once she begins to slow and turn pitch the rope at him. When he is calmly walking in a circle a couple feet away from you let the rope out another foot and do the same thing as before and when he gets out of your reach of the rope then when he faces you give the lunge a tight pull and say NO very firmly and get a couple feet from him and don't use your hand to turn him, pitch the end of the lungeline at him. When i say pitch the rope at him i do not mean hit him with it, NEVER do that, just throw it through the air towards him. Repeat this and it will take a while but once he goes in a couple circles at a fair distance away from you in either direction call it quits for the day. Repeat it as often as possible. Don't let him get away with it. He will eventually start going faster to think he can outrun the rope then stop and face you, but when he begins going faster you need to MAKE him stop, face you, and ask him to move off.
well i lunged him again today and he has a few new trips up his sleeve.
he doesn't turn to face me anymore but now he turns his butt to the inside to me.
erm now what? thanks
oh yeh we don't have round pens here where i am living. sadly!
Do the same thing as I suggested in the above reply, but when he begins turning away from you give a couple tugs on the lunge and pitch the end of the lunge at his rump, but don't hit him with it. NEVER hit him with the lunge rope. I noticed also that after you get them to not turn in to face you they try to face away more then needed. Its a confusion issue. Once they pick it up though then they do fine. Just keep up with correcting them by tossing the lunge at his rump instead of turning his head with your hand on the halter. It's best to do lunging with that type of horse in an open area so you really know they understand lunging and aren't using the fence as a guild.
Isn't it the case that off-track thoroughbreds tend to be unevenly muscled so that they're much better at bending to one side than the other? Uneven muscles would make it harder for them to bend to the one side, and hence less willing, so they'd need to have that side built up to let them work more easily.
Well the thing with these monkeys is that they've been taught to run to the left their entire life so now that you ask him to go in the other direction he's wondering "what in the world??". One of the horses I owned a few years ago(the same problem horse I always refer to *cough*, also the same one that I posted about with the article) would not lunge AT ALL.
From the situation you are describing it sounds like you are not pushing him forward enough because if he were, he wouldn't be able to slow down enough to stop and face you. Tho i don't doubt your ability to lunge, make sure you do it correctly. Take a look at the following link. With the horse I owned, I found that lunging in the corner of the arena helped both him until he figured things out and started behaving on the lunge line.
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