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My Horse Won't Longe

4K views 24 replies 13 participants last post by  successfulhorse 
#1 ·
My gaited Spotted Saddle filly, which turns two this year will not move when she's in the roundpen...I free longe and when I go to the middle of the ring she just stands there either looking around or eating grass...when I crack the whip she doesn't do anything I even pop it really close to her and she still doesn't move. I don't know what to do....eventually she'll move, but she'll come running into me and try to knock me down...is there someone that can help me with this?
Thanks in advance:D
 
#2 ·
oh my gosh she is sassy!

Ok here are some suggestions ...

1. can you use a line or a halter with a long lead? That way you can make her move fwd since you will be close to her ... stay behind her shoulder and be the boss and make her move forward. Even if it is a few steps ...

2. do you have a horse that she can follow ... we used to turn out baby out with the other horses and she would follow them. Maybe if she sees another horse go in the round pen she will follow ... it's a long shot but maybe?

3. Do you have someone who can go next to her in the round pen? you stand in the middle and have someone else with a halter and lead rope maker her go around?

Did you do a lot of training with her and the lounge whip to make her not scared of it? lol let us know how it goes! If i think of more ideas ill let you know...
 
#7 ·
oh my gosh she is sassy!

Ok here are some suggestions ...

1. can you use a line or a halter with a long lead? That way you can make her move fwd since you will be close to her ... stay behind her shoulder and be the boss and make her move forward. Even if it is a few steps ...

2. do you have a horse that she can follow ... we used to turn out baby out with the other horses and she would follow them. Maybe if she sees another horse go in the round pen she will follow ... it's a long shot but maybe?

3. Do you have someone who can go next to her in the round pen? you stand in the middle and have someone else with a halter and lead rope maker her go around?

Did you do a lot of training with her and the lounge whip to make her not scared of it? lol let us know how it goes! If i think of more ideas ill let you know...


Yes, she longes fine with a halter and lead outside of the roundpen, but I just don't understand why she won't free longe.

I've tried longeing her with my 15 year old Quarter Horse gelding that I used to have...at first she'd stand by the gate of the roundpen while he ran around her...after a while he started getting closer and closer to her and tried to get her to run with him so she'd get out of his way...she did follow him and went around the roundpen a few times, but the whole time she was looking for her chance to get safely back to the gate without him plowing into her...sometimes she'd come running straight at me with her neck and head stretched in the air like she wanted to run me over and she would push past me and almost knock me over

I've sacked her out and everything rubbed her with the whip and other things, I guess the problem is she's not scared enough to make her move forward and go...she's so fearless it was more difficult for me to teach her to lead than it was for me to teach my other baby. If you've heard of the "flap your wings like a chiken" thing where you just flap your arms around and let the horse know that's it's your space, they should move out of it....well in her case she didn't mind my elbows one bit, eventually she got the idea though...

Thank you sooo much!!! You have really good advice:D
 
#3 ·
Just curious... But WHY do you want to longe her? I never longed either of my QH's. They did the same thing you're girl is doing. They didn't care about the whip and they didn't want to run circles for me.....I honestly never really needed to.

Mine never tried to knock me down though. Perhaps just basic manners and ground work would be better for now. She's just now coming 2 so she may not understand what you want from her.

I'd do lessons in the round pen with just the lead rope and whip as an extension of your hand and getting her to understand when you want her to move her feet. John Lyons has a technique that he calls ........uh....*brain fart*....Anyways, he gets the horse to move it's feet North, South, East and West...Then he practices take offs ( Moving) and landings (stopping where you want the horse to stop)

I've done this with my horses and it was great as bonding time. You'll goof up and laugh and then the horse will goof up. It did wonders for Twister's ground manners and pushy-ness.

I know sometimes that an almost 2 yo looks like a big girl...but don't forget to allow time for the horse's mind to catch up with it's body.

Hope I helped. If you want more info on the Lyon's thing, let me know, I'll go dig up my book. :wink:
 
#8 ·
Just curious... But WHY do you want to longe her? I never longed either of my QH's. They did the same thing you're girl is doing. They didn't care about the whip and they didn't want to run circles for me.....I honestly never really needed to.

Mine never tried to knock me down though. Perhaps just basic manners and ground work would be better for now. She's just now coming 2 so she may not understand what you want from her.

I'd do lessons in the round pen with just the lead rope and whip as an extension of your hand and getting her to understand when you want her to move her feet. John Lyons has a technique that he calls ........uh....*brain fart*....Anyways, he gets the horse to move it's feet North, South, East and West...Then he practices take offs ( Moving) and landings (stopping where you want the horse to stop)

I've done this with my horses and it was great as bonding time. You'll goof up and laugh and then the horse will goof up. It did wonders for Twister's ground manners and pushy-ness.

I know sometimes that an almost 2 yo looks like a big girl...but don't forget to allow time for the horse's mind to catch up with it's body.

Hope I helped. If you want more info on the Lyon's thing, let me know, I'll go dig up my book. :wink:

I thought I'd longe her once or twice a week so she could get used to moving her feet and so I could build trust with her, roundup:D I know it's not good to longe young horses but I don't longe her very often at all and no longer than 10-15 minutes at a time, if that, just to be safe because I don't want to ruin her ligaments or mess anything up and I figured she would like to spend a little time out of her field and afterwards have some nice fresh grass. You do have really good points though, I also thought longeing was part of ground work?
 
#5 ·
Ummm try smacking her with the whip? If she comes towards you smack her on the neck to make her go away. It sounds like you've taught her the whip means nothing, she obviously doesn't respect it, you or your space at all.

Youtube Clinton Anderson Lunging for Respect.
 
#12 ·
Ummm try smacking her with the whip? If she comes towards you smack her on the neck to make her go away. It sounds like you've taught her the whip means nothing, she obviously doesn't respect it, you or your space at all.

Youtube Clinton Anderson Lunging for Respect.
I've tried waving my arms out in front of her and I reach out and tap her on the neck if she decides not to listen to that gesture....no matter what I do she always tries to run me down and acts like she wants to rear up on me by kind of throwing her head in the air and holding it up as she runs past me like she thinks I won't be able to do anything to her because she thinks I can't reach her....she only does it when I try to longe her though...every once in a while she'll do it in the field if she gets excited and wants to play...when she does that I step to her side and push her away from me because if I didn't do that she'd run me over...if I catch her coming up behind me instead of by surprise, I'd make her stop and back her up..:D If you know of anything else I could try please let me know
Thanks for your help
 
#6 ·
It sounds like a respect issue. Try using your body language more. You can also keep gently tapping her with the longe whip and keep a steady rythm until she moves out and then instantly stop.

To help build her respect you can play the "yo-yo" game. Have her on a lead rope facing you. Then send energy down the rope by shaking it. Start little and get bigger as you need to. She should back-up. Then have her come back to you. Keep doing that a few times, but not so many that she gets bored.

You can also see if you can move her on the ground by just lightly pushing her to yield to you. The instant she yields stop the pressure you are putting on her.

It takes a lot of young horses a long time to master the concept of lounging so be patient. When she tries to cut back in send her back out with your body language. Lean forward and kinda crouch and stare her down. She'll prolly go out on her own, but you may need to encourage her with the whip. Crack it and wave it around, but don't be abusive with her. You may have to tap her, or give her a smart smack, but nothing too severe.

I hope that helps
 
#10 ·
It sounds like a respect issue. Try using your body language more. You can also keep gently tapping her with the longe whip and keep a steady rythm until she moves out and then instantly stop.

To help build her respect you can play the "yo-yo" game. Have her on a lead rope facing you. Then send energy down the rope by shaking it. Start little and get bigger as you need to. She should back-up. Then have her come back to you. Keep doing that a few times, but not so many that she gets bored.

You can also see if you can move her on the ground by just lightly pushing her to yield to you. The instant she yields stop the pressure you are putting on her.

It takes a lot of young horses a long time to master the concept of lounging so be patient. When she tries to cut back in send her back out with your body language. Lean forward and kinda crouch and stare her down. She'll prolly go out on her own, but you may need to encourage her with the whip. Crack it and wave it around, but don't be abusive with her. You may have to tap her, or give her a smart smack, but nothing too severe.

I hope that helps

Thanks, yeah I do agree that you should be firm but not too firm because I know of people that have been too firm with their horses and because of it some are headshy or have other problems of shyness and have bad memories and react in bad ways to certain situations
Thank you sooo much!! You're a big help!:D
 
#13 ·
Eh... lunging can be part of ground work. *shrug* I just think it's a skill that is learned through the years, as in I think its one of those things where if you really don't have it down pat, it's easy to mess up.

I've never perfected a lunging program so I don't do it.

I've had very good luck just working on an 8' leadrope and doing lots of follow the leader type stuff. I'll stand at the horse's shoulder and take a purposeful step into their space (say to the right), the horse should then take a step to the right. I'll back up, the horse should back with me and stop when I do. I do more of a simon says type training :lol: ( Of course I use verbal cues while I'm doing all this. Right, Left, Back, Walk, Whoa.

I also think it's important to let horses figure out some stuff on their own. I would just hold off lunging until she understands commands better.

You by all means do what you feel is right for your horse and what type of disipline you are following. I'm just a happy hacker and horse lover, I don't compete and don't follow any "traditional" methods.

Good Luck and most of all HAVE FUN & BE SAFE!!!! :D :D :D
 
#20 ·
Eh... lunging can be part of ground work. *shrug* I just think it's a skill that is learned through the years, as in I think its one of those things where if you really don't have it down pat, it's easy to mess up.

I've never perfected a lunging program so I don't do it.

I've had very good luck just working on an 8' leadrope and doing lots of follow the leader type stuff. I'll stand at the horse's shoulder and take a purposeful step into their space (say to the right), the horse should then take a step to the right. I'll back up, the horse should back with me and stop when I do. I do more of a simon says type training :lol: ( Of course I use verbal cues while I'm doing all this. Right, Left, Back, Walk, Whoa.

I also think it's important to let horses figure out some stuff on their own. I would just hold off lunging until she understands commands better.

You by all means do what you feel is right for your horse and what type of disipline you are following. I'm just a happy hacker and horse lover, I don't compete and don't follow any "traditional" methods.

Good Luck and most of all HAVE FUN & BE SAFE!!!! :D :D :D
Omg! thank you so much lol!! you made me realize that maybe she ISN'T ready yet, and that maybe longeing doesn't have to be part of the groundwork but a lot of other things like sacking out and just messing with her getting her used to things and leading, staying out of your space, and respecting you and bonding a good relationship....then longeing can come later on down the line...I just hope when the time comes to longe her she'll do better than what she's doing now..I do have a movie about the "simon says" game you were talking about:lol: lol I watch it every once in a while so I don't forget how everything's done, but unless I'm actually THERE with the person I don't learn it as good so I might leave things out here and there or maybe forget how to do something because the horse on the movie might not react exactly the same as my horse so sometimes it can be hard, I'm glad there's a horse forum:D
Thanks so much for your help and support!
 
#15 ·
I know I'm going to get fired for this but! If she is coming toward you smack her on the neck if she keeps coming smack her HARD and as many times as it takes for her to move off you and then STOP. Think about steering and then giving her the gas. Shoulders are the wheel and hindquarters are the gas. You wouldn't push the gas pedal without knowing where your going would you? If she rears go strait to smacking HARD on her shoulder, neck or stomach and do it until she comes down and stop for a few seconds to reward her and then continue to ask her to move out. When she takes ONE STEP towards the rail, walk away. Its either do this or get severely hurt by your horse.

You can spank your horse but where you get into trouble is bad timing and people using it wrong and always going strait to the spank with out giving your horse enough warning. Ask, tell, tell a litter harder, MAKE HER DO IT.

Horses kick eachother with more power than we could ever with a whip just don't let it get out of hand and have a trainer help you. Its OKAY to use the whip, and don't let people make you feel bad. After the first few days and a couple of hard spanks I don't have to worry about spanking hard anymore because they respect me and then we BOTH have a much more enjoyable experience.
 
#23 ·
This may sound a bit backwards, but have you tried lunging her without the whip?

I tried several times to get my horse to free lunge with a whip, and he simply would not. He would stand there and look at me like I was insane, or dumb, (probably both) and toss his head up and down.

The other day I just used a coiled lead rope instead of a whip and sort of swung that (still coiled) around to get my point across, and he went perfectly. I never had to touch him with it. All I had to do was, for example if I wanted him going to the left, I would point my left hand in that direction (about parallel with my shoulder) and raise the leadrope hand and off he'd go.

I walk a small circle in the middle (same direction as the horse) once he's going just so I can drive him better; just be sure to stay slightly behind the horse, so you're driving him forward from his hindquarters.

Also, never look at their face; I like to look at Beau's hindquarters when lunging but I also know of a trainer who looks at the shoulder when driving forward.
 
#24 ·
You need something that makes a strange noise. When I teach horses to freelunge I use a chain lead and make the chain end jingle and use the nylon end to toss towards the horse. It usually works. If that doesn't work attach a plastic shopping bag to the end of the lunge whip and wave it around. If that still doesn't work then you need to do some moving yourself, chase her with the bag and lunge whip or chain lead. Don't hit her with anything, that will just make her afraid of it, not respectful of it.
 
#25 ·
May I suggest that your horse is simply confused and if you were to break things down into simpler steps, you may find that she will respond more readily. What I do is separate everything into simple movements- forward, stop, back and turn. I train the horse to respond to those simple movements and then start to combine them. A circle consists of forward and turn, both of which will have to learned separately first before combing them. So you might want to train the horse to walk and trot a square first using a 12' lead rope. As the horse begins to understand, he will begin to combine the simple movements into a circle.

As to the rushing in at you- horses do what they are rewarded to do. While not intentional, somewhere along the way the horse has received enough rewards, at doing this, that it is now a habit. The fix is to simply not reward him any longer. This may come in the form of a sharp enough rap with your training stick that the horse understands you mean business.
 
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