As many of you know, a week ago I trailered Trouble to our new house. I let him settle in for a few days (he settled great) and restarted his work. He's been off for a month or two because of the move, just being out to pasture being a horse.
So after he was settled I decided to lunge him to see what I had to refresh. His lunging skills were absolutely horrid. I used to work him in the round pen at Liberty and he was perfect with voice aids, body language the whole works. He wanted to pull on me and only go right. He would go left until a certain bush, then spin around and trot the other way. I had to nearly stand in front of him to get him to turn and he would only side step away from me. I worked an hour with him doing walk trot transitions and working up a light sweat.
Eventually he would walk by the bush, but still no trot. He didn't spook at it, but he would violently(think that's a good word for it) spin around and go the other way. I couldn't for the life of me get him to stop leaning on me either. I whoad him and switched to his rope halter, and drove him hard at a controlled lope, doing lope trot transitions. When I was satisfied I got him to walk by the bush going left for a cool down and ended on a good note.
I was thinking- lunging isn't doing ANYTHING for us right now so I'm going to leave it and start doing more productive things with him.
The next day I ground drove him up and down the road and trails in his halter and he performed beautifully. His whoa was perfect, when I told him to trot he picked up the pace instantly. I ended the day with pony rides for the kids and he's been fine since.
Should I really go back to lunging again or should I keep doing things to work his mind? My mum thinks I should lunge him because what he was doing was "disrespectful" but he was licking his licks and chewing the entire time, and on the lead his ground manners are perfect.
He still excels in his sending exercises when I send him through barrels, he yields his quarters, backs with a voice cue, stays out of my space, will drop his head for a halter or bridle, and I can flex him both ways. I just think lunging is boring for him now- he's a big boy, almost three and ready to be started under saddle seriously, not just kid rides and the occasional walk around the pasture.
I didn't see it as disrespect. I know my horse. At first I thought something was wrong so I checked his legs and feet and felt for heat but there was none. I even checked his eyes. I did get him to trot past the bush (left, he was fine going right) a few times so I called it good and cooled him off.
So after he was settled I decided to lunge him to see what I had to refresh. His lunging skills were absolutely horrid. I used to work him in the round pen at Liberty and he was perfect with voice aids, body language the whole works. He wanted to pull on me and only go right. He would go left until a certain bush, then spin around and trot the other way. I had to nearly stand in front of him to get him to turn and he would only side step away from me. I worked an hour with him doing walk trot transitions and working up a light sweat.
Eventually he would walk by the bush, but still no trot. He didn't spook at it, but he would violently(think that's a good word for it) spin around and go the other way. I couldn't for the life of me get him to stop leaning on me either. I whoad him and switched to his rope halter, and drove him hard at a controlled lope, doing lope trot transitions. When I was satisfied I got him to walk by the bush going left for a cool down and ended on a good note.
I was thinking- lunging isn't doing ANYTHING for us right now so I'm going to leave it and start doing more productive things with him.
The next day I ground drove him up and down the road and trails in his halter and he performed beautifully. His whoa was perfect, when I told him to trot he picked up the pace instantly. I ended the day with pony rides for the kids and he's been fine since.
Should I really go back to lunging again or should I keep doing things to work his mind? My mum thinks I should lunge him because what he was doing was "disrespectful" but he was licking his licks and chewing the entire time, and on the lead his ground manners are perfect.
He still excels in his sending exercises when I send him through barrels, he yields his quarters, backs with a voice cue, stays out of my space, will drop his head for a halter or bridle, and I can flex him both ways. I just think lunging is boring for him now- he's a big boy, almost three and ready to be started under saddle seriously, not just kid rides and the occasional walk around the pasture.
I didn't see it as disrespect. I know my horse. At first I thought something was wrong so I checked his legs and feet and felt for heat but there was none. I even checked his eyes. I did get him to trot past the bush (left, he was fine going right) a few times so I called it good and cooled him off.