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Teaching to lunge.....

2K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  Clydesdales 
#1 ·
Spent an extremely frustrating arvo, trying to teach someone how to lunge.....I've found out that teaching humans is just not my my line of work! This person is a very literal person, and everything has to perfectly explained or pinpointed....

First I showed him how while explaining what I was doing....just confused him.
So I got him to do it while showing what to do....didn't work.

I got his horse to lunge at a walk....he couldn't, and he wouldn't stop flinging the end of the rope....even when the horse was moving....drove me mad.

So I got my horse out...and if asked correctly my horse will walk in a circle for hours...but if asked the wrong way, then you basically get dragged. He got a circle out of my horse, but couldn't get my horse to move away and my horse used it as an advantage and tried to walk over him...

His biggest problem was that he expected to get it right straight away and got frustrated when his horse turned to look at him....I said it would take time before it all clicked and that it took me six months.

I showed him how to get the horse to move away...which the horse happily did for me...but because this person is not working with the horse it didn't work for him.

He try's to force his horse to do things, and cracks the poop when his horses does the opposite...in the end his horse was walking him around, so I said make him walk you around...drive him away....refused to do it because he didn't see the point of it.

My nine yr old brother even understood what I was saying and even managed to get his stubborn pony to do it with a bridle on...

Any tips on how to teach a human how to lunge a horse?
 
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#3 ·
Try putting the rope around the human and lunging the human, at a walk, of course. Then, switch places and see if he/she has absorbed the concept.
 
#4 ·
Sky, we do have an oval shaped one...but it's not useable at the moment and won't be for some time.... and I'm not using a lunge whip...my younger sister used it as a pretend fishing rod...and her story is a white shark broke it...my fault for leaving it in the house...so I have to buy a new one. But I don't want to use a lunge whip with this person, if this person tried lunging alone there is a chance they could lose their temper and take it out on the horse, so I'd rather not have him use it.

But yes your absolutely correct...it is intense! His body language would have a lot to do with it...he is like a robot....I didn't think of that until I read it... I'm relaxed so the horse is relaxed...

Corporal, that made me laugh!! I'm actually going to try that!! Might work...or make it easier for him to understand!
 
#5 ·
Clydesdales... if you do have a lunging whip and a lungeline use it to show him the triangle of power (lol)

So the lungeline lead is your hand, and the lunging whip is your leg, and your body is kind of like a satellite dish, it moves when the horse moves so that your chest is always facing their chest. Your leg (the whip) is pushing them forward to your hand (the line) THUS forming a triangle (or slice of pie, if that's a better visual).

Let him know that raising the whip will cause more leg to be applied, thus the horse will speed up. If the horse ignores you, then you can tap the ground with the whip as you would kick/nudge/apply spur with your leg.

The way I learned was maintain this position at all times. When his body posture becomes more relaxed, then he won't need to physically hold both of these things but instead have this idea of driving the horse forward with his body language positioning.
 
#6 ·
this is exactly why when poeple post on here about lunging frustrations I want to say, . . "it's a lot harder than it looks". there is SO much more to lunging, either on a line or in a round pen, than most people even think about.

it is totally a game of "push and release", but how to teach this . . ? that's the hard part. I think your doing the lunging with a running patter as to what you are doing, and why, is the best way.
 
#8 ·
The simulation is actually a great idea. Only have him hold the rope in his hands with his hands slightly out in front of him, palms together with fingers interlocked. This simulates the head (hands) and neck (arms) of the horse. I imagine it will be an eye opening experience for him to get a slight idea of the horse's point of view and how important body position and body language is. Then do another simulation with YOU as the horse, and you will be able to see more of the nuance's of what he is doing and ,unlike the horse, you will be able to TELL him how it comes accross to you. We do these simulations and as silly as they feel doing them...they really do help. In a clinic situation with plenty of people there will be 4 people as the 'horse'. One as I described for your use, as the head/neck, #2 is forequarters, #3 is barrel, #4 is hindquarters...so the person 'loungeing' can direct their energy to a particular area/zone of the horse,,,it is very,very intersting to be the different areas...lol.

Good luck. He sounds like a difficult student. I dont understand people who ask for help but then won't listen or argue with you. Or, like him fail to see the point and don't take your word for it being important. Grrrr.
We're all awkward and clumsy at first with ropes, lounge whips, etc..but the attitude of the student is huge.

Fay
 
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#11 ·
No, he definitely doesn't have that...but he could have type of OCD...everything has to be just perfectly so... to the point each book is measured with a ruler so they are in perfect order:icon_rolleyes:
 
#13 ·
in an odd way, moving horse around on the ground can be a bit like sailing a toy boat; the wind moves the boat by pushing on it, and where it pushes, creates different result in movement. applying energy is like blowing air on the sail. if you blow too much in front, you'll blow it back. blow on it from off to the side, but near the front, you'll blow it sideways. blowing on the hind quarters will push them over, and can thus bring the head around.

there is , of course, a bit difference becuase the hrose has his own mind about things. and, you have the leadrope that can direct that horse's mind , so that by applying pressure AND directing the mind forward with the leadrope, you get more forward motion than sideways.
 
#15 ·
Shannonnn, I'm just using one of my smaller ones...I've got a real long one but I thought that it would be too much rope for him to handle...then he'd get tangled and the horse would stress out.

I like the way you put that Tiny, I'm going to get him to read it...might help make things click...
 
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#16 ·
Okay :)
When I was coaching I used to teach them how to use 2 lines that way they have more control of where the horse is going. You really don't want the horse getting confused from them not doing it right... Worst thing I ever did was use my horse to teach groundwork like lunging. My boy had no idea what they were asking
Have you tried letting them just do one thing at a time? I can remember when I first started off my trainer got me to do the line while she used the whip and then we alternated and I gradually learnt how to use both at the same time.
I know how frustrating it can get teaching people haha, good luck
 
#17 ·
I know what you mean!! I did think about using my horse...but decided agaisnt it...I don't need him to get confused...so we are using his horse.

He didn't want me to do that...but I'm gonna put my foot down and just do it...Once he has got control over his horses direction I'll teach how to use the whip...or rope whichever we are using.
 
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