I tried teaching both of my horses to lunge this weekend and failed miserably. I have Clinton Anderson's book and followed his method. I stood with the horse facing me, pointed high and left and swung my carrot stick towards the horses shoulder for pressure. Neither horse would turn, they both wanted to back up.
I eventually positioned myself perpendicular to the horse thinking that might be easier to just start that way and work on turning later. So again I pointed high and left and twirled my stick behind them as incentive to move. Cali did nothing. She felt no need to move whatsoever even when I tapped her on the rear end. She stood with her leg cocked. Cisco is such a sweet and willing horse on the ground and he kept taking it as a cue to yield his hindquarters. Poor guy spun in circles most of the time.
I know I'm the problem, but I went over and over what the book said and I'm doing it exactly as asked. The problem I think is that my horses see or feel pressure near their front end they take it as a signal to back up. At the back end it means yield hindquarters (or in Cali's case just stand still). The book says to keep with the horse until they do the right thing, but my arms were so sore from pointing high and twirling the danged stick that I had to stop.
So does anyone have a better or different method for me to try? Videos are good, but well-written instruction is nice too.
I eventually positioned myself perpendicular to the horse thinking that might be easier to just start that way and work on turning later. So again I pointed high and left and twirled my stick behind them as incentive to move. Cali did nothing. She felt no need to move whatsoever even when I tapped her on the rear end. She stood with her leg cocked. Cisco is such a sweet and willing horse on the ground and he kept taking it as a cue to yield his hindquarters. Poor guy spun in circles most of the time.
I know I'm the problem, but I went over and over what the book said and I'm doing it exactly as asked. The problem I think is that my horses see or feel pressure near their front end they take it as a signal to back up. At the back end it means yield hindquarters (or in Cali's case just stand still). The book says to keep with the horse until they do the right thing, but my arms were so sore from pointing high and twirling the danged stick that I had to stop.
So does anyone have a better or different method for me to try? Videos are good, but well-written instruction is nice too.