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Will i always have to lunge before a ride?

7K views 38 replies 19 participants last post by  QtrBel 
#1 ·
Now when I say lunge, I mean doing transitions, direction changes, anything on a lunge line I can do to get his attention and obedience.

Typically I don't have to lunge for very long before getting on, but my gelding definitely is better behaved if I do some work with him beforehand. He's very squirmy and distracted if I don't do at least a few direction changes and transitions in hand first. He's definitely not tired by the time he calms down, he barely breaks a sweat. It just changes his mindset dramatically.

I don't want to have to lunge him every time I go for a ride, what if I want to do a trail ride off property and can't work him in hand before? Will he eventually get to the point where I don't have to do this every single time? My trainer seems to think it won't take long for him to get the idea, so maybe he's just being a greenie and figuring out what he can get away with.

Incidentally, tonight's ride was my first ride in my new albion dressage saddle... And my boot took a huge chunk of leather out of the cantle when I dismounted!!! I'm choked!
 
#2 ·
Short answer, no, you don't have to lunge all the time - or at all - before riding.

I'd say the main thing you need to do is work out why he's 'very squirmy and distracted' and address that. Is he lacking training? Not confident with you? Is he overfed/under exercised? Is he nervous, frustrated, anticipating irritations to come... ?
 
#3 ·
If you had to, would that be an issue? If 'lunging' him is about getting him to focus by asking him to change direction, back up, change a gait, etc. Can those things not be done on a long leadline? So, you could trailer off property, take him out of the trailer, do a modicum of work on a 15 ft or even 12 foot leadline, and he may be ready to go.


If the lunging is basically about him running around, at his own speed, getting his ya-yas out, then even that can be accomodated off property.


What does he do if you ride without lunging enough?
 
#4 ·
No you don't need to lunge every time before you ride. I don't lunge my gelding who can be very distracted. I use lateral flexion, leg yeilding moving frontend over both directions. Moving hindend over both directions.

By the time I've done this my horse is listening to me. I keep my horse worked and he does on average 10 miles a day. Lots of long trotting and moving along at a fast walk.
 
#6 ·
My answer is no, the horse doesn't need lunged every time you ride especially at the trail head..

I've seen someone do that on an organized ride. Not only did it confuse the poor horse, it made the horses the next trailer over crazy, and left several of us taking bets as to how long it would take for that person to get dumped.

One Sunday with the wind blowing and my neighbor shooting round after round of bullets in his semi-automatic just because he had moved to the country, I got on my diciest horse who had not been ridden for six years -- six years --

I got on him bareback -- he stood like a saint for me to crawl up on the fender of the race car trailer to get on him, then he walked off like we'd been doing that every day.

No "re-training", no lunging, no nothing - I just got on him and off we went -I was 68 or 69 at the time - I would have to go digging for the video DH took and look at the date:)

It sounds to me that the horse is fine, your confidence level is what needs some help. Hopefully you have a trainer who is good at instilling rider confidence:)
 
#7 ·
What you describe doing "lunging" can be done astride...
Called warm-up time....


Is is possible the rider needs the warm-up so they are mentally ready for the ride and the horse just picks up on you not being settled to work but get limber and wiggles out and done with .. :think:
:runninghorse2:...
 
#8 ·
It depends on the horse. My neighbor buys and sells horses and has owned hundreds of horses. If he comes across a really good one, he keeps it (for a while anyway).

Every once in a while he gets a horse that just has to be lunged every time he rides. He has plenty of confidence, so that is not an issue. If he doesn't lunge the horse, he wishes he had. He doesn't like lunging them first, so if he can avoid lunging, he certainly does. There have been times when he has kept really good horses that needed to be lunged before riding because they were so terrific. But, finally, he gets tired of that, someone offers him a great price, and they get sold.

I hate lunging and almost never do. But, on the other hand, I've had my same horses for years and ride the legs off them all the time. They are used to me and used to going out every morning.
 
#10 ·
Is the horse getting plenty of turnout? I don't think a horse should have to be lunged before each ride. I see people doing this at shows and I shake my head. A horse that gets plenty of turnout should be fine to just get on and do a warm up. As @Foxhunter says, why can't you get his attention during warm up? I have resorted to doing a bit of ground work with my very anxious mare a few times, but not lunging. Just a walk around the ring first, and not every time. I do it for her confidence, not because she's hot. She's very good at ground work, but insecure under saddle so sometimes I'll ask her to do a few really easy things on the ground (yielding to pressure, halt, backing up) and it makes her more confident for our ride. But it sounds like you're lunging to get some energy out, which is why I'm wondering if the horse is getting enough time to run around with pasture mates.

That sounds horrible about your saddle. Should it be that easy to take a chunk of leather out of it?
 
#11 ·
I don't think a horse should be lunged before riding. When my mare was green (and I mean very green) under saddle, I would do a bit of lunging/ground work with her before hand. Not so she could buck & play, but just to ensure she was 'with' me and paying attention. Most of this work was at a walk and was for maybe 10 minutes. It was also part of our warm up - my biggest pet peeve are folks who jump on their horses and just trot off.

A little in hand ground work is a great warm up - and I don't mean running a horse in circles, but walking in hand on a lead. Working on bending and flexion; and this is something I normally ALWAYS do before riding. Either on the ground or in the saddle.

Some questions to ask if your horse is a nutcase if you just jump on and do not lunge - is he anticipating being put to work right away? Perhaps work on some exercises of just having your horse stand quietly after you mount and work on flexion. I will do short training sessions like this...just work on mounting, flexion and then dismounting. I do this a few times, then put the horse away. They do not have to work hard every time I get on them.
 
#12 ·
I only lunge when I'm not riding typically. It sounds like you are just warming him up with the lunging instead of warming him up under saddle. My mare is a little squirmy or she used to be when I would first get on her, but I just prepared myself that she was going to be a little like that for the first few minutes and then would be fine. I just rode her through it. She is what I would call green in that she's not yet 5 and her life has been spent in an arena more than anywhere else.

Sorry about the saddle!
 
#13 ·
It's one thing for a person with years and years of experience to say to some with much less, " I never lunge a horse before a ride. You don't have to.Just jump on and go!. " It's another for that person to actually be able to do that.




The helpful answer should be tailored to the skill level of the rider, not the advisor.


But, it is good to hear that with time, and experience and building of rider confidence, a person can get past feeling uncomfortable with a fresh horse under saddle.
 
#14 ·
I agree! I HATE having to lunge before a ride, but all the horses I ever bought were at least middle aged and trained enough that I didn't have to do that. THEN my mare had a foal and when he was old enough to ride, even after sending him to a trainer, guess what? I was lunging before most rides.

It's not that he HAD to be lunged, but I didn't feel safe on him unless he was. Because he was much more settled and less reactive if I lunged him first (round penned him, actually). Finally I decided riding him just wasn't fun, even though I loved him. So I rehomed him and the new rider is very confident and just jumps on him and goes. That's how it should be. I miss my "baby" but I know he is with a more confident rider who really loves him and enjoys riding him.


So it depends a lot on the horse and a lot on the rider!
 
#16 ·
If I lunge more than a half dozen circles I get dizzy and fall down and my horse has to come over and help me up, so I almost never lunge unless she has a real bug up her butt that needs to get worked out. When she is in regular work this doesn't happen. I might lunge a bit if I'm coming back after a long recess just to see where her head is at.

The only person I know who always lunges has a horse she 1. rarely rides and 2. can and will buck like a rodeo bronc.
 
#17 ·
^Avna, glad to hear that - I assumed there was something wrong with me, that so many people lunge horses in many circles, but i get dizzy doing very many circles... & bored. But maybe I'm normal...
 
#18 ·
Admittedly I am much more comfortable doing groundwork than I am riding... I've hit the ground one too many times.

My horse is super duper green, as in less than 30 rides, most of which are at a walk. He's very unbalanced, and I do groundwork with a 12 foot lead from time to time to warm him up when I don't feel like lugging out my lunge line, though I do think I could do the same under saddle. The only thing I really couldn't do is work with side reins, but I only use side reins for a few minutes per day. I've never had to lunge to tire him out.

Maybe I need to come up with a better warmup routine to get his mind active.
 
#24 ·
@loosie, that article was fascinating! I wish everyone would read it. Thank you for sharing!:bowwdown:

I especially liked reading the comments below the article, with peoples' rebuttals, and then more replies.

I have never used those kinds of devices because I am "just a trail rider." Who needs that stuff when riding along ordinary pretty trails? Before that, along with being just a trail rider, I was "just a jouster". My horse needed to completely think for himself/herself because all I had was two fingers in my reins, a lance in one hand, and a shield on my rein hand. And before that a foxhunter who definitely wanted my horse to manage himself/herself so I could enjoy the hound work and not dither about what my horse was doing.
 
#25 ·
I fully acknowledge that precision arena work is good for me and good for my horse ... like going to yoga class or to the gym (I never lasted at either of these). For many people though, it is an end in itself, and I am not that person.

Even dressage was originally training for cavalry fighting, not an end in itself.
 
#26 ·
I have an 11 yo QH that needs an almost ceremonial lunge before riding. I’ve had him just 3 years and about 600 rides, and we do 2 changes of direction and a join up, all generally at a walk, all very low key. He’s very reactive, and faster gaits wind him up. If I don’t lunge him, he has trouble focusing on what I ask. His demeanor is also occasionally agitated, and this simple procedure seems to get his head right. I have 3 other horses, that never require any prep. My other 2.5 yr old, on his 50+ ride, occasionally is so excited to go riding, he starts to crowhop his hinds to get into position when I ask him to line up on the mounting block (used to minimize strain on his back). He gets lunged and backed after that maneuver, which seems to calm him. They’re all individuals, just adapt your methods as needed to get the best result. Good luck!
 
#30 ·
Breed has little to do with it. My first and second horses were Arabians and I never lunged them either. I think it's more the rider's comfort level with the horse. My green QH/Foxtrotter gelding was basically lazy BUT when he spooked he could spin right out from under me. And did several times. He was less spooky if lunged before a ride, so that's why I did it. His new owner thinks his antics are fun and isn't intimidated by the spooking, so he doesn't lunge him. I have ridden quite a few "forward" horses and didn't feel the need to lunge because I didn't feel over-horsed.

So I think it's 1. rider comfort level with the horse and 2. The "wisdom" of getting on the horses without lunging first (in other words, some horses are safer to hop on and go than others). It's really not breed or even forwardness of the horse. Some forward horses I think are safer because they expend that energy in a controlled manner. While you can have a horse with the demeanor of a QH that can do something suddenly. And after coming off a time or two you are thinking "what can I do to prevent this?"
 
#28 ·
Leading my horse over to where we tack up, cleaning his feet, putting boots on the front feet, saddling, doing a figure 8 with the saddle loose so it can settle, putting on fly spray - that is all a type of groundwork IMHO. Bandit was taught (not by me) using Clinton Anderson DVDs for a guide. If I lunge him, he gets nervous. So I don't. But that is just him, and just me.
 
#32 · (Edited)
I hear 'ya! I didn't mean to single you out. It was more like "hey, it's not the breed, it's the individual horse/rider combination" or something like that. :Angel:


What's interesting, is it's been my observation (with only a few horses, mind you) that sometimes the higher energy horses are less spooky than the quieter ones. Out of my two Arabians, the more forward one rarely spooked. And really the quieter one really didn't go anywhere, but he was more prone to startling. The two Foxtrotters mares I've had were really high energy, but not very spooky. The lazier QH/Foxtrotter cross was spookier. But of course he was younger too. But sometimes I wonder if higher energy horses can control their impulses a bit better because they are always expelling energy.......sort of like a pressure cooker? I don't know if that's true, but I sometimes wonder.
 
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