Horse Lunging & Fighting Agents of Dumb
posted by citizen.K on Saturday, August 30th, 2008 / 
Print & Hang in the Barn
Lunging is a skill every horse should know how to do, and do controlled. Controlled lunging is an absolute must if other riders are around. A MUST. And, depending on the reasons for lunging, it might be best, for the fresh horse, to be lunged alone, with NO other riders in the ring.
Though the act of lunging a horse is fairly simple, it is much more than putting a lung line on a horse’s halter and having it run around you. However pedestrian and possibly boring the act (for both horse and equestrian), lunging, just like all horse activities, actually takes some common sense.
Anyone see where this is going?
The barn I ride at has three arenas. One outdoor arena with a full jump course, fully fenced with a gate, one indoor arena that sometimes has a jump set up or trot poles set up, also fully enclosed, and one dressage ring, fenced, with no gate. Out back, a 20+ acre cross country course with a pretty large open field including hills and several other open areas. There are jumps spread throughout with some cool water elements.
I enjoy riding in the cross country fields one or two days a week. Alone. It’s nice to get out of the (crowded) ring, and the hills are a great workout for the horses. Also, the open space provides a great workout for me during 40+ minute gallops.
Last Saturday afternoon was a choice day to ride in the open space. My husband was with me, the barn was empty, and the weather was perfect.
I decided to take my big guy out back; a strong S.O.B. in the fields. Hacking in the ring takes all the leg I have to keep him going at a moderate pace, but in the fields, it’s no leg for me, just a lot of whoa!
Set right in the center of the biggest field in the cross country course is a large bank complex; my husband’s spot. He took his place accordingly, and after a nice 20 minute, very forward warmup trot, I moved into the canter. As I was trying to keep pace and not yet get into a full-tilt gallop (my biceps are getting huge), suddenly the only other person at the barn walked her horse into the field I was riding in.
Surprised, I think I jumped out of my skin even a bit faster than my mount.
I assumed, at first, the woman was walking her horse back to graze. Not so. In tow: a lunge whip, wadded lunge line.
40 acres of grounds; this gal has to come work by me.
Up to the top of the main hill she went, and so down immediately went the lunge whip.
I tried my best to go about my business and return to the canter, or then, the lowest speed of gallop as my horse was as irritated as I was that we had company. My first lap around, I noticed the gal’s horse eating grass at the jog as the woman nagged the horse (in full sentences) while the lunge line drug on the ground. Clearly, moving forward was not this horse’s priority.
Soooo…we stopped. We walked. Waited for badness. The woman noticed her “work” had interrupted mine, and she then rushed to pick up the slack and walked towards the horse. Just as we returned to the controlled gallop, my horse exploded. He went up, I stopped, we twirled around, and saw the horse being lunged taking off dragging both lunge line and lunger. She hit the dirt immediately.
Loosing site of the horse, we heard him gallop down the path, through the river, towards the barn.
Oh man, then my big guy was pissed. Excited, snorting, rearing, jigging, hell, I was pissed too.
According to my husband, the horse wanted to go one way (to continue eating grass at the jog), the woman wanted him to go another way, and the lunge line tangled around the horse’s neck.
Nice.
I had to jump off my guy and hand walk him until he settled down. The woman attempted a few apologies, but at that point, I was far too annoyed. PLUS – go get your damn horse!
After about 2-3 minutes of settling down, I got back on and forced a canter. No galloping until I trusted he had his wits to him. After a few times around, calm, and quiet, I decided to let him go. So much fun.
We turned up the hill and I gave him the reins. He knows what that means, and he pushed forward, excited, then JUMPED SIDEWAYS. I halted. WTF?
She came BACK. With now, super riled up, stubborn horse. She started a lunge, again, lacking any control whatsoever. Her horse raced around, bucking wild while she nagged him, again, in that (I can still hear it) meakish voice (you know the one), asking, “Please trot. No. Go to the right…” Ugh.
Thankfully, she only stayed another 5-10 minutes. Had she been dragged back towards the barn a second time, I hoped she would have gotten the hint that MAYBE YOU SHOULD WORK ON YOUR LUNGING SKILLS BEFORE GOING OUT INTO AN OPEN FIELD.
This isn’t the first time I have run into problems with inexperienced horse people attempting to lunge a horse in the company of other riders. Even in a ring, if one doesn’t have complete control of the horse, no lunging should take place unless alone, and preferably, with supervision.
Lunging a horse takes more than standing in the center while a horse whirls around you. Here are some lunging requirements:
- Don’t allow the lunge line to drag on the ground
- If you can’t lunge while holding a lunge whip you shouldn’t be lunging
- Understand that where you stand helps communicate to your horse if you want them to go forward, stay the same, or slow down
- Body position will also keep the horse going in the correct direction (a lunge whip is useful for those belligerent horses)
- Don’t lunge in an open area if you aren’t in control
- Don’t lunge with others riding if you aren’t in control
- Always ask if there are other riders if they mind if you lunge
After this incident, the biggest question I had over the weekend was “why was this girl lunging anyway?” There was clearly no point to it. I felt as though the only reason to lunge this horse, let alone lunge out in the only area where someone else was riding, was to annoy me. Yes, some fight the agents of death; me, the agents of pester.
What else could it have been? Quick exercise? Why not throw him in the indoor and lunge him in there, or better yet, free lunge him? She didn’t ride afterwards, so the lunge was not to pre-empt a few bucks. Even then, walking all the way out back seems a little silly…
Luckily (for her) she was gone by the time I got done with my ride. Though I was annoyed by the stupidity involved, I still managed to have a great ride while entertaining my husband with my irritation.
I’m his little pistol.
5 Responses to “Horse Lunging & Fighting Agents of Dumb”
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August 30th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Sounds like a case of “never credit to malice what can be attributed to stupidity.” Maybe ask for her “help” since your horse is “sensitive”, and ask if she could arrange to lunge somewhere else, as a favor to you.
I confess, I am no good at lunging, and neither is my horse. I’ve felt like it’s something we should both know how to do, and have made a few attempts (at home, alone). Horse turns to stare at me, wanting pats, and shows no interest in moving. LOL At least he’s fairly idiot-proof.
Must spend a session or two with my instructor on lunging, since I’m clearly not getting it.
At least I have enough sense to keep away from others, and to not allow slack/dragging. I hope that woman smartens up before she gets herself tangled in the line - that could’ve been fatal when her horse took off.
August 31st, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Oh man. Yeah, I lunge my horse every time I ride him. I kinda have to. He loves to buck and I just want to make sure he gets a chance to do that on the lunge line before I get on. That way, most of the ants have left his metaphorical pants before I attempt to mount. He also will only gallop around like an idiot unless he has some form of contact on his mouth–lately, I’ve been using a chambon. Before that, I long-lined him or lunged him in side reins before I got on. The chambon is great because it forces him to stretch him neck down. he can still buck and play, but he has to do it with his head down and that makes it more difficult. I always ask before I lunge. Luckily, I am at a barn full of dead broke western horses and not a one of them cares if my horse acts like a turd. There is another person at my barn who lunges her horse with something that sounds like a bullwhip and scares the ever-living crap out of my colt. We try to only walk while she lunges. I don’t need a whip with my colt because he’s too sensitive. All I need to do is kiss to him loudly to send him into a full blow gallop. I am working on being able to walk him around the outside of the barn right now and that seems too much for him to handle.
I definitely am always conscious of others whenever I’m working my horse because he’s liable to buck at any time. I always say “mind his butt” and apologize if he kicks the arena wall–usually I can feel him start to buck and steer him away from the wall so he doesn’t whack it if he does buck. Bad lungers suck.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:03 pm
All I have to say is, “AMEN, SISTER.”
I’m not even going to start. But on top of horse-longes-human situations, can I just throw on top of the pile the idea of human-on-a-cell-phone-not-even-turning-but-lifting-longe-line-over-her-head-as-horse-canters-around?
AUGH! Just thinking about that makes my skin crawl.
Longeing is absolutely something that needs to be learned by both human and horse. If you can get access to a trained (not necessarily perfectly broke, but gentle) longeing horse to practice, you will see how much your body position affects thier desire to stay out and move forward on a circle.
Also, consistent, effective (read, if you’ve said it more than twice, DO SOMETHING about it) voice commands can work wonders. My horses not only know the basic gait commands but also understand “slow” and “up” for shortening and lengthening thier strides. Even a simple hand gesture for halt can help them. Also, a verbal “half-halt” like “aaaand walk” or “ready? canTER” will help your horse do what you are asking him the first time, keeping all parties involved happy.
And for God’s sakes, don’t longe a bucker with beginners around. Our fearless author could clearly manage the situation, but how cool is it NOT to see one horse loose with a longe line tripping another horse loose with the reins over his head?
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
You know what I think would be a good idea? if there were a website somewhere where people could get training without having to be in a training program. They could send their videos to a trainer and the trainer could evaluate them and give them pointers. It would be really cool if it was totally anonymous as well. That way, people could get help without having to drop names, buy into a training program, or get involved in politics.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I agree with you all that lunging expertise is an essential tool in every stage of horse training. What I would encourage every horse rider is to practice your riding skills with other horses being lunged in proximity, until you and your horse are consistently in total control. At first, start out with a well behaved horse being lunged and slowly advance to riding while the bucking horse or horses are being lunged. What I call it, is “Riding under Distraction”. By exposing yourself and your horse to frequently unpredictable antics of the lunged horse among other situations, you truly form and condition yourself with your horse to be a team, prepared to ride with full control and safely in situations that may arise at any moment.