When the sun is in its winter course and my work schedule limits the hours of light with my horse is it a good idea to ask someone to lunge my horse that is stall bound? When the wind chill is -30, or when the trails have a fresh layer of snow over the icy mini-craters of the last melt, can lunging in an indoor arena be the answer to needed exercise? When the fence-repair detail or the sport schedule and dentist appointments of the family halve my riding time can lunging help?
"Esmerelda" told me that she used lunging to get the edge off her gelding before she rode her faithful steed. And her horse got more and more difficult to ride. And that is a Catch 22 of lunging: the horse gets fit, fitter, fittest and the "I've-no-time" rider has to do aerobics to keep up or be content to struggle with a keen horse.
There must be other ways - how about turn-out time or a swim in the farm pond? I've often had a fanciful dream of the horses walking their energy off on a special treadmill and thereby generating electricity for after-dark riding in the arena. Shouldn't they help with the bills?
Seriously though, professional and non-professional
horse people often use lunging. So, when is lunging appropriate and for what
kind of horse is lunging useful? Romping and playing with pasture mates is more
natural and less stressful than being run in circles, particularly for young
horses whose muscles and bones are in development.
Lunging can be several things: a learning exercise, a way to encourage balance
and independence in the horse or a relaxed get-together time with your horse.
Most importantly, lunging should be mindful on the part of the person guiding
the horse.
In the first place the person has to avoid allowing the time of lunging to be boring to the horse. Lunging in various configurations rather than just circles encourages the horse to stay alert and interested in the exercise.
As you walk with the horse, he should be able to walk on an oval, a straight line and then a gentle curve, and respond to your cues to move away from you and toward you. Working only on a circle then both the leader and the horse get dependent on the repetition of the circle
Before you start lunging a horse, she should be able to walk and trot with a leader from both the right and left sides and know how to stop from the wand signal in front. And this horse should respond to the go and whoa signals in the Dingo, Cuing the Camel and the Cheetah. It also would be greatly useful if the horse responded to the subtle requests for a Half Walk.
And both the horse and the leader should know how to do the Dolphin Flickering through the Waves and the Graceful Dolphin, in particular for people who beginners in working with horses. Being able to work quietly and effectively a few feet from the horse will give a beginner a sense of the horse's movement and how to influence direction and rhythm and tempo. As the leader walks in an oval in the Dolphin the leader increases her sense of where the horse is and then all she had to do is slide away from the horse and keep the quiet connection.
Body language is very important in lunging. The length of your step and the inclination of your body - forward or to the back, toward the horse or upright - signal to the horse the rhythm and tempo you want him to maintain. Of course, speed is not allowed. Both you and your horse should be moving in balance and in a relaxed manner and with freedom. With freedom in mind, the absence of apparatus that would restrain the horse in a certain frame gives the horse the opportunity to develop a natural way of moving while being directed by a human partner.
Where is a good place to lunge? Deep sand is out because of the possibility of soft tissue injury. And the gravel driveway or the asphalt area at the show grounds are unsuitable too because concussion on these surfaces could easily contribute to foot and bone damage. A place with footing suitable for riding is good for lunging.
It is not uncommon that a horse will work easily to one direction and not so easily to the other, very often to the right. The horse might show his lack of understanding by balking or freezing or exploding into a buck or a run. (IS USING UNDERSTANDING OK HERE??????)
With a horse that has difficulty lunging from the right, chunk downs the lesson. Teach him to lead from the right and go to Homing Pigeon if appropriate. This lesson, or review, might take only a few minutes. Then do the Dingo from right side and then work in the Dolphins Flickering through the Waves and gradually increase the distance between you and the horse in Joyful Dolphin, the lunging position.
Remember that this might only take a few minutes for the horse to learn. But also consider the individuality of this horse and if she has difficulty, repeat the lesson at a different time before you try lunging. Don't you want to be successful and if you were the student, wouldn't you want to be able to do what is asked? Pushing a horse or forcing them to move forward could very well increase the level of discomfort because the horse can't learn what is being asked.
It might be necessary to use the Homing Pigeon to get horse to accept the Dolphin. In this case the person on the outside of the oval should be up close to the horse, in the Elegant Elephant leading position. The leader on the inside of the oval should get the horse to come forward from the signal of the wand in the Cheetah by stroking the nose and using the Marshmallow move to draw the horse forward. Then the leader can use the wand movements of the Dolphins Flickering to assure the forward movement of the horse. In this Cheetah position the wand also can be used to tap the horse back if she starts rushing.
When a horse is particularly worried about working at a distance and from the influence of the wand and line, it might be because the horse is concerned about unknown things. Body work and tail work helps accustom the horse to things behind and exposure to non-habitual things like the plastic work get the horse used to unusual things. You probably can think of other TTEAM tools that would help your horse be better prepared for all kinds of things.
Things to consider and remember: Avoid pulling on the line. As the distance between you and horse increases the rope or lunge line becomes incredibly heavy. Even when you have a little loop between you and the horse, there is still definite contact. If you take out the loop and have a straight-line contact then it becomes a pull. Always keep the line off of the ground.
Toning the Whoa (hoooooooooe) gives the horse time to
come into balance and it helps the leader keep moving so that she allows the
horse time to hear and respond. If we say a sharp Ho then we stop our feet
immediately and
Do the "human horse" activity with lunging too. Have someone lunge you so that
you can feel the effects of the line as the leader experiments different ways of
holding the line and maintaining contact with the "human horse." The "human
horse" should try holding the line as if she were wearing a lunging cavesson and
as if she were being lunged with the line attached to the side.
At the Advanced Training one person's experience of being the horse was that when the leader stood still, it was easier for her to hold the line taut, but it felt to the "human horse" like a pull. And when the leader started walking with the "human horse" it was more inviting. As soon as the leader took the slack out of the line, the "human horse" felt a pull and was taken out of balance. So it is no wonder that the horse can't find his balance. And the further away the leader is, the more weight she on the line. This is similar to ground driving. The leader has to support the line and remember that a vibration on the line will be very powerful.
All these points reinforce the idea that lunging must be mindful in order to be beneficial as a training technique.
Images to avoid:
1] The horseperson standing in center, talking with a friend or client and lifting line over her head so that she doesn't even turn with the horse.
2] A horse at the end of the lunge line with head cocked to the center, shoulder popped and hind end on a different track.
3] A horse whose head apparatus behind the vertical holds and whose vision seems limited.
4] A horse with high respiration and concerned eye frantically running around and whose lunge line is over-taut and seems to be holding the horse up. The consequences of these kinds of situations might be stress, injury, over exertion, colic and poor partnership.
TTEAM offers alternatives. Adapting the tools of the leading exercises, TTEAM patterns of poles, learning exercises and the TTouch insure that lunging is a mindful activity that can bring out the best in horse and partner.
By Robyn Hood, Christine Schwartz and CA Lang for TTEAM Newsletter