How to Lunge a Horse in Preparation for a Rider

It is very important to warm a horse up on thelunge before mounting the rider ready for lungeing exercises.

Lunging the horse before mounting the riderwill allow the horse to warm up, provide an opportunity for you to check forany lameness (there is nothing more time consuming when lunging a horse thangetting the rider settled on the horse only to realise the horse is lame). Itis also important for the rider doing the lunging exercises to ensure the horseis not be fresh (excitable).

The horse needs to be lunged in walk, trot andcanter (even if the rider will not be cantering) by doing so you will make surethe horse will respond to your commands and be controllable in all three paces.

If you are going to use lunge rein when therider gets on then you need to warm the horse up with side reins, again this isfor safety reasons: to make sure the horse will work calmly with the side reinson, it is no good to test this theory out once you have a rider on the horse.

In regards to training of the horse, it isgood to lunge the horse in both directions (i.e. to work the muscle groups onboth sides of the horse evenly) however to lunge a horse in both directions ina thirty minute lesson is time consuming so unless the horse is particularlyfresh or if you expect lameness lunging through all three paces in onedirection should be adequate.

While you are lunging the horse ensure therider is waiting outside of the lunging area and are not hanging through orsitting on the fence. The reason for this is that if the rider is waitinginside the arena there is the risk that the horse may run over them or kick outat them as they go past. They may also become injured from hanging through orfalling off the fence. In addition it is not a good idea to have the riderstand in the middle with you while you lunge as it is easy to loose awarenessof where they are around you.

Safety Procedures for lunging horses inpreparation for a rider:

1.Ensure the gate to thearena is closed and direct the rider on an appropriate and safe place to waituntil you are finished.

2.They horse should besaddled and bridled (with or without a lunging cavesson and side reins). Attachthe lunge rein (if it is not already attached).

3.Secure the reins sothat if the horse puts it’s head down it will not become entangled in them.This can be done in a couple of ways

4.Unbuckle the reins,wrap them around the horses’ neck (around the gullet) then re-buckle themaround themselves

5.If the saddle has amonkey rein/grip (strap that is fixed across the pommel of the saddle) thereins can be unbuckled then re-buckled around the monkey grip then twist thereins around and pass the throatlatch through them to keep them up away fromthe horses’ legs.

6.Check the firmness ofthe girth.

7.Secure the stirrups sothey do not unravel and hit the horses’ elbows. This can be done in a couple ofways

a) left down the stirrups and lie them overthe seat of the saddle (this is quick & easy but they made flick back oncethe horse is in motion)

b) Leave the stirrup run up, take the loop ofthe stirrup leather and pass it under the top of the leather (it will now looparound the stirrup iron and under the top of the stirrup leather) then threadthe tail end of the stirrup leather through the loop of the stirrup leather andpush it back through the keeper on the saddle.

8.Attach the side reins.Outside first, then inside. (If you are going to lunge the horse on the leftrein (i.e. to the left) then you would attach the right side rein before theleft. (Alternatively the horse can be warmed up first without the side-reins thenwith the side-reins).

9.When you move thehorse off ensure the horse steps away from you and not you stepping backwardsaway from the horse. At no time when you are teaching or lunging should youwalk backwards.

10.Allow the horseadequate time to warm-up in each pace before moving onto the faster pace.

11.Give loud, clear voicecommands (i.e. “trot on” and “whoa”) followed by a flick ofthe lunge whip is the horse doesn’t respond. Encourage the horse to go forwardso that you know if the horse is going to react or be fresh in response.

12.While lunging thehorse, lunge whip and lunge rein should form a triangle with you at the pointof it. The lunge rein should never touch the ground and the lunge whip shouldbe directed towards the horses’ hocks when moving. Pressure on the lunge reincan be used to assist in encouraging the horse to slow down, if this doesn’twork decrease the size of the circle.

13.Once you have warmedthe horse up in walk, trot and canter return the horse to halt. This should bedone progressively through the paces and with the horse in control, not justmindlessly cantering around in circles.

14.At the halt remove theside reins while the rider mounts ready for horse riding exercises. To removethem you will detach the inside first, then the outside. Make sure they aresecured and not left to hang around the horses’ legs.

15.Recheck the girthbefore the rider mounts

When you are learning howto lunge a horse, if it is with a rider doing horse riding exercises or if youare lunging horses for the lunging exercises is to continue to be aware ofrisk. There are lots of other things that can go wrong but the main safetyareas are listed abovenbsp;&nRegular training of thefoal

As the foal becomesold enough, riding the foal

Training for firstcompetition

Competition plan forthe year

Plan for competing ata higher level

Plan for teamselection

And so on

The benefits ofsetting long term goals are greater motivation and higher levels of self-esteemand confidence.

Here are some simple steps to help define andrealise your goal.

1.Write down the goal

2.Give yourself atimeframe for achieving it

3.Describe what you needto do to achieve it

4.List any knowledge orskills that will be required to reach the goal

The preferred method for goal settingstrategies is the Map Method

Where do you want tobe?

Where are you now inrelation to it?

How are you going toget there?

Make a map and followit!

The S.W.O.T. analysiscan also benefit goal setting strategies, but is less effective than the MapMethod.

When you come up with an equine business idea,the main thing is that you can align your personal goals with your horsebusiness plans and that your horse business ideas are making you happy