1.5 year old appendix QH gelding...lunging help?

Question

I have just started working on the lunge line with my gelding. When I lead him, he likes to walk right next to me and stops if I get further away from him. now, with lunging, he doesn't get that he can walk or go faster without me standing right there with me. I use a lunge whip to try to get him into a circle, but he either walks/runs towards me or goes for the barn. I haven't ever let go of the lunge line, and he is 0% aggressive.
*also, when should I start riding? I don't have a round pen to work with, just my pasture and the surrounding fields, but he let me put a saddle on at 7 months, cinched and all, without any fight and no restraint. I don't think i will have much of a problem in the saddle. he is a destined jumper, he jumped my 4 foot gate and loves jumping.
*last, how do i start jumping my incredible 8-year old contest horse that loves to jump? thanks

Answer 1

Lunging can seem very difficult in the begining, but with patience and small steps it can be very simple. First you need to understand that your horse's center of gravity is directly behind his front leg. You will use this gravity point to encourage him to move forward and stop. Lunging is often mistaken as the human stands in the center and holds a line and the horse runs around them. This may work with a trained older horse, but proper lunging is acutally two circles, larger one made by the horse and a smaller one made by you. First you should have your horse halt and you face his sholder (your sholders parallel to his body) step back from him making sure he stays still. He should watch you but not move, if he does correct him and try again. Then when you can stand about 5-6 feet away from him with him still, you want to step behind his gravity point to urge him to move forward. To move him forward you should walk towards his hindquarters at an angle while making a "move forward sound"(clucking kissing, whatever) and raise your whip. To form the circle use the line to correct his direction and the whip to keep him moving forward. Then to stop move back infront of his center of gravity, and use a solid Woah comand.
If you find him to be trying to run out on one side of the circle, when he starts to run out pull his head in with the line and encourage him forward with the whip. If he's running in to you, either poke him in the side with the whip or make and aggressive step toward him and encourage him to move on.
I usually don't mount them until they're 2, but lunging I start at 6mo. Once you master lunging you can add the saddle and a bridle to the lunge, and begin to start driving him to get him used to the bridle and bit responce.
With your 8yo... just start small. Simple poles on the ground to get her strides right. Then just work up very slowly being sure that her muscles are ready to continue, and he mind is ready.
Best of luck and remember that patience is the most important thing.

Answer 2

I agree with jessabell- don't listen to Sheena. The trick is perseverance and consistency. He is a young man (small attention span), and you need to make it fun for him. Just like children his age, it's all about how much fun this is. Make praise your bulk of the training, and he'll enjoy the learning process.

Start on the ground at his shoulder, get him moving his feet. Hindquarters out, back up, turn on the forehand. try and send him forward, out in front of you, then turn him around to face you. You are teaching him to yeild to the pressure all over his face. Then send him out a little further and further and further, still using the yeilding methods to maintain control.
It's probably more that he is way more comfortable standing next to you, than out there while you're chasing him with a lunge whip, and he'd rather not bother.

Another point- keep the sessions really short- no more than twenty minutes, and always, ALWAYS finish on a good note, the end of the session is his reward- he can relax, stop thinking so hard and be pampered.

Don't ride him until at least three, and even then, short sessions only. His bones won't stop growing until he's six, so at two he's only a third along the development scale.

8 year old jumper- start small- trot poles, then a couple of inches off the ground, a bit higher, bit by bit. Take each size as a seperate goal, and don't move higher until you can both do it from opposite directions and angles with your eyes closed (not literally lol). Always finish on a good note, and make sure your horse is properly warmed up and cooled down.

Good luck :) If you have any trouble- invest in an instructor/trainer- it will be worth it .

Answer 3

Lunging is NOT stupid, it's a way of starting groundwork. Just because one person doesn't like to actually take the time to do groundwork doesn't make it stupid. *rolls eyes* You have a much better, more well-rounded horse if you take time to work with it on the ground instead of just jumping on and cowboying off into the sunset.

You have to teach the horse that after you send him away that he has to stay the same distance away from you. If he starts to go away from you then pull him back towards you without trying to make him stop, then send him again. Eventually if you are consistent he will figure out that you don't want him to go away and you don't want him to come to you, you want him to go beside you. Since he's young he might get frustrated easily but just remain calm and don't allow yourself to get frustrated. Remember that he's not trying to disobey you, he just doesn't understand what you want and it can take them a while to guess.

Also you should wait until the horse is at least a full 2 years old before you start getting on its back. Even then his knees might not be fully prepared for it. Until then you can work on groundwork. If you need ideas try looking into Clinton Anderson's method. He uses a lot of groundwork (flexing, yielding hindquarters and forequarters, lunging and different things to gain respect) so that when he gets on he can pretty much just move the horse off and go for a trail ride. He has done some amazing things, including a competition where they (3 trainers) are given 3 hours to work with a "feral"/untouched horse where at the end of that time they have to be able to go through all 3 gaits, maneuver an obstacle course and a freestyle "event" to impress the judges. Anderson's freestyle was to stand on his horse's back and crack a bullwhip around it while no one is restraining it and the horse just stands there like nothing is happening. Again, not something you can do without the benefit of a lot of groundwork.

You don't have to use the more popular methods, I trained horses for plenty of years without them, but they do give great ideas and can advance your horsemanship.

Answer 4

well if you want to start jumping start with poles lying on the ground, stride length apart , get your horse used to walking and trotting over them. when they're used to that you can just get one pole and raise it a couple of inches at a time as to get them used to the heights. Start off doing a big circle over the pole and back or a figure of 8 etc its your choice (canter of course once its high enough to 'jump'), or what ever is comfortable for you. once you are both used to that you can put 2 poles up about 6 inches apart with the far pole a couple of inches higher then the first this encourages then to stretch which is needed to become a better jumper. The same thing can be done with up to 3 poles.......(but remember to have the horse used to the highest pole...some horses will NOT do this but can be taught to )Please note!!!!that if your horse has a consistancy to collect the pole with either the front or back feet/ legs you might want to invest in some polo-cross bandages or jump boots.

WARNING extremly fun and addictive.

Answer 5

It's very good to be getting him started but lunging is hard on knees and joints. Use the largest circle he'll work well in and don't do too much trotting and cantering. He can still learn his cues and excellent ground manners. Once he's doing all this well can pony him at faster speeds in straight lines without a worry. Good luck

Answer 6

lunging a horse is the stupidest thing anyone could do to a horse. whats the point... u dont need a round pen to start a horse just get on him in the pasture and teach him to ride that way- if he is that easy to handle then u should not have a problem with him.... i have been training horses for years and i just get on them in the pastures of fields and just start from there. u can start getting on him now put only for bout ten-fifteen min.s at a time until he is 2. when he is 2 u can start riddin him longer but you dont really want to push him too hard until he three or so. u push him to hard at a young age u could ruin him... its very easy to screw up a horse but hard to fix problems, its best to take ur time. to start jumping start with a pvc pipe to just walk over then slowly higher it with buckets or if u have jumps do the same- start on the ground and work ur way up slowly. - walking then troting then work ur way up to a lope.