How can I get my horse to stay away from me?

Question

Ok I've been trying teach one of my horses to exercise on a lunge line, but he has too much trust in me and every time I finally get him away from me and moving around the arena he will charge back at me and stop at my side with his shoulder touching me and he wont leave my side, he just stays by me. I've tried a whip, I've tried moving away from him, but none of that works. How can I get him to move away from me and around on the lunge line?

Answer 1

I had the same problem with our 6 year old Fresian mare. She was virtually attached to my with her head and shoulders.
Start by making sure you're in the correct lunging position: the invisble triangle that goes form the whip end when extended toward your horse's hindquarters, you lined up with your horses haunches, and your hand connected to the horses hand by the line. Be sure to use your verbal command "And, walk." or "And, trot" as you swing your whip at your horse's hind quarters, above his hocks, so he gets the idea that he's going forwards. You need to react quickly so you never feel like you're "failing." Failure is weakness to your horse and he'll learn quickly how to take advantage of you. If he turns back to face you as you swing yuor whip, hold up your hand with the luncge line, make sure you're looking him in the eye, and point your body on a forward angle. Swing your whip again, with more intent and use the verbal command again.
IF you are still failing at this point (which I was) you need to move to work in hand. Be aware that your horse will be frustrated at this point and working closely to him may endanger you if he 'explodes.' You want to hold your line adn your whip as if you were long lining him, which means your body faces forawrd, you stnad and his shoulder, lunge in the left hand, lunge whip in the right hand (for a left circle). If you work your horse in side reins, put them on, properly adjusted, to help keep his body aligned on the circle. Bring him to a walk, then a trot as you move with him at his shoulder. Back to a walk and up to a trot again, this time you want to let out your line and move towards the middle of the circle, keeping your horse on the same track.
Be pateint, it takes weeks of repetition, but he'll eventually get that he needs to move away from you on the circle.
If he goes to turn in, shrink your whip.body.arm triangle and point your whip at his shoulder. Remeber, it's an extension of your arm, which he should want to move away from. You can always flick it a bit so the whip's tail touches his shoulder if he continues to move in toward you. Eye contact and body language are important, don't forget them!!
I know this is a lot, feel free to email me with ANY questions you may have. I hope this helps.

NOTE: You DO NOT need to terrify your horse to have a succesful working relationship. Understanding, not fear, creates true horsemanship.

Answer 2

Despite what others say, I would recomend that you NEVER EVER hit a horse with your lunge whip. It should be used as a visual motivator to encourage your horse to move forward. Hitting the horse with the whip creates false impulsion and does not allow for him to move correctly on the lunge line-- he will bolt and slow and bolt and slow instead of a constant motion which is what lunging is for.

Use your lunge whip to encourage motion constantly from behind the horse. Keep the whip pointed at his rear whenever he is on the circle and keep it so the 'tail' end is trailing the ground. Do not flick the whip so hard you get a nasty "Crack" b/c again this will cause the "bolt" instead of the steady impulsion. Istead a simple flick of the whip on the ground (just the motion) will be caught by the horse's eye and prompt him to move forward. Every 5 strides or so, flick again on the ground. (I use a simple "back and forth" motion with my wrist to give the line the proper snake like flick.)

When the horse starts to come in towards you on the circle, you should take the whip and point it towards the horse's shoulder (But low towards teh ground again) and again flick the tail. The horse will not want to step on this and will be weary of the movement and should not colapse the circle.

If the horse continues to fall in on the circle, you can also try lightly jiggling the lunge-line and saying the words "No." and "OUT" while jiggling the line. Depending on where you have your lunge line hooked (bit, caveson, halter, etc) then your horse will feel a silly wiggle sensation and stop falling in on the circle. Do not SNAP the line b/c this puts negative pressure.


If neither of these techniques work, I would reccomend you try to lunge your horse with 2 lines. If you've never done this, you'll want help from someone who has!! You'll run one line around the outside of the horse, along his side (through a stirup if you don't have a circingle) and around his hind quarters. Then the other line as usual. So if you're tracking left, you'll have the bit-line in your left hand and the outside line in your right hand. The right line will gently pressure the horse's hindquarters into moving forward.

Your bigger issue than the "coming in" to you is the fact that your horse STOPS.

STOPING is not good for any horse training. We always want to encourage forward motion. We want impulsion and the willingness to move forward.

So if your horse comes in towards you, at the very least, keep him moving!!!! Even if he walks on a tiny circle, as long as he's moving, that's half the battle!! Increase the size of the circle once he's moving again.



If you'd like further help, you're welcome to email me.

Answer 3

You are trying to teach your horse on too long a lunge line. You need to start on a short line where you can tap him with the lunge whip if needed. You also will be walking quite a bit more than if lunging a horse that knows how to lunge.
Do not be afraid to open your arms more than normal (stretch them out) as that will allow for more of a guiding hand at the front and a greater ability to encourage with the whip on the hind end. You need to make him move away from you and will have to encourage that, as from the sounds of it this has become a habit that you have allowed to develop, please do not confuse that behavior as trust, it is a bad habit that you have allowed and supported.
As the weeks go on of working at this, your circles will start to get larger with the horse getting further and further away. At that point you can use your whip and point it at their bellies and that normally will move the horse out, but it is on a more experienced horse.
Working with horses requires repetition, repetition, repetition. In addition, do not get mad or angry or frustrated, those emotions only cause more damage and fear, nothing positive, always remember that a trained monkey can beat a horse, a horse-person finds another way to communicate. If your horse is not understanding something there are two reasons, either the horse does not know what it is you are asking for, or you are asking incorrectly.

Answer 4

Well do you have a round pin or a smaller pin rather than an arena? if so put him in there and try. Or get a really long lunge line, and a fairly long linging whip, and just keep hem moving, if you let him stop you will never keep him going. My mare doesnt like to work and runs away if I do it in a big space so I lunge her in the round pin and if she stops she thinks she has won and wont keep going so YOU probably need to get him going and make him go the other way and just keep swiching him then he cant stop. It will take a few trys (or maybe hunderds) b4 he will get the poin that it is time to work and not be so close to you.

Answer 5

I use a lunge whip to teach lunging. Face your horse in the direction you want him to lunge then tap him on the hind quarters with the lunge whip to have him move off. If he tries to come back towards you then point the whip at him and cluck to keep him moving. If you don't feel like your getting anywhere then ask an experienced horse person at your barn to help you out.

Answer 6

Hit him with the whip to make him go forward. Stay at HIS shoulder but apart from him, even if it means you have to run to go there. Right now he is the dominant horse and winning.

The way we start to train babies to lunge (we train lunging basics at 4-6 months) is to keep him on a short lead- no more than a lead rope length. Hold the whip in your hand parallel to the horse. The butt should be by his head and the whip end should be by his butt. If he tries to move in, tap him on the nose/cheek. If he doesn't respond and move away, tap him harder. You can use the whip end to keep him going forward. Once he stays out at this length, gradually increase it.

Since he loves standing by you, only do short training periods. Go for a couple circles and then give him a cue to come in (a come here hand gesture) Then let him come up by you. Once he realizes that he can't come by you until he sees that gesture, he should stay out more.

Good luck!

Answer 7

You need a horse poking stick. They sell them at the feed store. It's about the length of a lunge whip, but has no whip and is more solid. You use it to push the horse off you. Lead in a circle and with the hand on the side of the horse, start to push it off you with the poking stick. It's uncomfortable to be poked so it will move over. Feed out the lunge line as you go. It takes practice so don't go nuts if it doesn't work the first time.

Answer 8

Sounds silly but works. Get a long cane fishing pole and keep it pointed at his shoulder, holding it with the lunge line hand. When he turns towards, you, let it poke him in the shoulder. Keep after him with the whip, but the pole should keep him at bay and he will get the idea. I've tried this and it does work.

Answer 9

I had the same problem one of our geldings. It was not a matter of to much trust, but to much lunging. He is smart and figured out quick that if he came to me, then his workout was over. Your horse has done the same thing. And he is in control, not you. I found the answer in Kelly Mark's book "Perfect Manners" She discusses in depth how to solve this problem. (It was me giving my horse the signal it was OK to stop when he wanted and not being in the proper posistion for lunging.). I will be happy to scan and email the pages to you if you want. Good Luck!

Answer 10

get him in the area without the lunge line. Be very careful by doing this but go in with him and chase him around with the whip just to scare him a little and get him to go fast.