Lunging My Horse?

Question

How do I get my horse to stop when she is lunging? I am going to lunge her in the round pen for the first time today. She doesn't know much commands except good girl, and kiss. I really need to know how to stop her! (I want your answer not your opinion)

Answer 1

Say "whoa" to her and place the whip in front of her. In other words, instead of holding the whip out toward her rear, put it in your other hand so its in front of her nose (while still at the center of the round pen). You can practice on the ground saying whoa when you lead her, when you walk, occasionally stop and say "whoa" so she relates "whoa" to stop. I don't think she will understand whoa in one day but if you keep working on it then she will understand. When you are lunging, say whoa in a calming tone and if it takes her 10 minutes to stop then its okay. Just realize its a new thing for her and tell her good girl when she stops. Also just work on trotting, walking, and stopping until she learns whoa and what it means when you put the whip in front of her head.

Answer 2

Have a lunge line connected to her at the beginning. Ask her to go around a few times and when she is paying attention to you and calm, say whoa, walk toward her hindquarters slightly and tip her nose toward you. Make sure your energy is saying stop and not go, she will pick up on that. When she starts turning toward you start backing up yourself and drawing the line in. Once she gets up to you stop and give her and good rub on the forehead. Once you practice this enough, all you'll need to do is say whoa and she'll come right to you.

Answer 3

Well start her at a walk. Keep her slow and relaxed. Then, tug gently twice on the lunge line and tell her whoa. You may need another person to walk along beside her to help stop her until she learns what you want. Just take it slow and it will work.

Answer 4

Teaching a horse to learn is all about body language and your relationship to your horses center of gravity. A horses center of gravity is at it's heart girth (just behind the shoulder). To move your horse forward you move toward your horse behind this center of gravity. Contrary to popular methods lunging is not you standing in the middle of a circle and the horse running around you. It is actually two circles, one that the horse makes and a smaller one that you make. So what you want to do is move the horse away from you by walking towards it's hip area. You can (and might need to at first) encourage the horse to move away from you with either a lunge whip, spinning the end of the line, or waving your arm. The speed at which the horse moves should be based on the speed that you move. If you walk faster towards her she should move away faster and vice versa, when you slow she should slow. Now in order to stop her you want to step infront of her center of gravity. It is best if you have already begun to develop voice comands with her. Simply lead her around and ask her to walk, trot and hault. Whenever you ask her to halt, say something like "woah" "stop" "halt" very firmly and make her halt. This should be a comand only for halt, not for slow down or settle down. I prefer to use "woah" for halt and "easy" for slow down. Once you have established these voice commands on the lead then take them to the lunge line. You want to step infront of her center of gravity (even to about her head) facing her and tell her to "woah". This may take a few minutes or even a few laps a first, but don't give up until she halts. You can use the fence to stop her, place the whip in front of her, or pull on the halter. Once she stops praise her, and then either ask her to move forward again or go to her to end. Continue to ask her to stop, praising her in a nice voice when she does, she should pick up on this very quickly, and then you can move to asking her to halt from the trot or even the canter. Best of luck to you, and just remember to be patient with her.

Answer 5

If you have no experience handling lungeing equipment, I suggest that you take the time to practice lungeing with an experienced horse before handling your young or green horse. Here are some general guidelines and hints that will help make your initial efforts at lungeline work easier.

The right equipment - At the very least you will need a lungeline and a lunge whip. The lungeline should be long enough to allow for a large (20M) circle and the whip should be long enough to touch the horse with the end of the lash when he is on the circle. Most people tack the horse up with saddle, bridle, side reins, lungeline and a bit attachment. You can also use a surcingle in place of the saddle. A lungeing caves on over the bridle is useful but not always readily available. Decide where to lunge your horse. A lungeing ring or round pen is preferred but lungeing has been known to take place in a large arena. If this is your situation, pick a corner so the horse has a fence to follow on at least two sides of the circle.

Body position and voice commands - Your goal is to get the horse moving on a circle around you while you stand in the middle holding the line and whip. You influence the horse by your body position in relation to his body and by the use of voice commands. It's important that you stay stationary in the middle of the circle rather than walking out to the horse or letting him drag you around. You're the anchor of a triangle that is formed by the lungeline, the horse and the whip. As a guideline, keep him moving so that his shoulders are a little ahead of your body. Your body will be opposite the saddle area, and you will point the whip at his hind quarters. If the horse tries to cut in on the circle you will point the whip at his shoulder and say "Out". Once he is back on the circle, you go back to your triangle position.

Your voice commands will tell him to go or stop. If you say a command with rising inflection in your voice, he will want to go faster. "Ter-rot!" A long, drawn out, lower tone will encourage him to slow down. "Wa-alk..." Using the school fence, and bringing your body toward the horse, whilst asking for halt, will help in the beginning. If you need to, bring the horse on to a smaller circle to encourage it to slow down, as you ask for a downwards transition.

Warm up - Most horses take some time to warm up to work so allow for that on the lungeline. If you are using side reins, hook them to the saddle but not to the bridle until after the warm up period is over. In general, allow for the first five minutes of your session as a time when the horse can choose his own speed (trot or canter) as long as he is maintaining the triangle position and going around the circle. He may even put in a playful buck! You want him to loosen up and move forward freely without getting too wound up and excited.

Working and side reins - Once the horse has gotten rid of all his bucks and snorts, it's time to get down to work. Bring him to a halt and adjust the side reins. It's best to hook the outside side rein to the bit first, followed by the inside side rein. If the horse is new to side reins, adjust them so there is some slack in the reins. This gives him the chance to get used to the idea of contact on the bit without feeling panicked. As he gets used to the steadiness of the side reins and goes more forward into the contact, you will gradually adjust the length to take out some of the slack.

Time and repetition - Don't spend a lot of time walking in side reins. The whole point of work in side reins is to teach the horse how to go forward into steady contact. So spend the work time on trot and canter. Teach him to transition from one gait to the next with your verbal commands. Be sure to do the same amount of work on both reins. The total amount of lungeline time doesn't have to be long. Twenty to thirty minutes per session is plenty.

Cool out - When you are both ready to quit, the horse needs time to walk - without side reins - to cool out. Hook the bit ends back onto the saddle so they aren't hanging down by his legs while he walks.

A weekly schedule - If you or your horse are new to lungeline work then it is worth your while to do it often enough for you both to get a good routine going. Some people use lungeline work as a warm up for their young horse before each ride. Others incorporate it into the weekly schedule with other activities such as flat work, trail riding or work over jumps. Once you have developed the skills needed to do lungeline work, you have another useful tool in your training toolbox!...

Answer 6

More Excersize & running throughout the day.