Lunging young horses?

Question

Is it okay to lunge a 2 and 1/2 year old shire cross for about 25mins 4 days a week?? Thanks. He will also start getting ridden in about two weeks. Is that okay?

Also just to let you know we were told that he was born in October.

Answer 1

It's fine to lunge a young horse -- FAR better than riding him too young. Hold off riding him until he's almost -- or over -- 3 years old.

When lunging a big horse, be SURE not to make the circles too small. He will need lots of room. Making the circles too small puts pressure on his joints and legs and they aren't even formed yet, so be careful!

Good luck.

Answer 2

Hi,

If you lounge slow and in a wide circle your fine. This teaches the horse to respect you which you will need when he gets even bigger.
On the subject of when to start any type of draft you can get tons of different opinions but draft horses do not finish knitting until there 5. It's not just the knees you need to worry about since horse knit bottom up and where you would be sitting might not be ready for a rider. A very small rider just walking might be okay if you really want to get up on him but anything more than that this year is to much. If you want a horse to round nicely while riding you will not get that if you start them to young. They tense up to much early and keep that as learned behavior.
I'm not sure how he can be 2 1/2 unless your going by the rule of thumb horses all have there birthdays Jan 1st. Most horses are born in April, May and June so this would make your horse only 2 now which is just to young. You will never regret spending more time on ground work. Find fun training games to make it more interesting for you but give him more time to grow, enter some halter classes and see if you can get top prize.
Remember you want a sound horse for a life time and waiting at least one more year to ride him will be worth it.
Good luck.

Answer 3

It's great that you are lunging him. Do lots of ground work before riding. Also make the circles very wide because you don't want to strain his muscles. Don't ride him till he's at least three. He will develope less problems later in life if you wait. Trust me it's worth it. Try preoccuping that extra time with teaching him tricks or something. It will be fun for both of you and he will be easier to train because he will have started the learning process and he will figure things out much faster.

Answer 4

I started riding my hoser at 2 1/2 and his is just fine. You just need to keep it slow and easy. If riding or lunging keep it short, making him work too hard can be bad for his health. Don't cantehim till he's older and stronger, enless he goes into it by him self, but only let him do it for a few strides.
Good Luck, young horses are so muck fun. :)

Answer 5

Yes, thuis is a great way to inprove their lung capacity and stamina. I would probably start his riding slow, and lunge with the saddle on, and make sure he is ready. Try ;lunging him over poles to improve his training, and to quiten him and introduce him to new things.

Make sure taht when you lunge, you introduce newthings, as he might get bored, add things like poles or cones, if he runs into them , they shoudl be able to bend, poles will be small anyway.

Also, if he seems to become a weird and become edgy, i would recomend going back to basics, go back to something he knows about and is good at, you'll be amazed at how something familiar will make them secure about themselves and confident. And it will also bring him back to a trainable point.

I hope he works out and good luck

Answer 6

yes, he'll b fine with lunging but i would hold off on the ridding for about 2 more mounths