How to Teach a Horse to Lunge

Teaching your horse to lunge is one of the first fundamentals to teach your horse during the training process. To lunge a horse is to have them at the end of a lunge line that is approximately 30 to 35 feet long, circling around you in the center and paying attention to your commands. This exercise can be used with many different training aids to further educate the horse. Read on to learn how to teach a horse to lunge.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Lunge line
• Lunge whip
• Bridle
• Surcingle or saddle
• Assistant
• Treats
• side reins elastic or donut
• a solid arena- a round pen is ideal to learn but using a dividor to section off a portion of a larger ring is fine.

1. Before starting to lunge a horse you need to make sure some basic ground manners are there. Teaching the horse to move around in a circle around you with just a lead rope. Use a short crop or dressage whip to teach the horse to move in the circle around you.

2. 
   Triangle created by proper lunging position

   Have the horse tacked up- Surcingle, bridle (reins removed) if you have one a cavasson, do not attach the side reins at this time.
   If you have a lunging cavasson use this over the bridle and hook the lunge line to the center ring. Otherwise one can take the lunge line through the bit, over the poll and snap onto the otherside. Though this gives some gag effect it prevents the bit from twisting in the mouth easily.
   
   Have your assistant standing at the outside of the circle (if travelling on the left rein the assistant will be on the horses right side. move yourself back from the horse several feet. Make sure the lunge line is folded in your hand not looped around it for safety. position yourself at the tip of the 'lunging triangle' which will place you opposite of the horses girth. use your whip by pointing towards the horses hock/hip and ask the horse to walk on. Have your assistant help as needed leading the horse around on a circle around you. Your assistant can take a lead rope and just loop the end through the bit on the right side of your horse do not snap it onto the bit. Looped through it can easily pull free if the horse startles. Have the horse lead around on a small circle of about 15 meters (about 2/3 of the lunge line length) and practice halts and walking on. Keep your body pointed at the horses girth area, your whip pointed at the hocks to create forward energy- pointed near the ground when neutral. Pointed at the girth to move the horse out, and pointed up at the haunches to encourage forward. The whip, the lunger the lunge line and the whip create a triangle.

3. 

   Once the horse is easily walking off and halting. Attach the outside side rein. At this time have the side rein very loose. If the horse is standing at rest the rein should just barely take contact. You want to just add one side rein at a time. This will allow the horse to feel a bit of contact on the outside but not panick. By attaching the outside side rein first this also gives you more control. Should the horse take off you can pull the horses head in on the circle and this will result in a strong woah by the outside side rein. COntinue to walk halt- have the assistant start walking with the horse but then fade to the outside of the circle. Once the horse has one good circle of walk it is best to move into the trot. You do not want to do much walk work when the side reins are attached. Once the horse is comfortably walking and trotting on the circle stop the horse, move closer to the horse bringing in the line as you go. Give the horse a pat, a scratch let em know that he is doing good perhaps a treat and then attach the inside side rein. Again keep the contact very light- just letting the horse get used to the idea of the contact being there. You may not get to the point of attaching both side reins in the first session.

4. Try to keep the entire session down to 10 to 20 minutes for the first few times. If the horse grasps the idea of moving, going and stopping on the circle quickly try the other direction that first day. If not- stop on a good note and leave the other direction for the next session.

5. Use the lunge whip to follow the horse's hip to push forward and out into the lunge line.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not work the horse over 20 minutes. Too much more and the horse could stop responding and creates excessive wear and tear on the tendons and ligaments
• Always end on a good note. To do this, take things slowly. Perhaps just walk on the lunge line the first day.
• Although having an assistant is not necessary it makes teaching the horse to lunge a much quicker and less stressful event for both the horse and the handler and is highly recommended
• if the horse bolts aim the horse into a wall to stop it
• if you have not lunged before learn how by lunging a horse who is well trained and have someone knowledgeable on lunging show you the basics.
• Always keep the lunge line folded in your hand not looped around.
• protective boots should be on the horse on all four legs. Working on a circle and especially in this learning stage the horse is at an increased chance of hitting himself