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Free Lunging
I am a strong believer in Free Lunging so I though I would write a short (probably long as I can go on) thread about what I do when free lunging. I would recommend this for all horses and can work wonders.
All I use for free lunging is a lunge cavesson, one lunge line with a horse booted up. I tend not to use a whip (unless needed) as I am trying to get the horse to listen to me and my body language, not artificial aids.
The basic principles off free lunging and lunging are basically the same. You position yourself in the same triangle basis etc as you normally would. The difference is, you are encouraging the horse to find their own way more and as I have said, listen more to your body language.
I will work the horse in walk, trot, canter and over poles and jumps. The idea is still to keep the horse out away from you on a large circle. This is done by your body language. When the horse is out nicely on the circle, I lower my glance and mainly concentrate on the inside hind leg as this is the leg which needs to be encouraged to do more work. It needs to step under the horse on the curve as well as forward to provide the impulsion. If the horse keeps coming in towards me, I will aim my glance towards their eye, turn my outside shoulder towards them more (this is my forward aid) and take a step towards them. I will also give some small vibration aids on the lunge line (hence why I do not use a bridle) to get their attention. As soon as they step away, again my glance lowers and I go back to my central position.
When the horse is not listening to drop down a gear or slow down, I will turn my inside shoulder towards their shoulder again keeping my glance down, kind of a "bringing them in" motion. All the time I am using voice commands to help the horse understand what I am asking them to do.
The main thing with free lunging is getting the horse to find their own way. Too many people these days, fix artificial aids onto the horse and I find it all very forced. We shouldn't be necessarily changing how the horse goes, we need to work with what we have got and just strive to improve the horses way off going, with the horse. Provided we as the lunger, regulates the rhythum, impulsion and keep the horses attention, the rest will fall into place. Rhythum and impulsion = balance, relaxation, cadence, freedom, flow, all of the key things desired to improve the horses way of going and it can all be done without "tying the horses up" in side reins and other gadgets. Of course, with an experienced and sympathetic trainer, "gadgets" have their place and I have seen impressive results, but I really do not believe it is always needed. 9 out of 10 horses I have worked with, all eventually work long and low freely on the lunge when the rhythum and impulsion is correct. I find that if a horse is going poorly i.e with their heads stuck up in the air, this would be due to tension in the horse which will lead to rushing and unbalance which result in the high head carriage. Gadgets like side reins, I have seen make situations like this worse. Free lunging, to allow the horse to find their own way, i have seen to improve such problems.
Horses are indiviuals and what works for one, doesn't always work for the next.
I could go on forever about how great this is!! I would recommend free lunging to anyone to help improve their horses and build up a stronger relationship with them. If anyone would like any further advice on this, I am more than willing to help
Have fun free lunging.
All I use for free lunging is a lunge cavesson, one lunge line with a horse booted up. I tend not to use a whip (unless needed) as I am trying to get the horse to listen to me and my body language, not artificial aids.
The basic principles off free lunging and lunging are basically the same. You position yourself in the same triangle basis etc as you normally would. The difference is, you are encouraging the horse to find their own way more and as I have said, listen more to your body language.
I will work the horse in walk, trot, canter and over poles and jumps. The idea is still to keep the horse out away from you on a large circle. This is done by your body language. When the horse is out nicely on the circle, I lower my glance and mainly concentrate on the inside hind leg as this is the leg which needs to be encouraged to do more work. It needs to step under the horse on the curve as well as forward to provide the impulsion. If the horse keeps coming in towards me, I will aim my glance towards their eye, turn my outside shoulder towards them more (this is my forward aid) and take a step towards them. I will also give some small vibration aids on the lunge line (hence why I do not use a bridle) to get their attention. As soon as they step away, again my glance lowers and I go back to my central position.
When the horse is not listening to drop down a gear or slow down, I will turn my inside shoulder towards their shoulder again keeping my glance down, kind of a "bringing them in" motion. All the time I am using voice commands to help the horse understand what I am asking them to do.
The main thing with free lunging is getting the horse to find their own way. Too many people these days, fix artificial aids onto the horse and I find it all very forced. We shouldn't be necessarily changing how the horse goes, we need to work with what we have got and just strive to improve the horses way off going, with the horse. Provided we as the lunger, regulates the rhythum, impulsion and keep the horses attention, the rest will fall into place. Rhythum and impulsion = balance, relaxation, cadence, freedom, flow, all of the key things desired to improve the horses way of going and it can all be done without "tying the horses up" in side reins and other gadgets. Of course, with an experienced and sympathetic trainer, "gadgets" have their place and I have seen impressive results, but I really do not believe it is always needed. 9 out of 10 horses I have worked with, all eventually work long and low freely on the lunge when the rhythum and impulsion is correct. I find that if a horse is going poorly i.e with their heads stuck up in the air, this would be due to tension in the horse which will lead to rushing and unbalance which result in the high head carriage. Gadgets like side reins, I have seen make situations like this worse. Free lunging, to allow the horse to find their own way, i have seen to improve such problems.
Horses are indiviuals and what works for one, doesn't always work for the next.
I could go on forever about how great this is!! I would recommend free lunging to anyone to help improve their horses and build up a stronger relationship with them. If anyone would like any further advice on this, I am more than willing to help
Have fun free lunging.
SLW84 |
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