# long lining exercises



## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

I long line my 9 year old app gelding. He was doing awesome when I first introduced it to him. It was like he has done it before.
Then when it started getting colder and the snow/ice began to fall, I didn't do anything with him.
Now that it's getting warmer out, I'd like to start up again.
I long line him as opposed to lunging because he has arthritis and I want to keep his joints in good condition for as long as possible.
There are ground poles, jumps, cones and barrels where I am. and I did do some courses where he had to weave in and out of the cones.
We have done things at the walk and trot and also got him to back up.
This has all been done in an arena. I'm not yet confident enough to take him outside the arena.

Are there any exercises I can do to get him better at it? Would it be ok to set up ground poles and have it go over it?


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## Spirithorse (Jun 21, 2007)

You could do figure 8s around the cones, back him through the weave pattern (no one ever said you couldn't BACK the course!), have him go sideways a little bit, ground poles, transitions.....possibilities are endless!


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## Spyder (Jul 27, 2008)

You might get some inspiratiuon from this video. 

I am thinking of the lateral work shown maybe at the walk ?





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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

thanks!
I dont know if he knows how to go sideways. I might look into teaching him that.


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

Wow Spyder that video is really cool!
haha if only Gem could do stuff like that!
I'll definitely incorporate new things into it and see how he does.


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## Spyder (Jul 27, 2008)

appylover31803 said:


> Wow Spyder that video is really cool!
> haha if only Gem could do stuff like that!
> I'll definitely incorporate new things into it and see how he does.


A lot of people don't realize that there is way more to "lunging" than simple lunging.

Long linging is a wonderful exercise to work young horses in.

I had my boy doing walk/trot ...shoulder in, leg yields.turns on the fore and hind and half pass before I even made my first ride on him.


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

oh wow!
That's awesome Spyder.

I started looking to long lining Gem after all his x-rays and everything. He really seems to enjoy it and frees up a lot so I can really move about with him.


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## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

I have been really wanting to try long lining on thunder, but sometimes when he's on the lung, he just gets these random spurts and catches the right angle and takes off yanking the line out of my hands. It doesn't happen often, but I would be nervous that if something went wrong on the long lining that there would problems with the bit and the amount of contact, ect.Also Spyder, I just learned to teach Thunder pivoting and side passing, but I was taught to do it with pressure using my hands. Is there a different way of doing it on the long line?

Also, sorry for hijacking the thread DA


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## Spyder (Jul 27, 2008)

free_sprtd said:


> Also Spyder, I just learned to teach Thunder pivoting and side passing, but I was taught to do it with pressure using my hands. Is there a different way of doing it on the long line?


My boy wasn't even 2 at the time I started out with hand/whip cues. I got it to the point that just raising my hand towards a side caused him to move over so taking a very short line ( I was no more than 2-3 feet from him and I used a buggy whip (for length) just touching one side or the other would move him to where I wanted. Now it just became a matter of standing behind and having him walk on with a light tap of left or right line would make him move away from the tapping. So now instead of a horse just standing there and sidepassing or pivoting I could do it while in motion.

This is a wonderful way of getting a horse not yet broke to understand future aids. When I actually did start to ride he already accepted the bit, could move away with the legs. He got broke in 10 minutes in the middle of a snow storm with the arena sides rattling enough to spook most horses.

Getting piaffe and passage later on was not difficult from there.

So yup Natural Horsemanship with common sense works with all disciplines.


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## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

thanks for the tips. I'll just start with the hand and ill get my whip out and go from there thanks!

I was told to put pressure in the rib cage behind leg position to have them pivot on the front, pressure about where your leg would go/girth area to have them sidepass, and pressure on the shoulder to get them to pivot on the hind. does that sound about right? also when doing it on the long line, do you use different pressures on the bit while tapping, or keep it steady?


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## Spyder (Jul 27, 2008)

free_sprtd said:


> thanks for the tips. I'll just start with the hand and ill get my whip out and go from there thanks!
> 
> I was told to put pressure in the rib cage behind leg position to have them pivot on the front, pressure about where your leg would go/girth area to have them sidepass, and pressure on the shoulder to get them to pivot on the hind. does that sound about right? also when doing it on the long line, do you use different pressures on the bit while tapping, or keep it steady?


 
The thing to keep in mind is that the horse must move away from pressure or your space. For a turn on the forehand the whip tapping on the side of the body ( or if long enough to that side of the haunches) should make the horse's haunches move over. To ensure the shoulders stay where they are, you position yourself at the neck/shoulder moving no more than one step towards the hind but not towards his shoulder. Your position acts like an anchored pole that the horse neithers backs away from nor crowds. Transfering to long lining means that you stand behind the horse with one long rein (maybe even the whip) tapping the side at the haunch area you want the horse to move away from and you moving in the direction the haunches are to move to. So to move the horse left around the front you tap the right side and move to the left.

Now turning the horse on the haunches I will "crowd" the horses shoulders. I am basically telling him that where his shoulders are is "my" space and he has to move over. For each step I "crowd" into him he has to yield his space to me. If you get good at this just walking into his space will move him and you can do a 360 by simply walking into him. Transfering this to the longline I will use an open rein and lead his front to the direction I want and hold the other line (basically the "outside" line firm to prevent the haunches from moving anywhere). This can be confusing in the begining and having a helper at the front helps a lot. It usually doesn't take long for the horse to understand and it really comes down to how much pressure is put on the lines.

All I have to do now to change the above to a side pass is to slowly tap the haunches while I lead the horse to start the turn on the haunch but simply don't allow a complete turn. So the front starts the turn and your outside line/whip tapping the haunches cause them to move over just after the front starts....voila you have a side pass.


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## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

oh wow you are awesome!! thanks so much, i can't wait to practice tomorrow!


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

thanks for all the info spyder! and don't worry about hijacking the thread lacy!

Im going to try this with Gem tomorrow if I'm feeling up to it.


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