# Benefits of Lunging?



## Icedancer (Feb 18, 2010)

Sorry if this isn't the right place or if there is already a thread for lunging,

What are the benefits of lunging? Should I teach my horses to lunge?

We've never lunged our horses before, so I don't know how. I do have access to a trainer who could talk to me about it. I just wanted to know if I should or if they would be fine without it. They are not stalled so are out in the pasture 24/7.

Thanks!


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

In all honesty, only 1 of my horses knows how to lunge but that was taught to him by the people that had him before. If my horses are more than green broke, they never see the inside of a round pen or a lunge line. My thinking is that if I can't get them to do what I want them to do under saddle, there is more missing from my training plan than some lunging. I think that if your horses are beyond the green broke stage, there really is no need for lunging unless you need to use side reins or some other training method. If you get along with them now, there really is no need to teach them to lunge unless you just want to.


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## SlickDirtyDancin (Jul 11, 2009)

It definitely comes in handy. I have to lunge when my horses have had time off. It gets all the bucking and bad energy out before you ride as well as warming them up. If your horse is having trouble getting the correct lead at any point in its life a simple lunge line usually fixes it. Teaching a horse to lunge is also a wonderful way to get respect. I use Clinton Anderson's methods and a lot of them involve lunge line like techniques. I actually encourage everyone to teach a horse to lunge before ever being broke to ride. If your horse listens when you ask it to move forward, backward, different directions, and stop from the ground with simple cues then he will respect it from the saddle much more. When you put that saddle on the first time it's best to use a lunge line as well. Pole work can be done from the lunge line too for many purposes including starting a jumper out. 

If you don't want to use a lunge line it is good to have a round pen and "free lunge". I do this more than using a line.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

smrobs said:


> In all honesty, only 1 of my horses knows how to lunge but that was taught to him by the people that had him before. If my horses are more than green broke, they never see the inside of a round pen or a lunge line. My thinking is that if I can't get them to do what I want them to do under saddle, there is more missing from my training plan than some lunging. I think that if your horses are beyond the green broke stage, there really is no need for lunging unless you need to use side reins or some other training method. If you get along with them now, there really is no need to teach them to lunge unless you just want to.


I agree with this and seems to me that a lot of folks retreat to the round pen with a 'lunging will cure all evils' mentality. I've never lunged before riding, not even when our youngest was green broke, and I think they make more progress, faster, the more you're in the saddle. All our mares know how to lunge, but I think I dust off the lunge line only about once a year when I really have nothing to do (which is very rare) just to convince myself that they haven't forgotton (which I know they haven't).


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## MySTAR (Mar 4, 2010)

For my mare it is the only way we have a good ride. She needs to have that few minutes to play. When she is on the line she bucks and kicks, having a good ole time. When she is done running and playing she will roll and run one or two more laps then walk to me when she is ready. When she is done she will stand and lower her head, lick her lips and rub her head on me. When we walk over to the saddleing area she is soo much calmer. Only takes 15 or 20 mins. Plus I can get a good look at her and make sure she hasn't any injuries, lameness and such. Added benefits to this is our communication. She will listen to me better when I do ride. Ground work is vital to a young horse in my opinion. I just know what works for us.


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## Fowl Play (Sep 22, 2009)

My daughter got a ground work kit for her birthday and her instructor explained to her friend's parents (a party at the barn) that longing/ground work can help when a horse has a problem under saddle, but it gets the rider off.

Yesterday we were invited up to a trail clinic at the farm. In the covered arena there were deer and coyote decoys, tents, tarps, balls, umbrellas, ribbon, etc. The first few hours of the day were the riders longing their horses near all these obstacles, over the tarp, etc. Every last horse had an issue with the tent or coyote, but after spending time longing near them, poking at them, etc, after lunch all the riders were able to ride the trail course without being thrown. 3 of these horses are known for being hot, stubborn, and flighty. They benefitted most from the ground work before the ride.


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad (Jul 2, 2009)

I'm another one that never lungs, ever. I feel it is just a cop out for some poor handling. If you need to lung your horse before riding to get the kinks out the horse doesn't have the proper respect for you to begin with.
I do everything from the saddle and nothing from the ground.


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## Piaffe (Jan 11, 2010)

lunging should never be used to tire a horse out...ever. it should be used only to get the horse more supple on properly balanced on the four pillars (legs). It can help with teaching them to round out,too. Please don't lunge just to tire a horse. And never imho should a horse be lunged by a bit...use a lunge caveson or a halter if you don't have a caveson. again jmho...but lunging can ruin good horses if done wrong  I also believe all horses should be (correctly) lunged before riding, NOT to tire them out,but to warm them slowly. We aren't expected to run a race without warming up....


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## Scoutrider (Jun 4, 2009)

If my horse has had a break (as he often does during our horrible winters) I will lunge/do groundwork before I ride. He is not allowed to do anything on the lunge that I wouldn't allow in the saddle; no bucking, rearing, or otherwise misbehaving. I use NH style lunging as a warm up and a sort of pre-flight check, that way if something goes south for whatever reason I can see it before I'm 6 feet in the air, and to remind the horse what work is if he's had a couple weeks off or if he's feeling fresh. If the horse is being ridden regularly, I generally don't lunge first. 

I'm looking into starting classical lunging/long lining as a way to introduce the concept of contact to my horse as well.

I agree with Piaffe that lunging should never be used just to tire a horse. It can either build trust/respect, or to improve carriage and posture in the horse. Investing in some lungeing lessons might be a good idea, there's definitely some art and know-how to it that can really mess up a horse if done wrong.


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## LoverofHorses (Jan 3, 2010)

I usually lunge my horse to work on voice commands,other than that not much at all.


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## Pidge (Sep 5, 2009)

I lunge for different reasons. When my goofy arab mare has a spaz and looses all focus when on the ground just leading or w/e im doing Ill stick her in the round pen and free lunge to regain her focus. It works well for her.

I never lunge romeo...he doesnt ever need it...for any reason...the only reason i lunge him is to make sure he remembers how to....so maybe once every 3-5 months? I also sometimes lunge him when its to cold or yucky to ride but he needs some exrecise.

I believe lunging can be a way to bond with your horses as well if done right. Im a firm believer in the Join-up technique and ive preformed it with both my horses. Round penning can also be used for respect and punishment.

If Bause losses focus but doesnt throw a fit ill only get her moving for a few minutes to re focus her and its just trotting. This mare is also fat an sorta lazy...but my lord she can pitch one holy fit from hell. In these situations I make her fat Butt Run till she chooses to properly listen and give me the respect I expect. Once she is listening to her voice cues I stop and we go back to buisness as usual. She knows the difference in a kind "hello pay attention please" and "Your running because you cant act proper" she is a super intelligant horse. If I saw that she didnt know the difference I would find a better way to do things. Example is romeo doesnt give a flip why he is in the roundpen he just does it. Blah end of story. He doesnt enjoy backing up though to when he gets in trouble on the ground he has to back up. Simple as what works for each individual animal.

I also only believe that ground work fixes ground work, saddle work fixes saddle work. If the horse has handling issues on the ground, then the round pen is an option. If your only leading at a walk and the horse throws a fit and you make them run circles they go "Geez I was only having to walk...now im having to run. I shouldnt do that again if I dont want to run." If its an issue undersaddle it has to be fixed under saddle. Getting off and lunging for issues undersaddle just makes the problem worse. The horse sees it as "Hmm...I threw a fit and the rider is off now all I have to do is run a few circles instead of ride..."

So does lunging have benefits? Yes, its a great tool for respect, bonding, focus and on occasion punishment depending on the horse. Should it be used to fix all issues? Heck no...only ground issues...not saddle issues. Do your horses need to know how to lunge? Probably not so long as they dont give you an issue.


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## mystikal222 (May 26, 2009)

I dont know if this will apply to you but Ive been using lunging to teach my 2 yr old his voice commands and get a little exercise (cant ride him so there isnt much in the way of "work" that I can do with him. I cant lunge for too long since his knees arent set yet,but a few minutes both ways before we work on other stuff gets him warmed up and paying attention.


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## Cheshire (Oct 17, 2009)

I too lunge for a couple different reasons.

NEVER to tire a horse out...people who do that have missed the point.

My arab mare needs to be lunged a bit to have a good ride. I tack her up and put her through her paces in the pen. She bucks, leaps, snorts, gets all her yayas out. If I fail to longe her before riding, she is spooky and has a lot of excess energy that I sometimes do not care to deal with when I just want a leisurely ride. I also do it to work on her voice commands from the ground, which I think helps translate directly into the saddle. Not saying saddle issues should be solved on the ground and so forth...it's just another piece of the puzzle that ultimately helps you communicate easier with your horse.

There are periods when we don't ride for a couple days and have just walked in hand around the neighborhood. w/t on the line is a helpful way to continue our schooling and help keep her in some sort of workout routine.

With the new guy, we need to be excersising him but he can not walk on hard surfaces (i.e. pavement or roads) until his feet grow out a bit more. So handwalking is out for now. In place of this, every other day we are and will be lunging him for gradually longer periods in the soft sand of the pen. He is really out of condition and has not been worked for two years...when we first started he was stubborn and obstinate and kicked. Second time around I can at least get him to go in both directions without throwing a fit and he is responding better to voice cues. It's also helping him learn that I am the lead mare here and I will not let him get away with being a butt. Easing him back into the mindset of work.

If we were not lunging I could foresee many problems down the road. :shock:

So in short...I think lunging is a useful skill. It warms them up...would you ask an athlete to perform without warming up? Taking my mare who has been napping all morning and just hopping on her and asking her to tackle some hills would qualify her as an athlete in my mind. It gets them in the mindset of schooling and is useful for those times when you aren't riding as often, or there is no other form of excersise available. Just my personal opinion, not telling anyone else how to handle their horses. What works for some people may not work for others and whatnot.


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## Piaffe (Jan 11, 2010)

NEVER to tire a horse out...people who do that have missed the point.


So in short...I think lunging is a useful skill. It warms them up...would you ask an athlete to perform without warming up? Taking my mare who has been napping all morning and just hopping on her and asking her to tackle some hills would qualify her as an athlete in my mind. It gets them in the mindset of schooling and is useful for those times when you aren't riding as often, or there is no other form of excersise available. Just my personal opinion, not telling anyone else how to handle their horses. What works for some people may not work for others and whatnot.[/QUOTE]
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agreed chesire!!!


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## 5cuetrain (Dec 11, 2009)

Don't do much lunging but I do a lot of ground work. Seems to build a stronger foundation. Start em young with ground work and move them along and most turn out steady headed and ready to move on.


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## Tasia (Aug 17, 2009)

No I don't lunge. I barely have enough time to ride. I used to lunge my horse but it became pointless. I also learned how to lope on a lunge. The only time I EVER lunge is after a workout and my legs are sore I just let him walk around me and cool off.


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## riccil0ve (Mar 28, 2009)

I rarely get out a lunge line and lunge my riding mare, it's much more fun to just ride. I do a little free-lunging in the pasture when they are feeling fresh, and it's more a game than anything. I also do some free-lunging in the pasture when she "forgets" how to be caught. When I do use a lunge line, it's when I think she's off or a little lame and want a better look to see if she is and on what leg. It's also the way I check to see if she's okay to be ridden again after coming up lame. 

My little one is too young to be ridden, so I lunge her two or three times a week, about ten minutes each time. Just enough work to get her focusing on something, as well as getting her used to moving with a surcingle and bridle on.

I think all horses should be taught how to lunge for no other reason than if they need to be rehomed. It's that fact alone that I think all horses should be taught everything they could ever possibly need to know. Just because you don't believe in, say, giving your horse a bath, doesn't mean that he won't need to learn how to be bathed in another home.


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## wubbie (Mar 8, 2010)

Cheshire said:


> I too lunge for a couple different reasons.
> 
> NEVER to tire a horse out...people who do that have missed the point.
> 
> ...


I couldn't agree with you more!


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

I'm not a lunger either, but I did teach Saro just for exercise. When she was having problems with stiffle lock, there was a problem with her falling when under saddle. It was the best way to exercise her. Other than that I prefer close work.
I can see it being good exercise for an out of shape horse too.


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## Icedancer (Feb 18, 2010)

Thanks for all of the posts guys!

so if I understand correctly, it's pretty much up to if I want to do it or not? It's not one of those things that -has- to be done?

I'm thinking about using Reykur in the Extreme Cowboy events, since I've never ridden him before and it's been at least a year since he was last ridden, think it would be a good idea then, to work with him using lunging and an obstacle course? Also, I've been and still am sick so I'm not able to ride right now. It will probably be a few more weeks before I can ride at all, even then I will have to take it slow for a while.

Thank you so much for the information and advise!


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

> it's pretty much up to if I want to do it or not? It's not one of those things that -has- to be done?


You got it. If you are not comfortable getting on Reykur the first time, I can understand wanting to lunge him because it has been so long since he has been ridden and you have never ridden him. I, personally, would just lunge him long enough to find out if he is going to be calm under saddle or throw a fit and go from there. IMHO, the best place for a horse to learn is under a rider.


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## SeWHC (Jul 1, 2009)

I used a comprehensive lunging program to help rehab a severely underweight teenage horse as he was gaining weight and rehabilitating, to help him build muscle and stamina to support his sagging features instead of just putting on a huge hay belly. 

It was extremely effective, and he gained about 400 lbs in oh, 4 months? He looked about 7 years old when he was in top condition again. 


I started out trotting for a total of about 5 minutes a side, with lots of walk breaks. As he built muscle and stamina, I upped the time gradually until he had the energy and stamina and muscle tone to lunge 15-20 minutes a side at the trot with far fewer walk breaks. By the time he was fit enough for me to ride him, he was very balanced and in great shape. 

Lunging definitely has its benefits.


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