# do you feel weird when....



## Librahorsegal (Nov 20, 2011)

Your an intermediate rider and your trainer puts you and your horse on the lunge line for the entire lesson. Do you feel << like this when another rider and horse come down to the ring to ride? 

When ever we have a lesson on the lunge line i feel like we have dropped down to beginner stuff all over again. :;sigh::

We were stuck on the lunge yesterday because the ring had snow and my horse kept getting snow balls...so we couldnt really go to far in the ring because it was mostly snow.. 

there were certain spots where i could ride though..


Do you feel that way on the lunge line?


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## Tianimalz (Jan 6, 2009)

Try not to think of it that way... think of it as it's just something to help you guys refresh. Don't get embarrassed, or think about what everyone else thinks while you're on your horse- just focus on what you two are doing and have fun! Worrying about being embarrassed is just don't to distract you and make you do something silly.... most of the time I ever "mess up" or ruin form is when I'm thinking about the people who are watching.


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## mudpie (Jul 15, 2011)

Lounge lessons are awesome! Were you "steering" or having a real lounge lessons?

Did you know that for the first two years at the Spanish Riding School the riders don't really ride at all? They get lounge lessons, lounge lessons, and more lounge lessons. It creates a super good seat and great skills


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## mildot (Oct 18, 2011)

mudpie said:


> Lounge lessons are awesome! Were you "steering" or having a real lounge lessons?
> 
> Did you know that for the first two years at the Spanish Riding School the riders don't really ride at all? They get lounge lessons, lounge lessons, and more lounge lessons. It creates a super good seat and great skills


+1

Only in America are longe lessons considered by many to be for beginners only.

One of dressage trainers ridden for spent several years in Germany and he said the same thing. Longe, longe, and longe some more.


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## HarleyWood (Oct 14, 2011)

well i dont do lessons but i helped with my friends mom teaching a little girl to ride in a movie, so she was on a lunge line. well i had to show her how to canter. so i got on and had no sturrips and just a handful of mane and we cantered a bunch i had ot show the girl how to post,3 point, and other things. i liked it it helped a lot i think, i have been riding for 9-10 years and i use to w/t/c around her with no line but in a circle around her for an hour before i could go around the arena. where i go to ride with my friend they own the place and theres only a handful of people tht come out but not often.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

I beg my trainer for lunge line lessons! Better yourself and you become a lot nicer to work with in your horse's eyes. Plus it feels better, smoother, safer once you stop the pinching or tenseness or not using your seat bones or whatever the fix happens to be.


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## Librahorsegal (Nov 20, 2011)

Thanks everyone 

To Mudpie....it was both...i was steering to keep him out on the circle,and she had the inside rein of the lunge line.

We werent really working on anythng...we were just trotting around and around.. 

Tomorrow im having a lesson...so we will see how it goes.


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## Horsesdontlie (Mar 11, 2011)

I wish I had an instructor would give me lunge line lessons. They do wonders for helping you actually work instead of cheating by depending on reins. 

Standing while being lunged at a trot on a DW was one of the hardest things I had done on horseback in a while. So bouncy. =P


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

My current instructor/coach has never put me on the lunge line. An instructor I had used for a 5 years, always put me on the lunge line. I didn't care, as long as I was riding & improving.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

Just the opposite. I wish I had someone to do them with me. Luckily my horse is a saint and will trot around the outside of the ring all day while I flop around up there trying to find my center.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

mildot said:


> +1
> 
> Only in America are longe lessons considered by many to be for beginners only.
> 
> One of dressage trainers ridden for spent several years in Germany and he said the same thing. Longe, longe, and longe some more.


And maybe only in some parts of the U.S. 

I'm in my fifties, ranch and play polo. Last summer a new coach came to my club and offered me a longe-line lesson to show me a more effective set of swings and to coach me in some alternative cues on one horse that tends to run out on the ball. Then he gave me some drills that might have sounded basic. I hope he comes back.

I did all of it and my game improved greatly. I want to be the best I can be. I'll take lessons of any kind from anyone who is good with horses. If they can get a result that I admire, I'm game!


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## Librahorsegal (Nov 20, 2011)

I had another lunge lesson today because my horse was acting up today. So my trainer didnt feel that he would be okay out in the ring on our own. So we stayed on the lunge line.

Atleast the snow melted and the ground was fine.

Oh and it was a private lesson today so there was no one at the barn that was riding. So i felt alright this time.


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## goingnowhere1 (Jan 22, 2012)

my trainer puts me on the lunge line(whole lesson also) to strengthen my legs (after a week w/out riding), keep my hands steady, work on a particular part of my body (like toes in), and learn how to control speed without using my legs(posting at the correct speed)
I am in no means a beginner. but even after all my training these lunge line lessons (I have found) are the KEY to my riding. 
yes, I'd like to kill my trainer after these leg burning lessons, but them make me MUCH better in the long run. 
so no, I wouldn't feel ashamed on the lunge line, even pros do this.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Librahorsegal said:


> I had another lunge lesson today


What did you do today?


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## IslandWave (Nov 25, 2009)

I have been riding for over ten years and am currently at the 2nd-3rd dressage level in my ability to train and I wish I could have lunge lessons more often! When given by a good trainer, I find lunge lessons to be so helpful. It's nice to focus on fine tuning my riding position without having to control the horse at the same time. 
The last time I had a lunge lesson I dismounted and felt so relaxed and clear-headed. I don't do yoga, but I imagine that's what one feels like at the end of it.


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## Librahorsegal (Nov 20, 2011)

Sky.....
We just did walk trot. 

We worked on keeping my hands up and sitting up straighter... no round shoulders.. she wants square ones.. hehe so we just did that stuff.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Well that's great! When you get off that line again, your seat and overall riding will be better


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## Cintillate (Jan 8, 2012)

I have never ridden on a lunge line. I think long ago I would have found it very helpful but if I were to do it now. I'd probably be...ok thanks?


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## Prinella (Jul 12, 2011)

I have no one to lunge me so I have started dropping reins over pommel ( I ride English) and walk / trot no reins essentially lunging myself. Obviously you need to trust your horse for that. I'd kill for a lunge lesson!!!!!!

ETA forward is not an issue for my red ferarri, I mean red horse


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## livelovelaughride (Sep 13, 2011)

Good on you. Some of the best lessons and ah-ha moments I've ever had were with my trainer in lunge lessons. Especially with one stirrup out....and then with no stirrups. I agree that anything that helps you with balance and position is great. We used to do things like lifting one leg up over the pommel....argh! then both legs up...while sitting straight and tall. Walking, and haha, trotting. What a killer exercise! 
My coach says you're supposed to be to canter while doing that, too....!


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## Turndial (Jan 14, 2012)

I'm with everyone else on this.. although I'm not a novice but not intermediate either I would prefer 10 hours of lunge lessons for every 3 normal.


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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

Any time that I am teaching a new concept, I bring my riders back to a lunge line. Whether they've just started out and I want them to learn how to post to a trot before I hand over the reins, or whether I'm wanting a more advanced rider to start learning how to use more subtle cues such as weight dispersion. I feel like throwing too many things at once to a rider can be intimidating and often very frustrating, and frustration always channels into the way a person rides. So I teach one thing at a time. For example, if I'm teaching a child to trot for the first time, I want them to be able to _stay on_ during the trotting and be able to 'woah' effectively before I teach them to actually ask for a trot themselves. So I stick them on a lunge line, bring the horse into a trot, and let them bounce around for a while until they've mastered a posting trot with their arms out horizontally. I want my riders to be capable of riding lightly before I even _think_ about giving them the control of my lesson horse's mouth, because I don't want my horses ruined. The last thing you want is a heavy handed rider who posts with his arms instead of her core.

I think its great that your trainer is doing essentially the same thing with you. She's letting you feel your way through a GOOD riding position, then adding the reins. It doesnt throw a lot at you or the horse at once, and its very benificial.

I've been riding for a few years now, and am a beginner and intermediate riding instructor. I've retrained OTTBs and started three year olds, and I 'fix' our horses who get out of tune. But you know what? When I start reining lessons in two months, I've already been told that atleast my first two lessons will be completely on the lunge line, no reins or stirrups. And I'm excited.


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## GotaDunQH (Feb 13, 2011)

Longe line lessons are great! It's good to go back to basics, so to speak, because bad habits can develop over time when someone has their hands on the reins and feet in the stirrups. I've been riding for 50 years, I get no hand/no stirrup lessons from my trainer regularly. You REALLY realize where your weaknesses are and what bad habits you have developed.. I think they are invaluable.


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## Maple (Jan 10, 2012)

I would love to get lessons again and get stuck onto the lunge. Since having the kids I don't have the seat I used to (in more ways than one haha!) and I'd love to have somebody on the end of the lunge, take away my stirrups and reins and find my seat again. 

Use it as an opportunity to feel your horse and get an even better seat. It's a great way of "feeling your horse" without the responsibility of being in control of the reins. Don't think of it as going backwards, think of it as moving forwards and finding more to learn than what you already know.


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## GotaDunQH (Feb 13, 2011)

Maple said:


> I would love to get lessons again and get stuck onto the lunge. Since having the kids I don't have the seat I used to (in more ways than one haha!) and I'd love to have somebody on the end of the lunge, take away my stirrups and reins and find my seat again.
> 
> Use it as an opportunity to feel your horse and get an even better seat. It's a great way of "feeling your horse" without the responsibility of being in control of the reins. Don't think of it as going backwards, think of it as moving forwards and finding more to learn than what you already know.


I was gonna say..."where do you live? I'll come over and hold the longe line." Then I saw you live in Ireland....that's a bit far for me!

But you are right about the seat and not relying on reins. Riding on the longe line gives you two options really.....use your aids correctly and "swim", or don't and "sink". It's like a little bit of survival because you HAVE to use the seat and leg aids to stay "afloat".


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## Maple (Jan 10, 2012)

GotaDunQH said:


> I was gonna say..."where do you live? I'll come over and hold the longe line." Then I saw you live in Ireland....that's a bit far for me!
> 
> But you are right about the seat and not relying on reins. Riding on the longe line gives you two options really.....use your aids correctly and "swim", or don't and "sink". It's like a little bit of survival because you HAVE to use the seat and leg aids to stay "afloat".


haha, I wish I were closer so! I keep Bandit in a racing yard, so there isn't even any "regular" riders hanging about to do a "ill hold yours if you hold mine". 

Years of riding on the gallops have not done me any favours when it comes to "regular" riding. I took a few dressage lessons a few years back and the first thing she said was "you ride thoroughbreds don't you"... *sigh* is it THAT obvious? :lol:

I have great memories of learning to trot on the lunge; i was told every time i touched the saddle i had to muck out a stable. I didn't touch it once, I learned how to put myself back where I needed to be. I need to do that again, find my seat and for the sake of my horse put myself right.


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## GotaDunQH (Feb 13, 2011)

^ I don't know...I think galloping and breezing a race horse is a pretty darn good example of riding, if you ask me! My hat is off to you for doing it because it looks a little hairy to me!! Don't sell yourself short...you have to have a pretty good seat and a sharp mind to do that.


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## Radiowaves (Jul 27, 2010)

What sort of riding do you do?

Thanks much!



GotaDunQH said:


> Longe line lessons are great! It's good to go back to basics, so to speak, because bad habits can develop over time when someone has their hands on the reins and feet in the stirrups. I've been riding for 50 years, I get no hand/no stirrup lessons from my trainer regularly. You REALLY realize where your weaknesses are and what bad habits you have developed.. I think they are invaluable.


_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## teamfire (May 27, 2011)

I consider myself an intermediate rider... and I WISH we did this with my trainer. Group lessons, so, no...


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## GotaDunQH (Feb 13, 2011)

Radiowaves said:


> What sort of riding do you do?
> 
> Thanks much!
> 
> ...


I ride western and hunt seat.


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

I've been riding for 30 years and I still have lunge lessons.


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