# long reining and lungeing.



## michaelvanessa (Apr 25, 2012)

a good education starts by lunginging your horse in a 20 meter circle (60 feet).
and useing verble commands walk trot canta and woah.
you will need a lunge wip to inforce the circle and just crack it if your horse comes in or you need a bit more impoltion.
you can eather use your bridle the lunge line strap passes through the right hand side of the bit. if your lungeing in a clockwise direction and over the poll and couples on to the near side bit ring.
or a lunge caverson and the centure ring is my preferance.
i always reward for all the good work i get back from the horse and keep things on a good note.
the rule of thumb is to keep an eye on the horses eye as not to make your self giddy i usaley give the horse 20 laps 5 to warm up and 10 to work and 5 to cool down.
as the horse gets fitter and more responsive you can increase the work.
its good for a young horse as you can fit peaces of harness and the horse can get use to them and if he bucks its good you know he is geting it out of his system and will axcept the harness or saddle.
so breaking does not have to be breaking.
and you are provideing your horse with the skills for his future work.


----------



## JustWingIt (Jul 29, 2012)

"Its good for a young horse as you can fit peaces of harness and the horse can get use to them and if he bucks its good you know he is geting it out of his system and will axcept the harness or saddle." (On my phone, can't quote) 

Too much lunging is not good for young horses at all. It's hard on their joints.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## michaelvanessa (Apr 25, 2012)

*long reining*

i have got a set of long reins made up and thay are good for educateing a young horse.
you can work your horse with one thinger as the rein will do the rest and so will the horse.
let say the horse is going in a clockwise direction.
and your reins pass from the bit through the collar rings and through the pad territs the out side rein should be set up as to go between the tail and the horses hind quaters so the tail will stop the rein rideing up over the horses back.
so in efect you have the horse and he has him self as he backs up he applys preasure on the rein but you must give slightley with him and use your lunge wip so send him foward.
if he still resists play him at his own game untill he learns there is no way to escape the rein and keep the contact but give with it.
he then will give up and will go foward.
and let him walk a few circuits as to settle him down then ask for a working trot transition and do 10 laps and tell the horse to woah and the important thing is to reward.
and do the same again on the oppersit rein and reward and all ways leave the class on a good note so it gives your horse time to think of what he has done.
as you both progress you can do 10 laps then change the rein as he starts to go anticlockwise you change your position to suit the movement as he goes through the transition.
so in theary you do a slight figure of 8 to and once you have compleated the transition you centralise your self in the circle again.
all ways rember give and take on the rein.


----------



## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Good post. You know "breaking" was a common 19th century western American style of training used when horses were plentiful and cheap, and it was much less expensive to capture a Mustang and hard train them to haltering, saddling, bridling and being ridden.
Pretty much nobody that spends time learning to start their horse "breaks" them. UN-fortunately, too many horses don't get their training started correctly and it takes a firm hand to fix.
I saw a 2010 series on a participant in the 100-day Mustang Challenge. She loose lunged, then lunged, then long-lined a horse who was barely halter broken. He learned to "whoa" better than many horses I have seen. In succeeding programs, he halted reliably. The program jumped ahead, but the trainer said that she continued to lunge and long line the gelding throughout. She also taught him to halt as she dismounted, to ground tie, to pull a tire or log, and to lay down, then let her mount and rise.
Craig Cameron had an excellent 2 part program explaining and demonstrating long-lining, then showing the novice problems performing it using the horse's owner.


----------



## michaelvanessa (Apr 25, 2012)

*long reining on the road*

you can long rein on the road in harness or a roler/pad and you can work the horse from behind in walk and trot and woah in intaval training and also with reward as to inboss the comands into your horse.
its best to try to make a game of it and your horse will suprise you on how smart he will become.
as to draging a tire you long rein slightley from the side as not to come into contact with the tyre.
with the tyre have a chan round it as rope will burn out just a small length to go round the tyre and the rest rope with a quick release knot so if there is trouble you can release the horse.
and your puple will get acustom to the noise and the weight in draft of the small tyre.


----------



## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

JustWingIt said:


> Too much lunging is not good for young horses at all. It's hard on their joints.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Maybe that's why many sport horses aren't started until they are 4yo. I'm not worried. My long-lining experiment this summer will be on a 7yo QH already broken, needing more work.


----------



## michaelvanessa (Apr 25, 2012)

*puting to*

when you feel that your horse is settled enough and is going well to comands you can long line with your easy entry cart and firstley just walk and woah at this stage.
and when he is going ok just hop in gentley as he will not feel the extra weight and drive him for a shought distance and reward and you will have a great driveing horse.


----------



## michaelvanessa (Apr 25, 2012)

*lungeing with harness*

when you lunge with your harness when you get to the stage of the collar and the pad and the breeching flaping he will get acustom to that.
use your traces and role them up and pass them through them selfs to shoughten them and pass the breeching strap through the crew hole.
so the horse feels the collar rubbing and working with his shoulders and the breeching will inter act with the same movement.
if the horse bucks let him and keep him in the circle and he will give in and settle down and dont forget reward the horse for his work.


----------



## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

I'll be honest, as far as driving horses goes I don't know what I'm doing. I have read and read and even tried it. I broke a babysitter riding horse, an 18yo QH to a breaking cart, years ago, but I didn't prepare him for the buggy, and he got frightened. So, I quit. He actually like pulling that cart with nobody in it better than being ridden.
THIS time, I'm spending the next YEAR long lining, then introducing noises like the jingle bells that I have hanging in the barn, so I know he won't bolt in harness. I'll probably spend a lot of time just leading him while he pulls it. When I can afford it, I'll hire my Amish farrier/horse trainer to complete his training and then, train me. I won't care if he takes my horse back to the basics, bc I believe that horses handled by more than one good trainer just get better.


----------



## michaelvanessa (Apr 25, 2012)

*lungeing*

you only lunge some of the time not all of the time i lunge then i alternate walks out in hand and handleing that way and als there own play time in the feild and paddock.
handleing a young horse is important as breaking will be breaking.
why make a fight with your horse make his transition to work easy.
you dont lunge all the time as you will turn the horse sower look at the people who show jump time in time out thay go sower as its the same day in day out all ways veary the work.
well with the education my boy has had he is 29 and still loves to drive and loves walks in hand.


----------



## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Great posts!! If you have ever really long-lined a horse, specially a young one, YOU will tire out long before you do any damage to it...... we are not talking about putting a chair in the arena, having a seat,and letting the horse run willy-nilly around. This is about teaching a horse(and driver) consistent contact with the bit(quite difficult from 30' away), moving laterally on the circle, and accepting whip and voice cues. 

On a young horse, I run the lines through the stirrups, or tugs, or lower rings on syrcingles, so when they get confused and spin, the lines are low to make the correction. otherwise, they get twisted around.

Thanks, michealvanessa!

Nancy


----------



## michaelvanessa (Apr 25, 2012)

*long reining your welcome*

nancy your welcome and thank you.
the beautiful thing about this type of work is human and horse complement each other we both learn from our mistakes and thats why we carry on and strive for a good partnership.
and a bond builds up and the spirit of the horse stays intackt and he learns that work is work and play in the feild is free chill out time to be a horse again so he can buck rear role and eat and enjoy life to the full through out his working corear.


----------

