Proper Lunging - Part 1 By Lisa Wieben and Birgit Stutz | Photos by Gary Wieben Horse: Pirro, 7-year-old Warmblood gelding; Handler: Lisa Wieben Pushing a wheelbarrow shows how the handler steps out to the right as the horse goes left. This keeps the handler behind the girthline of the horse and not stepping across the circle toward the head.
Why do we lunge? When done properly, lunging is not only an invaluable tool for starting (or restarting) horses, but it is also beneficial for bringing horses back to work, whether they’ve been off due to injury or just had some time off. Lunging is also a great way to warm up your horse’s muscles prior to work or a way to introduce a new piece of tack in your training progression. Through proper lunging, we are able to shape the horse’s body and put it into a frame that is comfortable. This helps to continue to earn the horse’s trust and respect, develops true bend and balance, introduces forward movement and contact, and develops proper muscling in the horse’s back, hind end and neck as we work towards an uneventful first ride or re-ride or continued harmony. Equipment for lunging For this article we will be using minimal equipment. Halter, lungeline, and lunge whip. In part two we will add different methods that will help shape the horse more on the circle and develop bend and relaxation. Gloves and protective boots for the handler are also highly recommended. Using the wheelbarrow turn Before sending the horse out to lunge, let’s first look at the handler’s body position that will keep the horse moving forward on the circle. After the horse is sent out onto the circle the handler will step in behind the horse’s girth line in order to send ‘pushing pressure’ to keep the horse forward and not turning back in. The handler will walk a small circle, while the horse is on the larger circle. If you imagine what your feet and body do while pushing a wheelbarrow this will give you a sense of how to walk on the circle. To get the wheelbarrow to turn left you need to step out to the right while your body is turning left, in the direction of travel. As the horse is sent out to the left, the handler’s feet step out to the right, positioning the handler behind the horse’s girthline. The handler’s hips push slightly right which opens the left hip to allow the horse to move forward. 16 • MARCH 2022
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Sending the horse out on the circle. The handler is opening her hip and her whip is making an arc toward the shoulder. By opening the hip the horse now has space to go forward. Notice he is relaxed as he moves away.
Common mistakes and problems while lunging If, as the horse is sent out onto the circle, the handler steps in the same direction as the horse, for example steps left across the circle as the horse moves out to the left, the handler will get ahead of the girthline. This is often seen if the handler tries to ‘lead’ the horse with the lunge line, instead of pushing the horse forward from behind. Horses are herd animals and respond better to a push than a pull. Often when the horse sees this it will feel more pressure in front of them and will slow down, stop, turn in, or want to turn away from the handler, or even speed up to get away from the pressure. The horse may also pin his ears or swish his tail. The horse’s response will depend on the sensitivity of the horse. This pressure on the head may also be felt by the horse if the handler’s hip is not open enough for the horse to feel it can move forward into the space. Another common mistake when sending out or walking on the circle is to step too much toward the haunches, which will either speed up the horse or will push the hips out of the circle causing the horse to turn in. Have you ever started to send your horse out and it kept turning circles around you? Quite likely this was caused by too much pressure to the haunches. Often the handler will then put pressure toward the horse’s head to try to prevent the turn in which causes the horse to invert and possibly rear or kick out. Ideally the horse and handler should form a triangle, with the horse being the base of the triangle (hips to head being the bottom two corners of the triangle and at an equal distance from the handler) and the handler being the top of the triangle. The handler will be stepping slightly toward the outside of the circle with her core pointed toward the horse’s shoulder/girth area to keep the horse from turning in. How to send the horse out to lunge Before sending your horse out to lunge make sure you are holding the lunge line in folds and not in loops for safety reasons. Keep the folds of the line in the whip hand and only one ribbon of line in your other hand so you can easily maintain contact with the horse’s mouth. This also allows the handler to shorten or lengthen the line easily.
