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. 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.

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.

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.

Here the handler is trying to send the horse out but is pointing her core too much toward the hip. At the same time she is blocking the horse from coming in with her hand at the corner of his mouth. Notice the tail swish and the raised head as the horse receives the mixed signal of ‘move your hip out, but don’t bring your head in.’ If the handler turned her core more toward the shoulder the horse would move out onto the circle in a more relaxed manner. On the lunge circle. The handler is stepping out to the right, keeping her in a pushing position behind the girthline, while her core is toward the shoulder/ girth. Her inside shoulder is back. The line from the halter and the whip low and toward the hind legs forms a triangle from her body.

If this is your first time lunging a horse, stand facing the horse’s shoulder. With your hand holding the line in contact, block the horse’s face from turning in by putting a boundary up towards the corner of his mouth with your hand holding the single line. Apply pressure to the shoulder area either with body language or with the handle of the whip (if you have a long lunge whip it would be difficult to get the end of the whip to the shoulder being so close asking him to move away from you). As soon as the horse steps out, use the whip to send him forward while stepping out on the circle in your wheelbarrow steps. Keep your inside hand up as a block until the horse has moved away from you, then drop it into a relaxed position.

If the horse is familiar with lunging you may start out by facing your horse from the front. If lunging to the left, open your left hip by shifting your weight to your right foot. With your left hand holding the line, block the horse’s head from turning in, then send impulsive energy to the horse’s left shoulder with the whip, asking him to move out onto a circle, while immediately stepping out and forward (on an arc) maintaining the wheelbarrow steps.

It is important to remember to stand your ground. When sending the horse out to lunge, if the handler backs up, it can have the opposite effect of drawing the horse back in. It is seen as ‘drawing energy’ from the horse. Once the horse has started moving away from the handler, the handler needs to keep her feet moving forward on their circle. If the horse does not want to move away, stand your ground, make yourself big and use pressure from the whip and/or loops of lunge line to move the horse away.

Once the horse is out on the lunge circle we will be working toward relaxation and correct alignment with the horse moving from poll to tail on the line of the circle.

Proper position and alignment are of utmost importance when lunging a horse to prevent problems and unwanted behaviour.

While lunging, the horse’s topline should be evenly bent and following the circle line. His barrel shouldn’t be bent into the lunger but also not be straight on the circle (see figure 1 for the red arrows).

The horse’s hind end, barrel, shoulder, neck and head should all be travelling on the same track (see figure 1 for the green arrow). The hind and front legs are on the same track and the neck is in the middle of the horse’s chest.

Alignment is everything.

Next month we will look at tools we can use to help correct alignment issues as the horse is moving forward on the circle. Even if you are unable to work with your horse due to cold or icy footing, you can start to practice this Figure 1 wheelbarrow step to prepare for getting them back to work. If you are unsure of where you are heading it is always a good idea to connect with a coach that knows the sport you want to prepare for. We (Lisa and Birgit) are both available for online and in-person lessons.

Lisa Wieben’s passion is empowering women in becoming confident and healthy riders. As an Energy Medicine Practitioner and Clinical Somatics

Practitioner she addresses pain, tension, hormones, stress, and the issues that appear as a result. As a Centered Riding Instructor and Irwin Insights

Master Level 7 Trainer she works with riders incorporating awareness exercises both on and off the horse. Balance the rider, balance the horse!

Book a clinic that incorporates all the modalities! www.somaticrider.com

As an Irwin Insights Level 6 Master Certified trainer and coach, Birgit Stutz helps riders of all levels and backgrounds advance their horsemanship skills by developing personal and situational awareness, focusing on indepth understanding of equine behaviour, body language, psychology and biomechanics. Driven by her passion for both equine welfare and performance, Birgit believes that facilitating effective communication between horse and rider is an approach that fulfills our responsibilities to the horse and elicits great results. www.fallingstarranch.ca. (See their listings in our Business Services section under TRAINERS)