Proper Lunging Part 3, THE FINAL By Lisa Wieben and Birgit Stutz
Correct: Here Lisa is using the whip hand to draw the line through her left hand. The left hand stays low.
Incorrect: Reaching down the line toward the head can cause the horse to raise its head, turn away, or get anxious. Notice how her body position changed toward the flank instead of remaining at the girth line.
Let the handle of the whip rest under your forearm to avoid wrist tension.
(Horse: Pirro, 7-year-old Warmblood gelding, owned by Lisa Wieben)
In part three of our article on lunging we talk about halts, advanced lunging exercises, as well as the importance of transitions. Halts There are two different ways to ask the horse to halt. In the first, the horse is asked to turn in toward the centre. In the second, the horse stays on the line of the circle. When asking the horse to turn in and face toward you, pick a spot to begin asking for the halt. Back up 90-180° ahead of the horse keeping your line straight, with your inside hip (the one closest to the horse’s head) open in order to receive the horse's head while at the same time driving the horse’s hind end out with the whip, which will bring his front end in. As you are backing up the horse may continue on the circle for a few strides before turning in. This is acceptable. If the horse does not halt and goes past you, then turn and push them forward on the circle. When first teaching this to your horse you may need to use a wall or fence line to act as a block that you back toward. The space your horse has to go past you gets smaller, but you always leave an opening so that the horse has a choice, stop and face you or go through and get pushed to work harder. ‘Make the right things easy, make the wrong things difficult.’ Eventually the horse will figure out it is easier to not go past you. The second method is to halt the horse on the circle. Slow your energy down, say ‘whoa’ or breathe out while holding the line hand up slightly to prevent the horse from turning in. This is the preferred method of stopping a horse on a lunge circle as it prevents the horse from falling onto his forehand as he turns in and is also a safer way to halt if lunging a green rider on a horse. A sudden turn in could unbalance the rider. Once the horse lunges well, is in a correct frame and correctly bent, you can add moving circles, making circles smaller or larger, or lunging over obstacles, both to challenge the horse physically and mentally. Moving the lunging circle Moving circles while lunging is a great exercise for lateral movement and also relaxes a horse that tends to be tight or high18 • MAY 2022
SADDLEUP.CA
headed. As you are walking your small circle as the horse lunges around you maintain your core position toward the horse’s shoulder/ girth. Step towards your horse’s inside shoulder without changing your angles. At the same time take the slack out of the lunge line by bringing your whip hand to your other hand, then draw the line with your whip hand, extending the whip toward the horse’s girth. This prevents the line from going slack and the whip toward the girth tells the horse to maintain bend. For example, when lunging to the left, the right whip hand (holding the loops) will reach across the body to the left hand and draw the line to take up slack. The tendency will be to reach down the line with the left hand which will put energy toward the horse’s head and can cause the horse to react or turn his head toward the outside of the circle. Once you have walked 2-3 steps toward the horse on a straight line (which has the effect of making your circle smaller or the horse to move over), hold your ground by taking smaller steps, still keeping your core toward the horse’s shoulder as the horse continues on the circle. Allow some of the line to release (slide back through your left hand) as the horse comes around the other half of the circle. If you pick a spot in the arena or working area that you want to move your horse to it makes it easier to stay consistent with your timing of when to step toward the horse. After you walk toward the horse, as the horse comes around the other part of the circle, send pressure toward the horse’s hip with your hip, while maintaining your core toward the shoulder. This will help to turn the horse on the now tighter arc. Releasing some of the line as you do this will help the horse balance through the circle. Always remember that to keep the horse moving forward as you move the circle your body needs to stay behind the line of the girth. If you step in front of the girth as you walk toward the horse, the horse may stop and turn in or get confused. When lunging to the left keep your steps out to the right (as if pushing the horse forward). If you step across the circle left foot first (as if leading the horse around the circle) it can put you in front of the girth line, which will slow, stop, or confuse
