A thought on lunging horses

I had a question on lunging horses asked of me the other day. It basically went “will lunging my horse make him better to ride”, referring to a horse to a horse that gets ridden only once a month or so. My answer went, “yes it can help use up some surplus energy, and make him a bit quieter for riding”.

In hindsight my answer should have been a bit more thorough.

Lunging should do more than just exercising the horse or burn off excess energy. Done correctly you can also exercise his mind and make it more amenable to your suggestions and leadership. By doing transitions and by gently suggesting he keeps his attention on whoever is holding the end of the lunge rein instead of looking around the country side, he should start to listen as to what is required of him next.

I do not lunge often, preferring to spend my time in the saddle. But on the odd occasion I lunge unless it is purely to check the horse for soundness, I do more than just circle work, I also move the horse around the arena, so it gives him more to think about and needs to concentrate on me more. It’s basically an extension of ground work.

Now there are many different schools of thought on this, but that is my current philosophy on it.

Regards Walter

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