What is Lunging?

[Leeana]

I've always heard ppl talking about Lunging on here and was always like 'arghh what is it'. So can someone PPPPLLLLEASE save me from this headache. lol. Also what does it do for the horse? I would love to try it if its good.

 

[ThreeCFarm]

It is a form of exercise for the horse. They work around you in a circle, either on a lunge line (long rope connected to the halter) or you can free lunge them in a round pen (no lunge line on the horse).

 

[Leeana]

Oh that ...now i feel stupid. I've been doing that for years w/ our average sized horses. I've never tried that with coco. Well now i got something new to try with him. lol thankx even though im now going to go hide in a corner. lol

 

[wcr]

There is lunging and then there is lunging. I work my horses freely in a round pen and there is definately an art to this kind of work. There are lots of videos available about lunging and it boils down to controling your horse with your body positon and gaining control over their minds. That is how you get join up to mention a few other buzz words. I did lungeline futurities with my paints and could stand there doing nothing but rating their speed and transitions just my slightly moving my body. It has worked wonders with new horses to convince them that I am the alpha mare and they can't make a move that I don't allow them to make. This all comes about by body postion and reading what they are telling me and acting accordingly. I think "horse whisperer" is a misnomer but rather "horse listener"