I started lunging horses this past week to get ready for the riding school that starts next month. We are going to incorporate a different type of bareback training into the program and need to get the horses ready. In past years we started the students bareback but with a bridle. Unfortunately, the students have a tendency to use the reins for balance which is bad for both them and the horse. So this year we plan to have them ride bareback on the end of a lung line to see if they can learn balance without using the reins for support.
Of course, only a few of our horses have ever been on a lunge line. I tried with Monte first by taking him to the round pen and putting him on the lunge line in there. Most horses have experience with the round pen so I was hoping the natural tendency for them to run in a circle in there could translate into lunging in a circle. Getting the horse to trot in a circle is easy enough but it is hard to get them to change directions both ways for some reason. Monte would turn in one direction just fine but not the other.
I then moved him out to an open area and tried some more lunging. It worked okay but he had a tendency to try to run back to his pen when at the gallop. Note to self: wear gloves when lunging a horse.
No comments:
Post a Comment