Lungeing your horse is a typical practice in equine training. Here are some great tips in lungeing.
In equine training, lungeing is considered a critical part in improving the motor skills and your bond with your equine. Regardless of what kind of horsemanship you train into, lungeing is a vital piece.
What lunging does is that enables you to determine how emotionally and mentally mature your equine is-whether or not they are ready to proceed to the next step. There are many things that your horse learns in lungeing. It learns how to respond with pressure and reins; moving with basic gaits is also introduced in lungeing along with vocal commands such as "Whoa". Voice commands are great aids in training and directing your equine.
12 feet is the minimum length of rope that you would want to use in lungeing. Nevertheless, you can go up to the length you're most comfortable with. The whole point of the exercise is to make your equine accomplish the different horse gaits-the trot, walk, and possibly the canter.
Lungeing your horse
A flat surface to work on is imperative. An uneven surface can cause serious damage to your horse's tendons, legs, and ligaments. You can actually do this in a round pen if it has an expansive area.
Horse's state of mind should always come first. If it is in good spirits, the training will be much easier and more enjoyable. You can utilize tools such as the whip. But you never use this to hit horse. It is just an extension of your energy aid for applying pressure. Also, make sure that you're already aware of your horse's body signals. If you still haven't fully understood your horse's body signals, then you're not yet ready for lungeing.
To start the activity, make your equine move out by shaking the rope and get the animal going in a circle while holding rope with a bit of slack. You can direct the energy behind the equine to help the animal move. This can be done with the whip by placing it behind the animal.
The horse may move too fast for comfort. Just stay relaxed and breathe slowly and then, minimize your pressure to slow the horse down. Hook the horse up to ultimately make it stop moving. "Hooking up" is a method often applied in groundwork. You should perfect it.
Sometimes the equine can be stubborn as it would take more from you to make it stop. If you have to jerk the rope more forcefully, you can do so. Just keep in mind that you are working to improve your equine responsiveness even with the slightest pressure. Sometimes you need to drop the whip for the equine to hook up and stop. Sometimes the horse is just too lazy and hooks up even when you don't want it to.
Always have a balanced training and never disregard a side. If you are doing things on the left side, make sure that you also do the right. End the whole activity by gradually pulling on the rope to move the equine towards you on the center. This is where you want your equine to end up.
Lungeing will help you learn more about your equine and teach it different gaits. The trick is to have patience, and a clear mind.
If you want to learn how to lunge a horse and know more about natural horsemanship, visit EasyHorseTraining.com. The website offers the best resources and Natural Horsemanship Training videos that you and your equine will love!
