Lunging a horse is something that many folks do but a low percentage seem to really understand the why’s and how’s. There are quite a few reasons to lunge a horse – in the horse training world, lunging can be used to educate the horse, to help the horse to learn to wait and attend to instructions – to go stop, back up and change gaits. It can be used to take the top (energy) off before riding a young or fresh horse. Lunging can be used to assess injuries and wellness or simply to help the horse maintain consistent gaits.
Lunging is also helpful to allow the horse time to get focused before a ride. I have heard a lot about using lunging for “respect“. I disagree with the terminology and would rather see it as lunging to teach fear, to tach the horse to be afraid of the trainer – and being afraid, while it may very well lead to the horse getting out of your way – is not the same thing as respect. My dictionary tells me that respect “is a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements“.
In the Vaquero world, lunging is mostly about laying the foundation for basic and effective communication, and is mostly used when starting a colt, helping to set perimeters for directional cues, gait changing and stopping cues in preparation for riding. Once horses are being ridden lunging tends to be used less often, unless it is for a specific purpose like a wellness check.
I don’t want to make a deep dive into lunging, there are too many (often debatable) things to think about, but what I would like to touch on is foot position while lunging. A common mistake is stepping backwards while lunging, doing so encourages the horse to step towards you, as it does when you lead it, and can cause it to inadvertently invade your space.
Another odd thing people do is walking in big circles with the horse, as if it is being lead in a circle. In this case, the horse is not learning to be responsible for its own movements, it is learning to follow – moving away from pressure towards the lunger. Another faux pas is constantly giving cues (nagging) taking away from the horse’s own work – it is not being trusted to make its own decisions.
Watch the horses:
If you observe how horses move each other in the pasture you will notice that the more dominant horse goes where it wants, when it wants, and the other, lower, horses step aside. That is part of what you are trying to achieve in lunging, to signal that you are the leader of the herd – not a bully, a leader! As you watch you will notice that cues given by one horse to another don’t involve punishment, running in kicking and throwing a fit. Rather, the cues are far more subtle, the glance of an eye, the turn of the head, or the twitch of an ear.
So, think about the direction of your feet, just as the dominant herd member goes forward, the lower tiered horses step aside. If the person lunging steps out of the way of the horse, the signal is being given to the horse that it is elevated to a higher position. And this can have serious consequences with some dominant type horses. Pay attention to your own foot position and the signal that sends to your horse.
Back to the lunge:
As you lunge clockwise, plant your right (pivot) foot and step around it with your left so that you are turning at the same speed as the horse. Orient your body so that you are facing your horse’s hip, not his head, and do not orient yourself to the same direction he is heading in. When you step as if to cut the horse off, by stepping as though your trajectory will intersect with his head, or a line slightly ahead of that, you will usually cause your horse to either slow, stop or change direction.
When you switch to the counter-clockwise direction do the reverse, your inside foot (left) becomes the pivot foot and steps (apparently) towards the horse, helping create impulsion. You should be basically standing in one place creating the illusion, for your horse, that you are stepping towards him – he will understand the subtlety better and faster than you will.
You might experiment by doing the reverse, and switching the pivot foot, then stepping backwards with the inside foot. You should notice your horse perceiving that step as an invitation to come into your space, and he might start cutting you off.
I have posted a video on your tube with my grandson, Michael, aka “Lil Rip” demonstrating what I am talking about, check it out here by clicking the link.