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LUNGEING THE YOUNG HORSE..PART 2

Last week, we looked at the very basics of lungeing the Young Horse. Assuming that your horse is now familiar with his surroundings and responding to your verbal commands, it is time to move a step further.

The object is to make the horse bow to the trainers will, teach him to balance himself correctly and to begin to understand the language of the aids. Making your horse run around in a huge circle will achieve nothing. Conversely, lungeing your horse on too small a circle will have little value and may even cause physical damage.

As before, quietly lead your horse into the area where lungeing is to take place. Now would be a good time to help your horse to become accustomed to the lunge whip. He should never be afraid of the whip, at this stage it is used as a pushing aid in place of the rider's leg. Touch his body with the handle and gently pass it over his hindquarters.

Ask your horse to "walk on" as before, only this time, gently push him away from you with the whip. If at this stage he breaks into a trot, it is not important, the main thing is that he is going forward. Allow him to go on for a few strides then gently bring him back to the walk and halt both verbally and by applying gentle pressure on the cavesson. If he tries to come in towards you from the circle, gently point the stick at him encouraging him to stay out. Remember to keep the circle as large as possible, this will be much easier for him as up to now he has only moved in straight lines. Remember, at this stage, the side reins should be so long that they have no effect on the horse's mouth. Repeat this exercise on both reins until he responds to your verbal commands.

When you are satisfied that your horse is going forward in a relaxed manner accepting the bit, the side reins can gradually be shortened until the horse can take a light contact. It is vital that the side reins are always of the same length except on very rare occasions, much later. Never be tempted to achieve the desired outline by over- shortening the side reins, this will only have a bad effect on his action. You should now find that you are able to drive your horse forward whilst containing the energy with gentle pulls on the cavesson.

The object at this stage is to have your horse lungeing easily on both reins, obeying the commands of walk, trot and halt. If all goes to plan this should be achieved within the first week. If however he remains confused, then start again at the beginning.

Take great care that your horse is never overworked. Introduce each stage gradually and as the desired responses are achieved, reward him with lots of praise and try to finish each lesson on a good note, the last thing a horse will remember is first thing he will remember next time.

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