by L Hurley

Created on: November 21, 2010

Clipping a long lead to a headstall or bridle and allowing your horse to cavort around on the end may be a great way to get rid of excess energy before mounting up but it is not strictly speaking lunging. Lunging or longeing is a controlled manner of both training and exercising a horse.

Lunging has many benefits including building correct muscular development, balance and rhythm, obedience, confidence and respect in the young horse or in the horse that requires retraining. It is also a good way to exercise a horse and keep it fit when rider time is lacking.

In order to lunge a horse you need the correct equipment. A lunge rein, a lunge whip, a snaffle bridle and lunging cavesson, a roller or a saddle with the stirrups removed, side reins and finally brushing boots.

The lunge rein needs to be long enough to allow the horse to move on a 20 meter circle without the need for the handler to move. On a 20 meter circle the distance between the horse and handler is a minimum of 10 meters. A 15 meter lunge rein is useful as it allows room for error without providing too much excess rein for the handler to manage.

A lunge whip is a long whip that is used to encourage the horse to move forward on the circle, signal a change in gait and if necessary to prevent the horse from turning in toward, or charging, the handler.

Starting at the head, the lunge rein is attached to the D ring at the centre of the cavesson. By using a lunging cavesson there is no need to stop and adjust the attachment of the lunge rein to change direction. If you don’t own a lunging cavesson you can attach the rein to the rings of the snaffle bit. The rein should be passed through both rings and brought back to be clipped on the ring closest to the handler.

Attaching the rein through both bit rings provides more control and prevents the bit from being pulled through the horse’s mouth should they fight the rein. When you wish to change direction it is necessary to call a halt and reattach the rein on the new side.

A roller is buckled around the horse around the horse’s girth. Side reins are attached to the lower D’s of the roller or the girth buckle of the saddle and clipped to the rings of the bit. Start with the side reins loose and gradually tighten them one hole at a time, equally on either side, as the horse gets used to them.

Tightening of the side reins should occur over a number of training sessions and never be too tight. A horse that is obedient and fit should be able

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