An insight into my own Dressage training routine... Lunging

In my lessons, I often recommend lunging the horse as a great way to educate the horse without a rider on top.

This short clip is a great little insight into what I am aiming for when lunging my horse: A relaxed forward thinking horse swinging through the body gently stretching into a soft contact.

Whenever I don’t have the time for a ride or we had a good couple of rides, I like to mix things up and include a relaxing, stretching body-softening lunge in our training routine.

I also lunge when it’s dangerous riding conditions (very windy), when we’re coming back into work after a little holiday or when my intuition tells me something is ‘a bit off’ that day (no joke).

Lunging is a great way to observe the horses movement, work on their suppleness, contact, impulsion & collection without the horse having to also consider and balance the weight of a rider in the saddle.

There are many different ways and approaches to lunge a horse. Sometimes, I use a Pessoa lunge system other times I use bungee rubber system, today, here at Walgrove Ranch, I didn’t bring all the lunge gear we have at home, so I used my reins as side reins. This is not the way, I’d normally recommend as first preference, but Ollie is an experienced horse at lunging, so he is a bit more forgiving.

I rarely lunge my horses without any gear, as I believe in gymnasticising the horse’s body during every session asked I want to positively shape & soften their body rather than reinforcing existing (negative) movement patterns. If I just want to play or relax with my horse, or give a Reiki treatment, that’s a different story.

Currently, I am educating myself to learn more about double lunging and in-hand work, as Ollie is starting with the more collected work and his Piaffe & Passage.

Do you use lunging as part of your regular training routine? How do you lunge your horse?

Namasté,

Anna