Why do we keep on lunging so much?

Many may be wondering why an earth do we keep on lunging so much. Also why lunging and not long lining/reining. So, I thought to just jot down some reasons why we are doing this and what the aim is in the end. And (of course) it’s all Art2Ride…  

As I wrote on one of my earlier posts, we learned to long line over a decade ago and preferred that since you have immediately better control on both sides of the horse. In fact we may have lunged our old boy Jack only once or twice. Of course we started long lining our new chap as well here in Sweden. However, that never really worked well… As I have told earlier in my long lining post, it was due to him having been a harness racer. When I found Art2Ride nearly two years ago, we switched to lunging work and do get a lot more proper work out of that. Long lining work has been on the backburner, just because it needs so much more work to get it right with our boy. 

To me lunging is riding from the ground but without the riders weight on the horse.

It requires as much concentration and coordination as riding. Since I don’t keep the horse on a small circle the whole time while lunging, but use sometimes even the whole school, I can keep on going for far longer than you would traditionally lunge. That is, the horse’s legs won’t get overly strained from lunging this way, in fact the legs get less wear and tear with this type of lunging than riding, since there is no weight on the horse’s back. So, instead of staying put in the middle of the circle, I keep on (most of the time) walking with our boy. This allows me to lunge on an oval or rectangular as well, if I want.

When lunging, I keep a contact to the horse with the lunge line as my reins and use the lunge whip as my leg aid. This means that the lunge line should not be slack and he should take contact with the bit.

Aim with all this lunging is of course to build up our boy’s topline muscles (back, upper neck and abdominals). The optimal working position for doing this is when he has his head long and low. That is, when he reaches towards the ground with his nose and stretches it forward. The lower the better. This position supports the back and allows the muscles to work and relax – not just contract all the time.

Now there are many out there saying that doing this will put the horse permanently on the forehand and one will never get the horse up and collected. And yes, if you let the horse slouch and don’t ask him to work properly through his hind and back, you will not get anywhere with this method. However, if you make sure that the horse works properly, that is, steps under from behind in good pace and rhythm, you are working his muscles. It is the optimal way to work a horse that does not yet have proper topline muscles. Once the horse has developed some muscle on the topline and can maintain a nice rhythm in the gaits while stretching on a long and low outline, you can start asking for a higher head position when riding.

That is, the final aim is really not to keep the horse always on the long and low position… it is just a tool to build up the topline so that the horse can keep on working optimally through it even when his head is higher. Have a look at the fourth video of the work from Amber and Legolas, this is where I'm also aiming at. 
The cue to get back to long and low is when the horse loses impulsion and rhythm. The long and low work will in time get less, but you return there after any harder work to relax the muscles. It is also best to start with long and low to warm up the muscles before getting into any harder work.

Did not realise here June 2013 that his back was dipped,
he did not use his belly and was moving forward from
his forehand... Quickly seen, this photo may thus look ok,
but looking at it more critically, you will spot the
signs of no topline... 

The difference is very clear between a hollow back horse without topline muscles and a horse with his back up and using the topline. Everyone can see it, if they just know what to look for. When the horse lowers its head, you can start to see the back (behind the saddle) muscles visibly move. He also steps under immediately more when the head is low than when his head is high. Lower neck relaxes and upper neck muscles become visible. Later on in the process these upper neck muscles pop out even clearer. And further down the line you will start seeing the belly muscles working (a muscle line starts to show up along his belly).

Here working thru topline and with the back up September 2014.
Movement does not yet come all from the back end,
but we are moving the right way... ;)
and collection is perhaps a year away (fingers crossed..). 

With our boy the first thing I noticed (well over a year ago now) with the long and low work was that the hind legs did suddenly not drag along scraping the ground, but were lifted up and placed on the ground… and that change was immediate. After about 6 weeks or so of systematic long and low work the next big change in him was that he lifted his back up while I was riding him. That is, it took about that long for his back to develop enough muscle to start carrying me on his back. It was a day of revelation alright. And made things very clear to me. This work was paying off alright.

So, the matter of ‘being on the forehand’ while stretching him on long and low outline.

Yes well, if I would train him any other way, he would still be on his forehand… This way I am in fact eventually getting him off his forehand through building up his topline optimally. When he has enough muscles, he will start pulling up through his withers and automatically release his front end. But this requires a lot of muscle building work. According to Will, it will take between one and two years of systematic work to get into that position. Work without set-backs such as injuries… ;) A year to build up the topline sufficiently with mainly long and low work, and then another year to reach true collection. Since we had the set-back in the form of shoulder muscle injury, we are still working on our first year of muscle development at the moment.

And yes, unfortunately a horse is on his forehand automatically, if he doesn’t use his topline to move forward. Things may look fine and the horse may seemingly be on a good outline, but if the back, belly and upper neck are not up and working, things are not what they seem… 

I have also found it very useful to lunge before I ride. Lunging this way warms up his topline nice and well without my weight on his back. Then when I get on him, riding is a lot easier and I can start working immediately. Everybody is happier. :D He can be ridden and warmed up without lunging, but still, he is better with the lunge warm-up at the moment.  

The only lunging aids that I would consider using are the chambon and the side reins. Chambon has worked wonders with our ex-harness racer, who has been so used to running around with head high... With side reins you just have to make sure that they are long enough so that the horse can stretch down and out and not get restricted or pulled backwards when stretching. We have had to add new holes on our side reins... But if we use something, we mainly use the chambon, since it works so well with our boy. Not having to be at all tight - in fact it's pretty loose, it just somehow makes him be more concentrated on the work.