Lunging a young pony

[samson'ssista]

Hey everyone! I have a 3 yr old gelding who is a large pony that I got last winter. He is lead trained and does great with leading but that causes a problem when I want to lunge him. He won't go in a circle around me he always walks directly back to me because he thinks I'm leading him.
Any advice? :confused:

[Div]

I had this problem with my youngster when I got him. It's perfectly normal, after all, horses are not born with an instinct to run around in circles!

First you need to teach your horse to move away from you. When leading, you teach your horse to move with you, but for lungeing he needs to willingly move away from you.

To teach him to move away you will need a long crop or a dressage whip (NOTE: Don't ever hit him with it!!). Have your pony on a lead and stroke him firmly (not gently, it will tickle) with the whip. All over, down his legs, under his belly, the underside of his neck, and his rump. Keep it away from his head.

Once he is used to the whip and stands calmly to be stroked with it, you can start to teach him to move away. Stand facing his belly. I'll assume you are right handed; if you're not, just reverse the hands.

Hold his lead rope in your right hand and the whip in the other. Take a step or two back so you are a foot or two away from him. Hopefully he stays still. If he heads towards you, just walk towards his tail. This will make him spin. If he doesn't move when you step back, that's ok. Say something or make a noise to get his attention, hold the whip out and towards the ground, and step towards his tail. Gently tug the lead so he follows you. Keep facing his back end and if he keeps following you, you have him spinning.

Once he's spinning, you're halfway to lungeing. Let out the lead rope a little more and keep him spinning (warning: you may get dizzy!). Hold the whip up, parallel with the ground, just behind his tail. It's important that you can be quick and he doesn't reach you with his head when he spins. You may need to move quickly. But be ready; if he stops suddenly you don't want to go barelling into his flank. He won't like that.

Once you've had him spinning well, the next step is to get him moving forward and bring the spinning into it. DON'T try to make him go forward until he is spinning well. Lead him forward, but not how you would normally lead him; stand as though you are going to make him spin again, but step to the right and lead him forward (in other words, face his belly and walk sideways). Once he has taken a few good steps forward, step toward his flank and make him spin again. Repeat. Gradually let out the rope so he is further from you (not more than a few feet at this point, though).

Eventually, he should begin to circle. When you lead him forward, he will step forward, then when you move towards his back end he should turn slightly towards you, but keep moving forwards. Don't expect more than a few steps on the circle at this point. When he faces you, make sure to head right for his flank so he doesn't get to face you.

Every time he turns towards you, go back to the spinning again. He needs to learn to have his head away from you. The trick to stopping the 'facing you' problem is to move faster than him, and really watch him; when he looks like he's going to try to face you, step right towards his flank.

If your pony is the sort to face you (like mine was) you're in for some very rapid spinning. It's dizzying, but eventually he will stop trying to face you all the time. Just make sure to keep up with him. If you feel too tired to keep up with him, stop for a while. Never keep going when you're too tired to keep up, or he'll get his way and keep doing the same thing.

Good luck, and I hope this helps!