Expert: Sarah Lothmann - 9/11/2009

Question
Hi Sarah- Just a quick question about lunging. My horse tends to come in on the circle from time to time while lunging. She's very good in every other way, but I'm struggling with how I teach her to move out on the circle and away from me so the line doesn't go slack. I don't use a lunge whip because if I even have one in my hand, she takes off at a super fast trot or canter the minute she sees it, so I just use my hand or the end of the rope to cue her to move forward. So I can't use it to poitn at her shoulder to cue her to move out. Is there a way I can desensitize her to the lunge whip and not to fear it and teach her it won't be used for any punishment or scare tatic, or a way I can teach her to move out on the circle without using one? Her previous owner was rather rough and she is a very sensitive horse, so I imagine she was chased around with the whip at some point hense her fear of it. Thanks!

Answer
This is a bit tricky!  Below are a few links that can help clearly explain proper lunging technique.  My best suggestion is to slowly gain her confidence back with use of the whip while combining proper body language (yours) to guide her through your commands. The links below do explain this process quite effectively.  If after reading the articles and applying the techniques you are still encountering issues, then please get back to me and I can delve deeper into the process.

http://www.artofriding.com/articles/lungeing.html

http://www.infohorse.com/correctlunging.asp