A number of people said “lunge him a lot”, so it wasn’t targeted at you! 
So many people don’t have TB experience anymore, and while extensive lunging of a warmblood, QH, etc. a lot can make them safer rides, the opposite is often true for TBs.
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Lunging can be work, and as close to actually riding as one can get, if done right.
It’s not and shouldn’t be just all racing around
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I posted in reference to somebody specifically saying “lunge, lunge, lunge and lunge some more” or something similar upthread. Not referring to getting the fahrts and kinks out or a specific exercise with a goal for the session.
LTD is not a training tool.
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There is no way I would get on the young / fresh/rehab horse without an indoor arena. This is from someone with a lifetime of experience with all types of horses.
OP I would pass on this arrangement. Contact the people you met and rode with over the last year and tell them you are still looking
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You are right I did not explain enough. When lunging with side reins think of 10 minutes as equalling 1 hour of being ridden. Lunge lunge lunge means daily or twice a day until he is hoof perfect and going like an old school horse. But only 10 minutes of actual side rein work and you build up to that as you want them lunging calmly in walk trot and canter without side reins first. You do not start with 10 minutes in side reins. You start with only once a day. Depending on the horse this could be weeks or months.
In my case I was banned by my husband to get on when noone was home alone. I am always home alone, so I lunged and did not think about getting on. She went from having a foot between tracks left by front and hind hooves to actually tracking up. She went from bucking if the grass waved or the wind blew, or a bird flew, etc, to not bucking, She was very long backed and our farrier said she would never track up. Yes, she did track up.
It was then I realised she was hoof perfect and going like an old school pony, with boots bouncing in the stirrups, with jeans stuffed with newspaper. Going over cavelletti, whatever.
I hopped on and she never bucked again, she stumbled one day and went down on her knees and just stepped up again and stood with no buck. She had bonded with me with the lunge and there is nothing like bonding with a mare.
Working a horse on the lunge lets them find their balance, their own temp and a rhythm. This is working a horse and you do end up with a compliant horse. You can lunge a horse at a higher level or levels than you can ride.
Lunging without side reins you end up with a fitter horse who is not compliant.
I learned my lesson with that when I started lunging my boy without side reins. It was quite a while. Then a rear, jump up into the air and a twist. I lost my stirrup but stayed on. He learned that I did not come off. I learned that I could come off.
I went back to lunging him with side reins, quicker than you could blink an eye. My compliant horse came back.
I taught my husband to ride. He had never ridden before. I gave him a tb as his first horse which is against the rule of not getting a tb or Arab for your first horse. Hubby was taught how to lunge correctly by me. I had no qualms going and staying overnight a hour away with him riding alone at home. Horses are well muscled and in good condition. They are not fed anything heating and I know he knows how to lunge and to judge whether to get on or not. We also ride with toe cages, so he cannot be dragged.
If the owner is not on board with lunging instead of riding, the owner can bring the horse back into work any way they want and you do not get on the horse until you see it going under saddle in a way that you know you are safe to ride it. The owner is not going to pay the Hospital Bills when you come off.
Do not be sucked into riding a horse who is out of work, especially if it is winter and cold.
Everyone on these forums are told never to go and see a horse for sale and get on without the owner getting on first. It doesn’t matter if the owner is pregnant or has a broken leg. In that case they get someone else to ride the horse not you. That advice is 100 percent the people on these forums. If you cannot see someone on the horse first you go back to basics and as if you are breaking in the horse.
Do not be pushed into getting on this horse until YOU feel safe to do so. You are not being paid to do it. Your Hospital Bills will not be paid.
Above all else, whenever you do anything, anywhere, think how you could do that safer.
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