I have a homebred yearling warmblood. She is 15 months old and so far I have been letting her be a baby and not pushing her with breed shows etc and just letting her grow up. She is very quiet and leads, stands, etc perfectly. Alot of horse people I know have been encouraging me to teach her how to lunge now rather than later when she’s big. I was out at the barn yeaterday and decided to put her on the lunge line and see what she would do(aka if she would be bad or if she’d behave). I spent about 15 minutes just doing walk trot stuff, and she was better than any horse I have ever taught how to lunge. I know that alot of people don’t lunge the babies becauses of the impact on their joints(i totally agree with that) but I was wondering what peoples opinions were on once a week or so doing a little bit of basic lunging stuff
THANK YOU 
No. 15 minutes longing a yearling? Yikes! Wait another year and then think about once a week for 5 minutes. She’s got 25 years ahead of her, plenty of time for longing.
I see zero reason NOT to teach a yearling the basics of walk, trot, and whoa at the end of the line.
I don’t think you need to refresh weekly though if she really has it :). But if it’s entertaining for her then 5 minutes total, with you also walking a large circle, won’t cause any problems.
It sure is nice to have them knowing how to do this if you need a lameness eval done 
My yearling spends about 5 minutes once a week on the longe, mostly walk-whoa transitions with a few times around at the trot. He’s been doing it for about a month and is doing great. I do not like to do more than that with my babies – too many circles are bad for the legs. No cantering at this age.
If they start to get bored/master the easy stuff, I put a headstall on and longe them with a bit. Then my son’s 2 pound leadline saddle, getting used to the flopping stirrups and girth. I like to lead them over poles, and make sure they trot over them on command as well on the longe probably in a few months. By the time they are ready to ride at late 2/early 3, the only thing left to introduce is weight on their backs. Most I can just get on and go.
Walking around in a big circle for 5 minutes is not going to hurt a colt. Pounding them around in a circle could.
Just to clarify the 15 minutes was mostly spent getting her to not come in the middle to get treats and walking around… I wasn’t trotting her around etc for 15 minutes
If she has the basic idea I wouldn’t over do it. It is so stressful on their growing legs. If you have a calm well broke horse have you considered ponying her instead? You can do all 3 gaits ( lightly), get her some needed exercise and expose her to life outside the arena at the same time.
I agree with JB. I teach the basics of move forward and whoa early on. I will ask them to do this on a longe line. What I am really looking to accomplish is a dialog between me and the young horse. I ask for them to open and close their circle. Move out when asked and whoa and stand. I will go from standing still and having them circle me to driving them forward on a straight away. It is like combining ground driving with longing. That way there is less stress to their legs and I get the added bonus of a little exercise. Once they master this I don’t really do it more than once a month. Most of our lessons consist of long trail walks where they see new things and have to cross and encounter all types of footing. I find that working their mind is far better at this age than working their bodies. Good luck and have fun with your young horse. They can be so much fun
I like to ground drive mine before lungeing, interspersing straight lines and curves at both walk and trot, not usually lungeing until they can ground drive big loopy figure 8’s at the trot wearing both saddle and bridle (with the lines feeding through the stirrups. This prepares them both mentally and physically for lungeing so it is (a) likely to be much less stressful, and (b) their bodies are much better conditioned to withstand whatever stresses there are. With regard to backing-- I like the advice Paula Turner gave me on a particularly skittish filly: “don’t get on until you can drive her all over the farm and she stays quiet as an old mule!”
I think a little lunging with her is fine, but once she understands it there’s no real use for it with a 15 month old. What would be much more benefical to her at this age is introducing her to scary stuff (tarps etc) maybe practicing some Clinton Anderson techniques with her, working on trailering, getting her off the property and away from the other horses…and also getting her out on trail walks with an older horse to make her feel comfortable. Taking her to shows and stuff will also make a world of diff for her when she’s older.
I did tons of trail “walking” with my now 3 year old when she was 10 months up until she went out to be broke. She was REALLY afraid to leave the other horses for a very long time…now I ride her alone in the woods and in fields far away from teh other horses and she doesn’t bat an eyelash. I’m grateful every day I work with her that I did so much work on leaving the other horses and going out into the woods alone. It wasn’t always fun for her, but it sure did make her wise beyond her years for a 3 year old
I’m stunned so many people here work their yearlings. I wouldn’t. Ever. If you speak to most people who back horses they prefer to get a green untouched 3yo than one that has had a lot of work and handling so there’s no advantage to lungeing a yearling. There are a lot of major down sides to it the most obvious of which is too much stress on young joints, tendons and ligaments.
My advice would be to turn your yearling out in a field with a group of friends and let them grow up for another 2 years. 3 is plenty early enough to start training a horse.
A short time on a big circle learning the basics shouldn’t do her any harm. Just don’t overdo it.
Ditto. This has been discussed many times and there are always advocates for teaching yearlings to longe. I am not one and never will be.
I have found that if the lead well from both sides, (and by lead well I mean walking beside the leader, not trailing behind) that learning to lunge is a non-issue. I usually wait to try it out until they are two, but I have yet to have it be more than a 5 minute session, and I haven’t found any reason to repeat the lesson…once they know it, they seem to know it, as long as I continue to lead them correctly.
THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE FOR YOUR ADVICE ETC!!! I’ve always been a bit skeptical about lunging her and I knew I couldn’t hurt her with what I did the other day, but I have decided that I’m going to mesh everyones great advise and do more of the exposing stuff, taking her on trails etc and maybe doing the walk stop things on the lunge line once in a blue moon
Thank you again!!!
A few minutes a couple of days a week to teach the valuable concept of lunging is hardly “work”, and certainly isn’t going to damage legs. If it does, you have far bigger issues to address
I taught my WB gelding to “lunge” as a yearling and didn’t do it again for probably 2 years, but if he had needed a lameness exam, he’d have bed able to trot out there for 30 seconds
I will teach my foal to “lunge” as a yearling and then won’t touch that again until he’s 3, but if he needs a lameness exam he’ll be able to trot out there for 30 seconds.
This isnt about teaching them to lunge for exercise.
It generally takes a horse about 5 mins to learn the basic idea of lunging; after that it’s just refinement.
Personally, I think you can do your long yearling alot more good by taking them to breed shows or ponying them out on the trail…getting them use to being alone, expose them to different sights, sounds, etc.
All of this is FAR more beneficial (in my mind) then teaching them to lunge.
I agree completely Kyzteke. Taking a yearling out and about, travelling them in the lorry with other horses and on their own, learning to stand quietly at shows, leading them on quiet roads so they get used to cars and cows and motorbikes is incredibly valuable. Teaching them to lunge is something I believe to be potentially damaging and something that can significantly shorten their useful working life.
Once again, ditto. The problem with teaching a yearling to longe is that there is the definite potential for a yearling to go wacko at the end of the longeline, with things getting quickly out of hand. That can definitely cause damage to young legs. Is that danger unlikely? Maybe, depending on the experience of the person holding the longeline. However, IMHO it is much safer to do the things mentioned in the quote above while saving the longeline for the 3 year old.
Also, lameness exams can be done trotting a horse in hand or turning out in a small paddock or round pen. There is no reason to have to chase one around on a longe to diagnose a lameness.
More dittos here! I get the feeling that some folks just have way too much time on their hands and end up inventing exercises for their (too) young horses.
I agree with this. Refreshers just re-confirm voice commands.
