We've been teaching my horse how longline/double lunge and

[Lunabear1988]

It’s been super fun! My trainer did the first few sessions and then last week I took over the lines for just a little bit. The concept was actually easier to grasp than I thought it was going to be but I will admit I was awfully nervous. It just seems like the kind of thing that can go wrong quickly and my horse is definitely not super solid yet.

But the fun part is I’ve been able to watch my horse in a different way and kind of observe how he thinks a little bit more. Now we are rehabbing so that complicates things a little but I still think I’ve gotten some insight on him.

He can be spooky. He absolutely does tend to be more spooky if he’s uncomfortable. Like I said we’re rehabbing and he’s getting more and more comfortable so less spooking.

But one thing I realized watching him, is he really does not like not knowing the answer. When faced with a question that he does not know he does tend to get a little bit nervous and tends to overcomplicate things. Sometimes you can even see him holding his breath! And once he lets out of breath you can literally see the gears turning in his head and starting to figure something out.

Once he feels like he knows something and feels confident he totally puffs up!

He also tends to look for something to spook at when he’s not totally understanding the question or if he’s a little unsure. Like my trainer was getting ready to ask for the trot on the lines. And you could see him go I’m not so sure what you’re doing back there and his attention promptly started to drift to the outside and start giving the hairy eyeball to something outside of the arena. Once she got his attention back, he remembered what she was asking and settled and trotted it like a pro!

He’s an interesting horse. He’s definitely teaching me a lot even though rehabbing’s not fun. Lol. But I’m hoping it will all be worth it when he feels 100%.

[Lunabear1988]

Also I think on his second session with the trainer, she was walking over to the very “spooky corner.” It’s a corner where there’s a large garage door opening to the rest of the barn, there’s bleachers, a concession stand, we’re all the jumps and poles are stored. There’s a lot going on. Well someone walked through the door which honestly does not happen very often on that side. And they were talking to the trainer. The trainer very politely stopped my horse. I was watching from the sidelines and you could see that my horse was very tense. He wasn’t very concrete about the idea so any changes from walking to even stopping made him a little nervous. He was trying to be good but he was kind of prancing and you could just feel that if anything were to move just right he was going to explode. I could see on my trainer’s face that she was trying to be very polite to the person talking to her while also keeping kind of a nervous eye on my horse.

I asked her if I should walk up and give him a pat on his neck. She agreed and when I walked over there and petted him he let out a huge breath and lowered his next several inches.

There’s times when you need to be firm with him and keep his attention and then there’s times when he seems to need reassurance. I think I can tell the difference although it’s definitely a lot to think about. I do think all the spooking and nervousness should melt away in time. His spooking has been a telltale sign to me when he’s not feeling 100%. He’s always been a little bit hypervigilant and I think that’s him to a point but he can be pretty workman like too.

I find this stuff so interesting!

[goodhors]

We long line a lot, in developing our driving horses. We have VERY long lines allowing the person to stand in the center of the circle, walking along with the horse. No pivoting, driver is walking all the time in a much smaller circle. This allows person to see the entire body, how horse is using himself in various gaits. He has no worries abour “What are they doing back there??”

Handler in the center also is NOT hanging on the lines, giving no release to horse going correctly! Few folks can walk with a big mover, so rein pressure can be heavy, constant. You can see rein release from the side of horse, as he does what you asked, gets his reward!

Our horses do well with this way of long lining in about 60ft circles, not cramped into tiny circles allowed by most long lines. They walk, trot, canter, develop balance, rhythm, hunt for the bit, learn the various needed trots used in driving. We do run the lines from bit midway down his barrel to keep him BETWEEN the lines. Outside line is run around his rump to your hands. This helps you control both ends of horse. Lines run up high on his back will allow him to twist under them, tying himself in a knot, you having no control.

You do need a long whip and long lash to be able to flick horse from the center, in case he is ignoring you. Touch is usually all that is needed. I buy cheap driving whips ($20-$25) with long sticks, 6ft, add parachute cord to get my lash long enough. They are MUCH lighter to manage than cheap lunge whips that are top heavy, lash is way too short to reach him out there.

[Lunabear1988]

Yeah we’ve been doing it more to the side of him than actually behind him. We also do it over his back for now because we try to behind his bum But that seemed to make him a bit too nervous mostly when changing directions. But maybe he’ll get there one day.

Luckily he’s about 15.1 hands and not a huge mover so he’s really easy to keep up with! We mostly been doing just around the arena, very curved lines and no circles at the moment since he’s rehabbing. I do need to get a driving whip, thanks for the recommendation! For now we’ve just been using a dressage whip. But since he’s so new at it that’s been enough. Although when he gets more comfortable I would think we will need something a little bit more proper to be able to influence him.

[cayuse]

Have fun Lunabear! I long line my minis all the time and just started with my old man pony (26) to give him a job to do and both of us some exercise. He enjoys it, I have some “walk only” dressage tests and we work on that. Makes him think he’s special, which he is .

[Lunabear1988]

I bet that is super adorable!!!

[CanteringCarrot]

I love long lining.

I really think it’s valuable to be able to actually see the horse, and you can learn a lot from that, just like the OP said.

It’s kind of interesting what we can learn or are “forced” to learn while we are rehabbing a horse or otherwise not riding/working them as normal. I think some people could stand to spend more time in the ground with their horses. We often focus so much on the riding/in the saddle component.

[Bogie]

When I got my latest TB he was too skinny and had lost too much muscle to be ridden. While feeding him up, I long lined him a lot to get his body moving correctly. I long line out in a field up and down hills, and started him on some trails, too. My old instructor (British), said her son used to run behind the young horses through their village!

[Demerara_Stables]

Omg I love your whip idea! I HATE long lining with a longe whip because they’re so heavy. I’ll give that a try!

[Demerara_Stables]

This is great! Congrats! I long line all of my babies before they go under saddle. A few tips I give clients that are learning:

1. the horse has to know forward. One of the worst things that can happen is they get their legs tangled in the lines, and that only happens when they back up and/or spin around. If they have a very solid “go forward away from me (handler)” cue, this doesn’t happen. I’d rather have a horse spook and run forward than back up.

2. your brakes and steering are way stronger on the ground, so be very light in your hand.

3. start small. I long line on large circles, but in the beginning, the farther the horse is away from you, the harder it is to correct them quickly. If you’re right next to/behind them, you can change their pace/direction before they get too far down a bad path.

4. start small with your lines as well. Handling long lines that are longe line length is HARD. If you’re not going on a big circle, start with shorter lines and work your way up to longe length as you move to a circle.

Have fun!!

[atr]

I completely understand about the spooking when not understanding the question or not wanting to do something mentally or physically challenging.

It’s a process when one is rehabbing to unravel whether that’s the issue or whether it’s a physical pain response, because they’ve learned very quickly that we will stop asking the hard question if they spook, whatever the reason.

And of course we back off because we are worried we are hurting them, but they really need to learn that’s not an appropriate response to being asked for something new or difficult vs. actually painful.

No. I dont know the answer!

[Lunabear1988]

Yes let me watch him and learn about him in a totally different way. Even more so than watching my trainer ride him. Because when she’s riding him I’m also concentrating on her body and what she’s doing. Long lining there was more time to focus on my horse and what he was doing. I found it very interesting and I think it will only help our relationship grow.

[Lunabear1988]

Thank you! As I posted before, he’s a bit weird about the transitions. At first he didn’t want to move from halt to walk easily. And then when you would get him walking he kind of look like a freight train. I think it’s just him trying to understand things. But the last session when I did it with my trainer he actually seemed to be more at ease from the transitions from halt to walk to walk and halt. Even though I’m a lot more clumsy I do think there’s a little bit more comfort having “mom” on the lines.

Another thing interesting is he seems to really like us a lot closer. Still out of the kick zone but definitely not with as long of a line as some. I find this to be very typical of him. He’s a bit of an insecure horse and likes to have someone near him, reassuring him. Although I think longlining will also help that confidence over time too.

We’ve only done about four sessions total with him so far.

[Lunabear1988]

I try to still expect him to at least try to listen to me regardless of the reasoning of the spook. Obviously I sympathize if it is discomfort but in the moment I try to still expect him to be civil acting. And then of course next time I would act accordingly. (Look into why the discomfort.)

There was one point where sometimes you couldn’t get him through the spooking. And to me it did feel like he just couldn’t let it go. Almost like he would if he could. So that to me really seemed like pain! Because usually you can get his focus back and sometimes he doesn’t spook at all and be very relaxed. I will admit it took me a long time to convince everybody that it was really a physical reaction and not him just being lazy or whatever. But I knew in my bones that it was discomfort. I think we are on the right track now.

[goodhors]

Good tips! My husband says to drag the long lash in the dirt or mud a few times when “starting a new whip” to give it a less airy feel. Lash goes better when directed when carrying a bit of dirt.

[Demerara_Stables]

Oh no but that goes against my “everything has to be spotless” OCD

[Demerara_Stables]

Sometimes not going forward is because of bit pressure. Just the weight of the lines is a lot for some horses. Can you try him in a halter (if you haven’t already)? Just like riding in a hackamore, you lose some finesse with steering, but in the beginning that might help him then you can transition back to a bit. As long as you have brakes!

Staying close is fine! I mostly go to the circle so I can trot and canter them (and I’m lazy ).

[Kyrabee]

I still long rein & ground drive my 21yo mare. There is no indoor where I board so if the outdoor is not rideable, I slap the long rein on and we drive around the property roads as long as there is no ice. I figure this exercise is a better for her than just hand walking. I do leg yields (minus the leg ), SI, rein back and we have started working on TOH. If she has good energy, I might ask for some half steps. I usually just use her halter…it is a Hybrid halter with the typical halter rings but it has a rope noseband.

Here is a little snippet from last year with a little work in the arena in summer. I take caregiver for my 94 yo mother so my barn time is pretty limited. I figure some long reining is better than nothing.

August 26, 2022

[Lunabear1988]

Well he was started western so I think part of it was he thought we wanted some type of disengagement of the hind quarters. I think it was just confusion as he’s gotten better each session. The brakes can also be an issue but we could possibly try a halter too. But it’s gotten better, he seems more confident in what we are asking.

[Demerara_Stables]

That’s great! Patience and time are the most helpful. You’ll have fun with it!