Lunging: the view from the center of the 20 meter circle

I don't know about the rest of the equestrian world, but turning my feet in a circle to guide a trotting horse around and around makes me dizzy. I expect it makes the horse dizzy as well. It took me many months to convince Archie that this was a good idea. He knew about natural lunging (no line, round pen) but thought that my standing there at the end of a piece of rope expecting him to go around me was a very poor variation of this. He would pleasantly make a few casual passes around and then stop, look at me and say, "You're kidding, right?"

This winter saw a huge leap in his positive activity level as I took a firmer position on who's in charge here but not without cost. Even now I can expect that Archie will demonstrate his displeasure in this form of exercise by at least one, and usually two embarrassingly dramatic leaps, caprioles or sideways plunges at a noise, shadow or shape. After that he resigns himself to the boredom and moves around with some show of participation. He does do all his gaits on verbal cue but his favorite one is still 'whoa'.

 

Although I appreciate the concept of lunging, I wonder if it can't be improved upon for both lungee and lunger. I have compiled a short list of pros and cons and welcome creative suggestions for possibly re-thinking the 20 meter circle from the inside out.

Looking at the plus side of lunging:

1. The horse burns off excess gaiety with me safely on the ground. His dips, plunges and whooshes are confined to the arena area at the end of a (20 meter) rope which extends from my hand to his bit. 
2. The horse practices balance without having to balance a human on its back.
3. Lunging is great for the "cold-backed" horse, which is apparently a label Archie is pinned with. This means essentially, that he requires an overtime warmup to get his system happy.
4. Lunging is great for the cold-backed rider as well as the constant release and draw of the lunge line as the horse trots around, feeds warmth into cold muscles.
5. Lunging is a good way to avoid riding when you are too lazy, don't have time, or feel it would be in the best interest of the horse to relate to you on the ground rather than on its back.
6. Moving your horse in a circle for a while may convince him to express any negative feelings prior to your coming onboard rather than during.

The cons of lunging?

1. The horse may challenge the very underpinnings of the conceptual idea of running around in circles at the end of a 20 meter rope.
2. It annoys everyone else in the arena who is trying to to ride horses who are not attached to lines.
3. Trying not to fall over while trying to balance a long coil of cotton rope, a long lunge whip and a horse.
4. Constantly reminding yourself not to let the rope wrap around your hand or thumb so that these parts do not detach themselves should the horse express a sudden interest in plunging outside the designated circle.
5. Actually convincing your horse to attempt athletic tasks he isn't particularly interested in doing even though you're the one holding the whip.
6. Using a lunge whip in an intelligent and positively encouraging manner that does not mean wrapping it around your own legs.
7. Wondering if you can  stop now and just get on.

photo courtesy of the Cowgirl Diary

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Comments

[Katherine]

Instead of just standing in the middle, you can also walk a circle. I like to have a traffic cone to walk around. That way I can maintain a circle and not end up wandering all over the place. This method allows you to work your horse on a bigger circle if you wish while still being close enough so that controlling your horse doesn't feel like a long distance effort. You can vary the size of the circle that you walk and also the length of lunge rein that you use. For the lunge whip, having several good practises away from horses will work wonders, or at least it did for me.

[Meg Robbins]

Thanks Katherine: I love this--everyone has said that i MUST stand still and that has always been a challenge and makes the ticking clock hands feeling more profound. The traffic cone is visually appealing but I was also thinking about being taller. Tell me more about practicing with the lunge whip? Are you of the hold it cleverly and casually behind you or the pointed towards the horse at all times school?

[Katherine]

It sounds to me that your lungeing skills are very basic. Nothing wrong with that.Think of lungeing as long distance riding. There is so much that I could tell you that I scarcely know where to begin. I think it would be easier for us to have an ongoing dialogue about this. You are welcome to write to me. I would also love to see some video of you lungeing.

[Meg Robbins]

Great--what's step one?