What is lungeing? What picture does that conjure up for you, as you read those words?
Boring – Pointless – Dangerous – Interesting – Useful – Beneficial – Scary – Unsafe – Impossible??
As with many other things in life, our thoughts about lungeing will be influenced by our past experiences.
There are many reasons that we might want to lunge. We might lunge to exercise our horse rather than hack out or ride in the arena. We might want to introduce our horse to poles and jumping on the lunge. There may be times when lungeing is recommended by a therapist or veterinary surgeon, to exercise our horse in a controlled manner or in a certain direction. Maybe this is to tone or build up muscle or to relax muscles for them to work more effectively.
However, sometimes lungeing can turn into our worst nightmare and the temptation may be to give up.
When I first had Jack he was thin and had little muscle tone and was very unfit. He was unpredictable when being lunged, became tense in his neck and fell in on both reins. Recipe for disaster! One day, although I normally used my own version of a running rein to lunge, I decided to use a Pessoa (a training aid designed to bring awareness to the horse of a preferred way of moving his body, encouraging him to step under his body with his hind leg and lower his neck and release his back muscles). However as soon as I put the roller around Jack’s tummy and the sheep skin strap under his tail I could sense more tension in him. The next time I moved Jack into trot on the left rein he charged forwards and sidewards at the same time, towards me. I had this image that he wanted to jump into my arms! I had completely forgotten about that image until some years later when I asked an Animal Communicator and healer to work with Jack. In one of her emails she described an image that she’d had; it was a cartoon image of Jack running and leaping into my arms! He wasn’t happy with the Pessoa.
From then on I decided to lunge without any training devices, despite the thoughts going through my head “but you were recommended to use the Pessoa” and “how else are you going to build up his muscles correctly?”
I remembered lungeing horses and just instinctively knowing where to be to encourage them forward, how to keep it interesting, how long to spend on each rein, what to do to encourage suppleness, when to reward, how to use my voice commands. The irony was that all those years ago I didn’t know what I was doing and how I was doing it!
As I thought back I connected to a time when I used to break in horses for other people, not long after I’d started my own business. I’d learned mostly from my Mum and from the horses that I’d ridden and worked with. During the early years of breaking in horses I followed my instincts, took the time I needed and learnt by my mistakes and from feedback from the horses. I had my own premises and I had no-one to question what I was doing. However, I often felt inadequate because I hadn’t done an apprenticeship at an Equestrian Centre. When I decided that I wanted to become a Riding Instructor and horse trainer (at the age of 26) I went off to Leigh Equestrian Centre in Dorset and on a day release basis, over a 6 month period attained my B.H.S.A.I. (British Horse Society Assistant Instructor)
Once I’d completed my training as a BHSAI and set up my business I started training students towards their BHSAI. I taught them by the book! I began to focus on how to hold the lunge line and lunge whip, I taught them to stand still in the centre of a circle (the worst thing possible for a stiff horse!!) and how to use the voice commands etc. But when they were lungeing a young horse or one with some challenging behaviour I became frustrated when I couldn’t describe what I knew how to do instinctively. I just had to take over and show them! I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t anticipate the horse’s movements or sudden desire to change direction. At that time I didn’t realise where I was getting my information from and so I certainly couldn’t pass it on.
Often the best method was to give the students the horse, sit down on a chair and watch them. Give them a few instructions about safety and set an intention and then allow them to work the rest out for themselves. If the horse or pony continually turned in, they needed to learn how to anticipate it happening, where to position themselves, what encouragement to give with the whip, timing, flexibility and how to move on after a perceived mistake.
The other problem for me back then was that I had little confidence in my own instincts and opinions and often felt that I had to choose between the BHS training I’d acquired and my own feelings and ideas. Over the years and particularly in the past few years whilst studying and learning the Epona approach I realise that true horsemanship is about combining both learned knowledge and intuitive wisdom.
On reaching this crisis point with Jack I realised that I had to go back to trusting my instincts. Every bit of my body was telling me that I simply had to lunge him from the headcollar or lunge cavesson with NO training aids! I had to make this experience easy and enjoyable for him – in a calm and relaxed atmosphere.
And so, here I was with Jack to lunge. He lacked forwardness, he was stiff, his movements and behaviour was unpredictable and sometimes he wanted to jump on top of me.
Why was I so scared? He didn’t respect my space. Even in the field when I was skipping out, I’m sure he’d have galloped over me if I hadn’t run the other side of the wheelbarrow! I fell into that emotional story “if I prevent him from coming right up to me, he won’t love me any more!!”
I tried various natural horsemanship techniques, but they didn’t work for me, in fact they made matters worse, because the problem at this time was with me and not with Jack. When I took the action I needed to take to keep me safe and keep him out of my space, I became anxious and frustrated and Jack picked up and mirrored my feelings.
It wasn’t until I had my first Epona session with Angela Dunning (www.equinereflections.co.uk) that the penny dropped. Once I acknowledged my feelings of fear and took responsibility to set my boundary clearly and keep myself safe and I’d identified with feelings of lack of self worth and my false self voices (“I thought you were supposed to be a horse trainer”) I was able to connect with the horse in a calm and confident way. The irony was that I achieved this learning even though Angela’s horse was simply walking towards me to say hello, because initially I responded fearfully because she was a horse that I didn’t know.
Recognising my fear and setting clear boundaries was the next piece of the puzzle and for the next few months I continued the lungeing sessions with Jack, feeling more safe. Now that I wasn’t frightened I could look at Jack with a different perspective. I now became aware of the lack of freedom in both his shoulders and his hindquarters.
Not long after, Jack and I had a fall on the road and I broke my collar bone. Arm in sling, unable to do too much with my arms I had plenty of time to work out my next step. During the next few months the learning that I needed came to me in quick succession.
Firstly I attended a course in the Tellington Touch Awareness Method at Tilley Farm. Then I attended several courses with Peggy Cummings of Connected Riding and I began to learn more about The Epona approach and began my training to become a facilitator of Equine Facilitated Learning.
Studying and incorporating the techniques of TTeam and Connected Riding into my work with Jack and with my clients’ horses has developed my understanding and awareness of the horse’s body and body movement. Together with the learning I’ve embodied through integrating The Epona Approach into my life it has taken my understanding and facilitation of lungeing to a whole new level.
I now combine the learning and knowledge that I’ve acquired from my BHS training with these techniques and with my own intuition and have a horse who is happy to be lunged and who can move freely from straight lines to circles, from one pace to another and who can bend uniformly through his body on a circle.
On my workshops and with clients I pass on what I have learned from these various techniques and training and I help clients develop their own intuitive wisdom.
Rosie 
