Longeing...How Do You Know You Are Getting the Right Results?

Please Note:

 

Before teaching your horse to longe on a line, you should have successfully taught your horse basic ground work such as leading on a line, stopping, backing, moving forward when asked, as well as round pen work. Your horse must respect you before you teach him/her how to longe. Longeing is not where you start in training your horse. It is good to teach your horse once the horse respects you and understands all of the above-mentioned training.

 

I like to teach a horse to longe, so that if a round pen is not available, you can still work with the horse in a "round-pen-like" setting. There are trainers, who I respect, that disagree with me on this; however, nothing is set in stone...there are others who practically start the horse on a longe line...so, what works with one horse may not with another or in the exact same way. I think it is important for all horses to learn how to longe and be respectful while doing so. Why? Well, for instance, when you go camping or even at some shows, there may not be conveniently available a round pen to work your horse in if say for some reason s/he is having a bad day and needs an attitude adjustment. If the horse knows how to longe, you can basically accomplish your goals while longeing, rather than due without because of the lack of a round pen.

So, with this preface, and keeping in mind that longeing is a sub-set of round penning, I hope you find the following helpful.

Longeing your horse is one of the most important training aids you can use to form a connection with your horse. And it is not only a training aid it is also a great exercise tool used to keep your horse in shape both physically and mentally. Longeing allows your horse to go back to the basics for reinforcement so you can keep him/her finely tuned. A finely tuned horse is more pleasurable to ride...most of the "quirks" have been worked out on the ground, rather than when you are riding.

Longeing is great to use when:

• The horse is green and needs to be taught how to give to pressure and when to become submissive.
• Teaching the horse to give to pressure, become rounded, and flex while moving forward.
• The horse is uneven in his/her gaits or will not hold a gait.
• Using a new piece of equipment; since the horse is not used to how this feels on his body, s/he may act up. It is better to be on the ground, if this occurs, rather than mounted.
• When a horse is "fresh" from sitting in the barn; work all his/her additional energy out before you mount and are taken for a heck of a ride!
• Reinforcing previous training; use longeing as a refresher course. Reinstate any training that may not be coming easily to the horse.
• Use for physical and mental exercise, especially when you may be too tired to ride...yes, that does happen on occasion...especially at older ages! Come on admit it...it does!

Equipment Needed

1. Longe Line
2. Longe Whip
3. Coordination on your part - when longeing the horse to the right (clock-wise), you should hold the longe line in your right hand and the longe whip in your left, so you can drive the horse forward from the hind end. When longeing the horse to the left (counter-clock-wise) you hold the longe line in your left hand and the longe whip in your right. Seems ok, right...go ahead try it...it might not be as easy to coordinate as you think. Don't worry, with practice it will become second nature!
   

Attaching the Longe Line

To correctly attach the longe line, do the following:

• With a halter, you can attach it in one of two ways:
  
  1. On the halter, thread the snap through the side ring at the bottom of the cheek on the side of the horse in the direction you are longeing, then under the chin, and finally snap it to the opposite corresponding ring (i.e., longeing to the left, thread it through the left side lower cheek hole, under the chin, and snap to the corresponding right hole).
     
  2. On the halter, thread the snap through the side ring at the bottom of the cheek on the side of the horse in the direction you are longeing, run it up the side of the halter on the same side, parallel to the cheek strap, then up over the poll, down the other side parallel to the cheek strap, and finally snap it to the lower cheek side ring. This is a more severe method of attaching the longe line.
     
NOTE: The direction you are threading the longe line always starts from the point outside the halter, threaded through to the horse, and then essentially threaded back out again.
• With a bridle, only use a snaffle O-ring or D-ring bit, never use a shank bit for longeing. Attach as indicated in #1 or #2 under "With a halter" above, using the bit ring in place of the halter ring.
  
  However, if you are using a side pull bridle as shown in the following pictures, ALWAYS attach it as in #1. Never attach it as in #2. Using the poll method of attaching the line puts severe pressure on the already sensitive nose and causes the jointed bit to press strongly on the bars of the mouth, both causing pain. The results are horrible for both you and your horse.

How Do You Know You Are Correctly Longeing a Horse and the Horse is Correctly Responding to You?

Well, the other day, when it was not raining, I was longeing our reining / working cow horse mare, Kali, who is green broke and somewhat on the hyper side of that calm quarter horse demeanor! It came to me that she was doing all the things a green-broke, more on the hyper side, very talented horse would be doing as the longeing progressed. So, in the very beginning I decided to take pictures and document this to help you...check it out: Before I get into the pictures and start explaining, a few things to remember about longeing:

1. If you want the horse's movement to be forward, you must push from behind at the hip and hind end, using the whip to push, not strike. So, this means your body must be positioned behind the horse's shoulder when pushing the horse forward.
2. When you want the horse to stop, you must place yourself in front of the horse's shoulder and position yourself closer to the horse. 

Keep in mind, that by this time the horse should be sensitive to you and very aware of your movements. Start with only slight pressure and increase the pressure only if you do not get the desired results. Once you have achieved the desired result (move forward when asked, stop when asked, etc.) release the pressure and do not add more pressure unless you are not getting what you asked for initially.

I cannot stress enough this golden rule when training horses:  Ask, if you do not get what you want, add a little more pressure and ask again. Immediately upon getting what you want, release the pressure and do not add more until you are not getting what you asked for initially.

If you do not get what you asked for, you have a very, very short window of time to ask for it again and get it. Most times when you do not get what you are asking for, it is because you are asking for it incorrectly, not that the horse is bad. Most times the horse just does not understand what it is you are asking for. Make sure your body position and movements indicate to the horse what reaction you want from him/her. If you are correct, apply more pressure and ask again.

So now after all that, how do you know you are getting what you are asking? Follow along with the pictures and captions to see how it all progresses.

Initially I started longeing Kali with a halter and longe line. Well it started out not very well at all. She was ery distracted and had no connection with me at all.

Very stiff, not bending at all, both ears forward, not listening.

Staring off out of the pen, still not listening or bending.

Finally, ears are turned slightly back listening, body more rounded and bending slightly.

I stopped her, turned her in the other direction, and did the same on the other side until she was listening and bending in that direction too.

Now it was time to move on to the half breed sidepull bridle. This is a great training bridle that teaches the horse to give to pressure through the nose band and bit combination. It is an O-ring snaffle with no chin strap and its design applies pressure to the nose and poll to learn how to properly respond to the bit. The horse learns to follow his/her head by following the pressure on his/her nose.

In this lesson, the reins are used as side reins attached to the cinch. To start, the reins are even, the inside one is not shorter than the outside. At some point I stop her and shorten the inside rein enough to create a visible bend to the inside of the circle. As the horse works, she learns on her own to yield or supple her neck laterally to escape the pressure of the side rein. To reverse her longeing direction, the side reins are evened up, then the inside rein is shortened slightly, and the exercise is repeated in the opposite direction. I will continue this combination in one direction on the longe line until she understands giving to pressure and rounding herself...that is she is bent in the direction she’s traveling and flexed slightly at the poll. Once she understands this, the process is reversed and started all over until she understands it in the opposite direction. Remember, horses are left and right brained. What is taught on one side must be taught on the other for the horse to learn and understand.

The pictures only show her lesson going in one direction. The same was done in the other direction but is not shown here.

Side reins are even; she is not bending in the direction she is going or flexing at the poll.

By the reins, she is counter-bent and very unbalanced as seen by her leg placement. However, look at her ears; she is beginning to listen - her inside ear is back slightly.

She is beginning to straighten her neck as seen by the even side reins and since her inside ear is slightly back she is continuing to listen. However, she is not bending yet and her feet are way underneath her. Good thing she is very talented and can balance well, otherwise she might be down for the count!

Ok...now she is getting it. The inside rein has been shortened slightly so she is learning to bend to get away from the pressure caused by the shortened side rein. Her head is beginning to give at the poll and she is beginning to bend in the direction she is going. Her inside ear is back and she is listening.

Head is lowered, body is bending towards the inside of the circle, and her overall look is more relaxed. Check out the inside ear. It was not caught on camera, but she is also beginning to lick her lips. A sign of submission.

She is now getting in her groove. Bent around the circle, feet moving gracefully and correctly underneath her, head lowered and even though you cannot see it from this angle she is flexing (bending) at the poll.

Looking much better, relaxed, inside ear back indicating listening, rounded, and bent at the poll.

There it is! Everything is right. Rounded (check out that arc), head down, inside ear listening,  flexed at the poll, supple, feet under her properly...how great does she look!

Again...understanding her training.

  

And the release. See how her whole ambiance is 180 degrees different from the beginning pictures. She is beginning to understand that giving to pressure is relief for her.

After this, she was reversed and the entire learning process was repeated until she understood it in the other direction also.

So. when the horse has his/her ear bent backwards to indicate listening, when the lips are being licked, and you have a well rounded horse who is bending in the direction of motion around the circle with head lowered, then you have achieved the outcome you want at longeing.

Remember to reward with the release and to always end the lesson on a positive note for both you and your horse!

I hope this has answered your questions about longeing. Please provide your comments and ask any additional questions you might have about this. If you need help, I am available for lessons... for you, your horse, and you and your horse together. Please refer to the Packages/Rates page and the Contact Us page for more information.

Have a great day! Danelle

Bored on a Rainy Saturday...Found a Fun Non-Horse Related Site

Well, it just shows you what boredom can produce...I took this quiz...check out the questions at www.blogthings.com/whatplanetareyoufromquiz/ ... to find out "What Planet are You From?" and it seems some cosmic joke has deemed I am from "Uranus"!

These are the results...which are fitting, but come on...Uranus !!!!:

You Are From Uranus

You Are From Uranus

You shine with brilliant creativity, and you're more than a little eccentric. You love everything unusual and shocking. You're one far-out chick or dude. Anything unconventional excites you - and you have genius potential. Just don't let your rebel side get the best of you, or else you'll alienate everyone. Your creative ways and funky attitude is all you need to be you. Check out http://www.blogthings.com for some very interesting quizzes that might give an insight to a previous life? Maybe??? If not it is certainly fun and passes the time on a drizzly day that cannot be spent doing much more fun things...that is, riding!

My Only Comment for Today!

Worked with Bubbles on Longe Line

I spent time yesterday working with Bubbles on the lunge line. We like to keep all the horses fresh and responsive to their roles as mounts when we give lessons. Bubbles never forgets to properly respond to queues given. After longeing, a 50 pound sack was tied to his saddle (to emulate, as closely as possible, a child riding him) and I worked on queues given to him while leading him around for lessons. His responses are so positive that within 45 minutes of starting, he was finished...free to go roll in the arena and have some quiet time to himself. He is so easy to work with, it's like a dream.

Update on Marie's Lesson - Saturday Morning

To recap, Marie was having problems getting Pepper into a lope, so she rode Bear to learn how to do it. Once she learned the proper procedure on Bear, who is easier to get into a lope, Marie had to ride Pepper for her lesson on Saturday and get him successfully into the lope, applying proper leg aids.

So how did it go? Well...ultimately she did fantastic! However, for the first 12 tries she got him to lope after taking approximately 5 to 8 walks / trots. This was an improvement over the last time she rode Pepper, since she barely got him into 2 steps at the lope when he immediately broke down to a trot, walk, or whatever he wanted to do, not what Marie wanted him to do. So yesterday, after Frank got stern with her, she got him to go directly into the lope from both a walk and a trot. SUCCESS! She discovered she had not been giving him leg cues with a strong enough spur...she was tickling him and he was laughing at her! So, the majority of Marie's next lesson will be spent reinforcing the queues given to send Pepper into a lope immediately when asked from a walk or trot.

It's great when things go as planned!

It's Saturday...Usually a Great Day About All Things Fun and for Running Errands!

Well, it's 6:16 AM and I am actually running a little late. It's the beginning of the month when all ranch supplies get purchased for the month, so I only have to worry about getting the minor things we run out of as the month progresses. This allows me to concentrate on the more fun things going on at Sunset Ranch. So, once all chores are done around the ranch, I will be off buying feed and running errands. Then when I come back I will order supplies online. Once this is done, say about 9:30 AM, I can start fun things...today I get to take a short ride on Kentucky Lake / Tennessee River to test out a jet ski a friend wants to buy! Cool...then it's back to the ranch to train one horse and give another a bath. All of these make for a GREAT day!

This morning Frank is giving a lesson to Marie from 8:00 to 9:00 AM. Marie has been riding only a short while and she is doing fantastic! Check out some pictures of her riding Pepper in Gallery.

For Marie's last lesson, she rode Bear, instead of Pepper. This was a good change up for her, since Pepper and Bear are 180 degrees opposite in personality and riding temperament. Both are kind and gentle; however, those are their only common traits. Pepper, being so "laid back" needs to be pushed, making him an excellent beginner's and child's horse. Marie had been having an issue getting Pepper to go into a lope, so Frank put her on Bear for her next lesson. Bear needs no pushing what-so-ever, so it was easier for Marie to get Bear into a lope and learn how to ride it. Today, maybe to her chagrin, she will be riding Pepper again so Frank can assess what she learned while riding Bear. By creating a stronger foundation for Marie while riding Bear at the lope, Marie should be able to get Pepper to go into the lope more easily now. Look for a post about the results.

Well, it's getting light outside now, so off to open the chicken condo up, feed and water them, feed and water the rabbit, and feed the horses. Pepper has an early day and no one wants him grouchy since he did not get an ample breakfast!

....Later!