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  Discussion on "enforcing" down transitions on the lunge
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 5, 2002 - 2:37 pm:

Hi everyone, I need some help convincing my horse to give me a down transition on the lunge. She loves to go, and under saddle I use a lot of seat to get a down transition. On the lunge, I have no idea how to enforce the voice commands. I am quite sure that she knows the voice commands -- she responds to them perfectly when I am telling her to go faster! But when I ask for walk from trot, or trot from canter, she gives me a little toss of the head that just says "make me"! And she keeps going.

I lunge her in her bridle with the reins detached, and the lunge line through the bit on the inside and over her poll to the bit on the outside. My technique has been to start with the voice command alone, then add a small tug on the bit with the command again, then a harder tug, etc. (I am trying to give her an incentive to obey the first time.) It usually takes at least four or five times around an ever-shrinking circle to get the desired response. I try to be very consistent with my body language, standing "head on" to her, facing her front, when I want her to slow down. When I use a whip (which is very rarely), I make sure to point it at the ground. But inevitably I am really hauling on her mouth and she may be cantering an 8-meter circle around me before she changes gait.

I always make sure she has a chance to gallop around off the lunge before we start. Then we spend the first few minutes just walking. I like to have her do a lot of transitions on the lunge, but boy they are tough!

Thanks,

Lisa

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 5, 2002 - 3:09 pm:

Hi Lisa,

I am not a professional by any means, but I have 2 things that have worked for me:

1) If you ask your horse for the transition and she does not give it to you after 3 tries as you stated above, you can try the reverse psychology method and say "if you won't listen to me when I want you to stop, maybe you should just run more! - meaning, make her continue cantering even faster till she is BEGGING to come down to a trot. Let her trot a circle, then ask her to canter another two, then ask her to trot again. If she refuses to come down again, push her on till she is BEGGING to come down to a trot again. Once she is, ask for a trot and praise immensly for her "good" behavior. The trick is to hold out to ask her to come down to a trot when her inside ear is tipped to you instead of forward. When it is tipped to you it means that she is listening and watching you and will probably respond favorably. If her ear is pointed forward, she is not listening, and therefore you will most likely not get a favorable response to your command. This really worked with my horse who like to tell me what to do - I just turn it around and make it harder to do what she wants so she starts to like my idea better.

2) you can also take your lunge whip and flick it about 1/4 of a circle in front of her - this works for a very quick stop for my horse in an emergency.

Hope this helps!

Marci

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 5, 2002 - 6:28 pm:

For down transitions, try turning a bit sideways to slow her (you show her your narrow side), ask for the down transition with a soft, drawn out voice with a tone and, initially, gradually reel her in closer to you until she slows down, then feed the lunge line back out.

Until a horse is better on the lunge, I like to use a lunge cavasson as that removes the chance of doing anything inadvertent to her mouth.

Good luck.

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 6, 2002 - 9:06 am:

My mare does this too - she is generally extremely well behaved on the lunge but whoa and walk seem to be Greek to her. Nothing anyone has suggested really works (including different vocal commands such as the German pppsssst, the English halt, etc etc).

Don't pull on the bit. Move yourself (the centre of the circle) so that she has to circle into the fence to stop her eventually without hassle/pulling.

I have had some success with using a repeated routine (5 mins trot without any gadgets in either direction. Then a canter to get any bucks out. Then walking in a chambon and trotting. Change direction. Then trot and canter both directions. Finally a walk - even if I have to put her in the fence first to make her stop cantering). She's very smart and quickly learns routines so she kind of got the hang of the walk at the end eventually.

If you find anything that works please post it here so I can try it too!

Imogen

Posted on Saturday, Feb 9, 2002 - 1:02 am:

Hi Lisa,

It seems to me that you need to back up and re- teach her to lunge. Try putting her back into a halter with a chain over her nose or lunging caveson. When she says "make me", you have the leverage to enforce your wishes with out damaging her mouth or poll. She will follow her nose and by pulling hard on the lunge line with the new arrangement, you can effectively knock her off balance and cause her to slow down.

If your still having trouble getting your point across, then you can use a corner to slow her down or stop her. Be sure the fence is high enough and stout enough that she cant go over or through it when you maneuver her in to the corner. You will have her attention because her options are listen to you, or run into the wall.

-Be sure to use your voice to reinforce your commands so that you're certain she understands what your saying.-

You first ask her to Trot (presuming your transitioning down from a canter), then use the lunge line and/or wall to enforce the command, and then repeat to voice command to reinforce the communication. You need to be saying the command "Trot" while the mare is trotting. And finally, tell her she's a good girl. Give her your best happy voice, she'll know it and love it!

After she has mastered the downward transition with the halter/chain or the lungeing caveson, you can add the bridle while still using the halter or caveson (meaning the lunge is connected to the halter/chain or the caveson). Then move on to wearing both and connecting the lunge line to the bridle. Then you can dispense with the halter or caveson and she should understand you with perfect clarity.

Good Luck!

Mrs. Dennisaj
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