What age is it safe to start lunging a young horse?

[Hampton Bay]

When do you start any real lunging work with a young horse? I am not talking about teaching them the basics, but more lunging as work?

I have a 3.5 yo Arab who knows the very basics of lunging, but I have not really done any true lunging work with him. I want to protect his joints from that kind of wear and tear as long as is needed. We have no need to lunge him at this time, and he can wait as long as is needed. But how long is that?

Long-term soundness is the main priority here. No hurry to get him to a certain point at a certain time.

[slc2]

I would longe him lightly for about a month before I planned to first get on him. So that would mean I would start when he was three years and five months old, keeping the amount of longeing to a minimum, not over ten minutes, frequently changing direction, and only slowly increasing the work done. If the horse was in a stall and paddock, and not getting a lot of natural exercise, such as by running in a herd in a large pasture, and not getting ponied, put on an exerciser or driven, I'd give it two or three months, starting and progressing more gradually.

[DressageGeek "Ribbon Ho"]

My trainer has done an enormous amount of work with babies of many different breeds, and by 3.5 years of age, they all know the basics of free lunging. We do have an indoor of the perfect size for this. The time you spend will depend on the horse involved, teh weather, that session, etc. But I would say that is certainly nto too young to start doing this kind of work.

[Hampton Bay]

Oh he knows the basics, and has been free-lunged in a medium-sized arena. He is also already under saddle, though he knows little more than stop, go, and steer. He's a very easy-going boy.

It's not teaching them to lunge that I am curious about, but about actually using lunging as a tool to help them learn about balance and contact.

At what point is it fine to start more than stop, go, and change directions?

[angel]

At three plus, your Arab is old enough to actually begin saddle training..lightly, of course. When I started horses, I worked them up to 30 minutes on the lunge (40 minutes when conditioning for halter). The work was mostly done in trot, with just a little canter and walk. I would change directions every five minutes. At the very beginning of lunge work, I would only do 10 minutes or so, but this progressed to 20 minutes fairly quickly. How quickly you ramp them up to the full time rather depends on watching how the effects of lunging are impacting them. At the beginning of the saddle training, I would do about 10 minutes of beginning saddle work after the lunge session, and that would be it for the day. I always used splint boots.

Do you have anyone that can properly show you how to adjust the equipment that I assume you will use, especially the sidereins?

[Hampton Bay]

He's already begun his saddle training. And I do know how to properly adjust sidereins, etc.

My question is in regards to the stress that doing work in small circles puts on developing joints. At what age is that no longer an issue?

[DressageFancy]

Lounging in small circles always puts stress on joints---young developing joints, old developed joints. You are better of to ride large circles (20 meters)/ decending circles (20 meters down to 15 meters)/ leg yeild out to large circle (20 m) again to teach balance and rein contact.

[angel]

I agree with the previous poster, in that lunging is somewhat stressful, no matter the age of the horse. That is the reason that you want to change directions frequently, and do very little canter work on the lunge. I use a 60-ft diameter, and only go smaller when I am varying the size of the circle inward and than back to outward. I never just use a small circle for lunging.

If you horse is under saddle, the benefit of lunging before you begin the actual saddle training is several fold: 1) Get the horse's attention; 2) warm-up the horse's muscles more quickly than will happen under saddle; 3) conditioning if done consistently over a period of time.

You might want to consider starting some longlining work rather than just pure lunging, if you are looking to improve on training. With the longlines, I do not recommend using sidereins. I also would suggest that you get the horse comfortable with lines dangling around his hocks before you actually begin longlining work. It is also very helpful to start teaching the horse to longline in the lunge pen, and when they are comfrotable with that, then move out into a small riding area, preferabley one with a fence.

[Hampton Bay]

Thanks for answering the question. Unfortunately I no longer have a round pen, so long lining might have to wait until he can lunge in a circle without tying himself u in a lunge line. He's already fine with things hanging all over him, so that shouldn't be an issue.

For him a small circle is going to be 20m. Most of the "work" he does is in straight lines or circles/curves about twice that size. His legs are still all over the place, so much smaller and he's getting tangled in himself. He's just a big goofy baby, even if he is 3.5 years old.

[Eclectic Horseman]

Longeing always creates stress on the joints. So does riding! You will get a lot of differing responses, but you have to look at the size and maturity of individual horse. A horse with better (symetrical) conformation will do better than one with poor conformation or some developmental problem with the joints.

Assuming that your horse is a typical small, light Arab (14.3 to 15 hands, 750--900 pounds) and has no conformation or developmental issues, then longeing is probably less stressful for him than being ridden. A 20 meter circle is relatively bigger for a small horse, and your weight is a heavier percentage of his total weight than it would be on some 17 hand WB. I've read from authoritative sources that the joints of the spine are the last bones to harden and mature.

That being said, I start 3.5 to 4 year old horses on the longe to give them the basics without a rider (10-15 mins 3 times a week) but transition to riding within a 90 day period, and at the end of that they are pretty much doing all mounted work. After that, I longe them only occasionally.

[Petstorejunkie]

At what point is it fine to start more than stop, go, and change directions? When he is ready. sounds like a stupid answer but it's the most accurate way i've come up with to say it

[Hampton Bay]

When he is ready. sounds like a stupid answer but it's the most accurate way i've come up with to say it

Well obviously, but mentally he was ready as a yearling. Physically is more the concern here :)

This boy is big for an Arab. He's 15.2h, around 1000lb. Most people mistake him for an Anglo or WB cross.

[goeslikestink]

i wouldnt lunge a young horse as it puts stresses and strains on undeveloped legs and mussles far better to long line - as it will teach him baisc commands foarwards focused and straight
also helps build up the top line and then i would only start of for 20mins or so as in 10mins each rein
if how ever you dont know how to long line theres a few tips on my helpful links pages
and perhaps skip over to the driving forums as well
find a dressage trainer that can actually lone line properly or a driving instructor

and perhaps also read mouthing and bitting article by thomas one on the this link
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=223453
also read all of page one and all links on my helpful links pages as its all relevent and will help you