ok, so the lunging...
remember, I've been able to lunge all previous horses I've had with no difficulty whatsoever, and have lunged one of Natasha's that others (her groom, for instance) couldn't...
It's not me doing the lunging in these videos, it's Gaynor; he won't do it at all for me (the best we can do so far is him walk round me in a circle). It was so bad at one point that even reverting to someone leading him round from the outside with person standing properly in the middle didn't work - as soon as person leading let go, he turned in! happily, we are, we think, beyond that...
and getting to this point has taken a year of working on it off and on.
Last year, we rather came to the conclusion that it was something that had never been established with him when he was first started.
there's another vid that i'm struggling to upload as it's rather large which i hope shows G able to stand her ground - i remember we both commented that it was the first time she'd been able to do that with him
Sometimes with the lunge whip we think its a shade too much for him and then it's best to remove that by dropping it, which is what happened.
Anyway, once the other vid is loaded I'll link that in (thought i'd done it last night, but it isn't there... must have not pressed some relevant button on youtube!)
As for in hand work. I've been reading Oliver Hilberger's Schooling Exercises In Hand, which is excellent. very slightly different from that which i had been doing, and put it into practice tonight. We had been improving on that already, but this was a LOT better, and i was even able to do as recommended and turn him to right bend whilst still being on his left. Much the best of the books on in hand work I've read so far, the photos are good and the text is pretty good as well. Would like to see it replicated on video as well. Anyway, looking forward to more of that work now!
and hoping this all translates into something useful on longlines, as that needs a lot of work as well. We've had similar issues as when lunging - a propensity for turning in and an unwillingness to go forwards. Lesson Sunday coming (touching wood, have had to cancel so many lessons for injury this year it's been ridiculous!) on that...
Cool. I knew you'd have done a lot of research on your own.
ReplyDeleteAs a former racehorse Monfils probably did not have a lot of longe training. But he's never too old to learn.
Clearly you are on the right track at this point.
The longlines can get pretty tricky if you have a horse that tends to turn in like that. It's one of the reasons I like to put the lines up on turret rings at the top of the surcingle rather than using them around the hind end as it traditional and probably more effective in controlling the hind end. But I've had my horses wrap themselves up in the line the other way when they've refused "forward" spun to face me and then started to back up. As you must well know, that's a real mess.
It would definitely help to get the regular longeing (lungeing--or whatever is most accepted) sorted out first.
Hope you get a good lesson in...injury free!!