An Improvement Exercise on the Lunge
To improve a horse’s co-ordination, balance and rhythm poles can be introduced into the lungeing exercise. By setting out poles on a bend the horse will raise and flex his joints. For a 16.2hh the poles should be around 1.2-1.5m apart, if the horse finds this too short or too long they can be altered a little bit at a time. (Bayley, 2004)
Figure 3 (Bayley, 2004)
By introducing jumping into your horses lunge work the horse can figure out striding and balance without having a rider on board. Jumping a horse without a rider can improve a horse’s confidence as having an unbalanced rider on top can scare the horse. The fences should start off easy and progressively get harder, it would be sensible to start off with an inviting low cross pole and slowly raise the poles, until making it into an upright. When using a cross pole the horse will aim for the middle of the jump which is good practice for when riding a course of jumps. (Bayley, 2004)
Figure 4, 5 , 6 (Bayley, 2004)