Lunging of ponies for hours on end!!!

[woldse]

This is something the bugs me!! I saw one particular pony lunged for 3 hours while I was waiting for a class yesterday!! It had a few moments break where it had its sign reins off (they were so tight it was unreal) for it's bridle to the be put on and it's reins tied behind its saddle!! So this pony had its head tied in all this time!! 10 mins before it went in the ring it was allowed to stand but only while the quarter marks were being done! I am sorry but this is cruel. I believe that if you need to give them a bit of calmer fair enough but lunging for this long is dam right cruel.

[shawnthesheep]

So what did you say to them about your feelings about it?

[woldse]

I made my feelings perfectly clear when I asked if they thought it had been lunged enough the elderly lady lunging it look at me as if I was something she stood in and carried on!
Today i have written to the bsps with their back number and what show etc and hope that it will be dealt with.

[nia2311]

In future, if you see this sort of thing, I would report there and then to the show secretary. Many show grounds state no lunging anyway, so they may well have been breaking those rules.

[shawnthesheep]

Jun 22, 2013 20:37:53 GMT woldse said:

I made my feelings perfectly clear when I asked if they thought it had been lunged enough the elderly lady lunging it look at me as if I was something she stood in and carried on!
Today i have written to the bsps with their back number and what show etc and hope that it will be dealt with.

Well done for standing up for the pony, but how rude of the lady to dismiss you like that :-( Well, let's hope something is done, for the sake of the pony!! This person had set a very bad example to others at the show. :-(

[pipandwill]

I cant stand this, to begin with, these ponies should be schooled correctly and not need hours of working in.
Fair enough, a young pony who is very green and excitable, a quick lunge for 10mins at a show, but hours and hours of lunging, is disgusting. How those ponies legs tolerate it I will never know.

There should be some kind of enforced rule that enables any excessive lunging to be reported to the secretary of the show and for said person to be removed from the showground.

[smalley]

Urgh I can't stand it, especially tiny tots ponies, if they're meant to be for a child to ride they should behave properly and not need lunging until they're half dead! We went to a local show and a lead rein pony was being lunged in the warm up which wasn't the biggest arena anyway so there was no space for others to work in - there was a jump up for the workers but you couldn't jump it because you'd crash into the pony! Also the lady had apparently not noticed the several big NO LUNGING signs... the judge soon saw it and sorted it out.

Agree with pipandwill, 10 minutes for a green pony to have a look round and let off some steam, or if a horse has been really naughty (at a young event horse qualifier and a horse bronced the rider off in the gravel carpark for no reason, it was on the lunge after that) but most of the time it's unnecessary and also is annoying for those who want to work their horse in properly

[19simeon56]

The pony isn't allowed any chill out time in the field as it might hurt itself so therefore it's on it's toes because it's well fed and stabled 24/7,so then it has to be lunged long and hard with it's head tied down because the chances are that the child rider won't be able to control it because he/she hasn't had the correct training either and being totally cynical,at the end of the day the pony doesn't matter it's the red rosette and the £££££'s when it's finished with that matters to the owner or producer.

[mollymalone]

The more they lunge it, the fitter it will get, and the more and more work it will need to wear it out!
A non showing but horsey friend came to one of the Championship shows one year with us and they went and complained to the secretary about a pony that had been lunged for hours, and the secretary was very dismissive and said it was up to the owner how they worked the pony in!

[stephjw1]

I could only lunge for about ten mins max anyway because it makes me fell so dizzy and sick poor pony

[madmichelled]

i know people who lunge for couple hours before show and then 2hours miniumum working in being held in tightly before class quote "you need them on their last legs so they havent got the energy to play up in ring seen this with lr fr and opens " disgraceful i only ever lunged a pony once at show and that was my lr his first ridden show with my little girl who was 4 , and only lunged just to see how he would react to all the new things espeacially as wet windy , was for about 10 mins max , luckily id spent hours showing him umbrellas flapping coats as youngster and he was good as gold although at first was like a deer on springs he had good look at everything settled very quickly bless him
!!

[Elvis]

Surely its all about having fun and not ruining the pony

[snowflake]

I agree, nothing against a lunge to take the edge off, but lunging for hours on end is awful to see & unfortunately it isn't uncommon.

[whispers2012]

Dreadful stewards should pick up on this!