Lunging at shows

[Philippa]

Having contacted 2 equestrian centres recently prior to entering their shows thankfully I've been told no lunging on site or no lunging on the surfaces and nowhere else available in winter.
Now I'm ok about it, it's winter and it was just to start the season off. I just aren't going to go to these shows as I have LR ponies and they need working in prior to their classes. I'm not saying lunging for hours on end but you wouldn't expect to take a ridden pony in without working in to warm it up. There's then the argument about adults riding ponies in at shows.

So where does that leave the LR owners who need to warm their ponies up but can't lunge and darent get on in case the organisers jump on them for being too big??

[sarahp]

Warm the pony up with leader and rider, or even just led? I suppose the point is does the pony (nothing personal here) need heavy working in to quieten it down for the child, or does it just need to stretch its legs to loosen up?

[catkin]

I think this is a really valid point. Even the best of ponies sometimes need ten minutes to help settle them in what can be quite wild surroundings at some shows. And the babies should definitely have the benefit of the doubt and be worked so they are not fresh and silly before they go in. I think actually, this is more important with FRs than LRs. I am not talking about hours and hours bottoming them, but just a quick work-in to make sure everybody is communicating properly! So, if you cannot lunge and larger riders cannot pop on for a quick trot round, it makes things extremely challenging for a mum taking their home produced pony to a show with say one or two children, neither capable of working the pony in quite often dangerous collecting ring areas. Correctly, calmly trained and produced ponies last longer and do a better job and I think this new rule will definitely have an impact unless sensibly policed. The idea is a good one, but I do have my concerns about translations!

[gillwales]

Walk the pony round inhand for half an hour, we used to do this with our youngsters to settle them and see the sights if they were fizzy. Personally I think lunging at a show, esp with restricted areas, is dangerous, so easy for other ponies to get tangled up, the alternative is to lunge before you leave home to take the edge off of your pony .

[Philippa]

Sometimes ponies need a bit more than a walk round. I wouldn't be able to do this as I sometimes attend shows on my own with Maisie. I don't need to lunge for hours but the ponies need working in.

[flee]

You need a Mr F ! We used to land at the show , get the pony tacked up and ready and then lounge around the wagon whilst keen distance-runner , Mr F , did laps of the showground with the Screaming Shetland ( possibly the most unsuitable childs' pony on the planet , but all we had ). After 30 minutes of steady trotting round the rings and lorry parks the pony was knackered and Mr F had had a nice little workout . Double bonus .
Maybe I could hire him out ....

[chloesmum]

Gosh flee I feel you have a real money earner there!!! He would be great for our 2 cold backed Darties - they need a quick 5 minute lunge and then we still have to lead them for a few minutes before Chloe can go solo - I feel Mr F would be a great asset.
I do think the lunging issue is a tough one at a lot of shows and lack of facilities was one of the issues raised at the TSR debate on larger riders riding ponies in at shows. It is a catch 22. Some show grounds do have seperate lunge arenas (I think Arena UK/BSPS) do offer this at times but at lots of shows there are just not the facilities. People were lunging at Onley in the indoor warm up yesterday (sensibly I might add just at a trot in the centre) but later in the day wehn it was packed with riddens warming up as well I must admit I did think this could be very dangerous but there were no other areas to warm up yesterday as an indoor show so grass areas not available and the car park area was choc a block and could potentially have been more dangerous just walking a lively pony round.
We all need a warm up and I think it is really important we all show some respect for others and behave sensibly whether lunging or riding in.

[ponymum]

It is an issue that has been ongoing for a long time . My lr needed a quick whizz on a lunge when Georgia was small , our area show didnt allow lungeing either.

[Philippa]

I think we all need a Mr F. 😇

[mcnaughty]

I always give our pony a good spin at home before we leave - that was apart from the last time we went to Onley because the ground was frozen solid so I got there v early and lunged in the corner of the indoor school before anyone got in there. I suppose it helped that we were in the first class though!