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Post by amumwithapony on Nov 10, 2009 16:28:59 GMT
i moved yards about 4 weeks ago. because my pony has to stay fit for ligament problem she had, she is lunged twice a week, previously by the girls on my old yard. the yard we have moved back to has had a family bereavement just as i moved so i have been lunging pony myself. now i am no expert on lunging but my pony seems to be petrified of the lunge whip. as soon as you move it at all (doesnt have to be towards her just lifting it off the floor causes hysteria. shes normally quite calm and cool, not silly but seems to have a real issue with the whip, and it must be a recent thing as when i last lunged her about 3 months ago on old yard she was fine with it. i was having lunging lessons as it something i have never learnt to do properly, and wanted to make sure i was doing it right! i hate to do something and not do it the right way, but have not used a lunge whip the last couple of times i have lunged her, as each time i did she would bomb round at 100mph, almost panicing at the sight of it.
i spoke to the YO about it today, as she has now taken over lunging her, so i can concentrate on the things i am good at with her, and she has just phoned me and said exactly the same thing as what i thought, shes terrified of the whip, and bombed round as soon as she saw it. now YO is an AI and very very good at lunging and is going to start her lunge training again, but i just wondered if anyone else has had a similar problem. it sounds like YO had more problems than what i did lunging her, as i did manage to get her going quite sweetly after about 10 mins, just using my voice instead of whip, but i think she created for quite a while for her. do i just need to keep practising with her until she realises whip is not scary? or should i not use it at all? should i let YO continue with her, or should i take over doing it myself? YO is much better at lunging than i am, but i have a better relationship with pony, and she would probably trust me more with whip. shes not at all strong when shes bombing round and doesnt pull you at all, just sort of razes round at the end of the lunge line hysterically and doesnt really listen, just looking for whip. shes has calm and condition, topspec antilam and chop, wetted down, and 2 small haynets a day. she is out for about half a day each day, i walk her in hand for half an hour in the days shes not lunged or my little girl rides her, forgot to add shes supposed to be a l/r pony, not a racehorse! any advice greatly appreciated, as eventually i would like my daughter to be able to have lunge lessons on her, probably in a year or 2.
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Post by Julie(luke3) on Nov 10, 2009 17:29:53 GMT
amwap I would lunge your pony yourself without the lunge whip. It sound as though she has had a real fright and as she trusts you you will give her more confidence. Also you will know that nothing bad is happening with her. When you walk her in hand have you thought about long reining her? I often do this and also lunge with 2 lunge lines. I find once a horse knows how to behave on the lunge it dosn't always need a lunge whip. I also have a horse that will not concentrate if I have a whip, but goes sweet with just my voice. Good luck xx
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Post by amumwithapony on Nov 11, 2009 17:48:05 GMT
thanks luke, i think that is what im going to do. trust YO 100% with her, but she may go better for me as i am 'mummy' and she may trust me a bit better. i really cant think whats made her like this, i dont think for 1 minute that she has been thrashed around with the lunge whip on the old yard, so cant think why she has suddenly decided she is petrified of the whip. but i do know that a couple of years ago, i took a little crop in with me to school her in hand as she was very unresponsive to my voice. all i literally did was touch her bum with it and she was borderline hysterical then. shes only ever had 2 owners apart from her breeder, me and the girl who is the yo now, and she was with her from being 6 months old, and i know for a fact that yo osnit cruel or heavy handed with them, if anything she was babied too much as a foal and was a bit quiet for the ring. is very bizarre. am gonna lunge her myself tomorrow and see how she goes, she may have just been 'faking' it to get out of being lunged!
i have thought about long reining her, and i know people say it easy to do, but i think i will have a lesson in doing it first. i really hate not knowing if im doing something right or not, and am my own worst critic, and well say i am rubbish at something, even if i competant, and im not 'ok' at something until i can do it perfectly! am a bit sad like that!
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Post by Julie(luke3) on Nov 11, 2009 18:18:05 GMT
amwap you are not sad just responsible! Good luck with her tomorrow. Let us know how it goes. Learn to long rein and I promise, you will love it x ;D
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Post by tabbyx on Nov 12, 2009 19:56:48 GMT
mine used to just go nuts on the lunge for absolutely no reasonat all, he would suddenly just take off and gallop round a couple of times then stop. thankfully he's now grown out of it but he doesn't really need lunging anyway
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Post by crimson on Nov 13, 2009 9:25:41 GMT
I would spend some time with her in the paddock with the lunge line and lunge whip but not actually lunging her.
Let her sniff the whip, stroke her with the whip, all over her body and legs. Talk to her calmly all the time. If she tries to move away from it, hold it on for a second, then take it away.
You need to do this a bit at a time, it may take a couple of weeks, or longer, until she is totally happy being around the whip but it will be time well spent.
In the mean time, as you need to keep lunging her for fitness, I would lunge her without the whip.
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sarahp
Happy to help
Posts: 9,510
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Post by sarahp on Nov 13, 2009 17:19:14 GMT
I would then lunge her without the whip but put it on the ground near your feet and ignore it completely. Eventually I'd pick it up and stick it under one armpit facing backwards away from the pony and completely ignore it again until she does too, then work up from there. Not that I feel you should use it for lunging if you don't have to, but more so that she won't spook if she comes across someone else with one at some point, always lots of people lunging ponies in odd places at shows.
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Post by amumwithapony on Nov 13, 2009 17:41:24 GMT
well, after a proper chat the other day i decided that i would let YO carry on lunging her, but without the whip initially to see how she goes. we've left her this week to calm down a bit, and shes going to have a go next week and see what shes like. the main reason that i dont want to do her myself is that i think it confuses her slightly about what i expect her to do. she is a l/r pony for my little girl,and now going very sweetly for her, and i think that if she gets accstumed to me lunging her in school she may think that that is what i want her to do when i take her in for my little one to ride, and if she is going to be getting upset over it, i dont want her stressing and then putting my 5 year old on, if that makes any sense!
so yo is going to lunge her next week, as sarahp says just with the whip on the ground, so she knows its there, and then see how we go on from there. if she calms down a bit and accepts that we're not going to use the whip, i will start lunging her again myself, but for now am just going to concentrate on hacking her out in hand (which she currently loves!) and little girl riding her, with yo lunging her, i trust YO anyway, and she is much better than me at lunging. thanks for all your replies, and i will let you know next week how she gets on!
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Post by Julie(luke3) on Nov 13, 2009 19:23:12 GMT
Good luck amwap x
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Post by chloe2 on Nov 14, 2009 19:03:51 GMT
You really don't need a lunge whip if your pony moves out and forward, two of mine just needs the occasional flick with the end of the lunge line..so just enjoy not having to use one.
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Post by sageandonion on Jan 31, 2010 20:19:32 GMT
How's it going AMWAP?
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Post by 4emms on Jan 31, 2010 20:44:50 GMT
If your YO is progressing well ask her to long-rein your pony so that she learns what is expected of her for that and then you can have some long-reining lessons and work her on 2 lines. Then you have also learnt another skill too.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2010 22:51:29 GMT
I lunge on long reins- it is the best way
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Post by amumwithapony on Feb 1, 2010 19:52:27 GMT
She going fine now, thanks everyone for asking. after all the snow we have had she had about a 4 week break from it as our school was frozen. YO went to lunge her end of last week, expecting cartwheels and handstands and she was lovely apparantly. think she has forgot about whatever it was that had scared her and just settled back down to it again. goes to show that a break can do some good!
Have been up tonight after school with little girl (shes not been up for about 4 weeks! very fair weather owner) to dig her tack out, so she can start riding again this week, or at the weekend. Tomorrow shes having a bit of a scrub and tidy (pony not daughter) and I'm going to lunge her myself to dry her off. and after we've got half term out of the way I'm going to try and start long reining her. never done it before and YO not done it since college so we should have a bit of a giggle, especially as we are going to get her 3 and 4 year old going at the same time, so we can all 'hack' out together. can see us both ski ing up and down to the muck heap at regular intervals, they may only be little these sec a's, but ours built like out houses! will try and get someone to be on standby with a video camera to capture the moments!
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