Uses and Abuses of Longeing

I should probably address the issue of abuse because I know a lot of people are concerned about the misuse of the longe line. It is possible to abuse a horse on the longe line, anytime you have a whip and a chain or a rope it is possible to abuse a horse. I have known people to abuse their horse without being aware that they are doing so. I have seen people who LOVE their horse, run them around and around on a small circle until they are not only exhausted but probably sore, lame and traumatized as well.

However there is nothing about longeing itself that is inherently abusive, it is the way that it is done and the attitude of the person holding the whip and the line that cause the mistreatment.

Lets start by talking about getting the horse tired, something that is often misinterpreted as a reason to run the horse round and round until he is so tired that he can't misbehave.

There is no question that longeing is very useful if your horse is showing signs of being over excited, to the point that you don't want to get on him before he has calmed down. Indeed, I would say that the best reason to longe your horse regularly is so that you can use it as a calming tool, when you need it. Horses these days are better fed and worked less than at any other time in history. It is not surprising that they come out of the barn in the morning feeling EXCEPTIONALLY good! In fact I think that most of the training problems I deal with are due to the horse's underemployment, he is well fed and sheltered, his feet are perfect, his teeth are perfect, he has no worms or other nasty parasites that might slow him down. He has no sickness or injury, and if he does it is fixed instantly, he feels fantastic, healthy, strong, ready for action. The one thing his conscientious, devoted owner doesn't have enough of, is time to exercise him as much as his excellent health calls for.

EXCELLENT HEALTH!

Consequently, when she does come to ride, he is more than ready and often overly excited. This is a situation that longeing is perfect for. If you and your horse have an established routine on the longe, it gives him a safe, structured and sensible way to work off the extra energy he has. This means that you don't have to sit on him, until he is in a mental and physical state that allows you to safely mount up.

WORKING OFF SOME EXTRA ENERGY

Two things here;

The time to teach your horse to longe is probably not when he is in the throws of a lack-of-exercise induced, frenzy.

The purpose of longeing is to encourage calm and attentive behavior, not further frenzy, by frightening him with a big whip and then yanking on him with a chain.

CALM AND ATTENTIVE

So, to stress the point, the goal of longeing is to produce a calm, attentive horse that trusts you and is ready to proceed in harmony with you. It is not to run him into the ground until he is so exhausted that he will let you do what you want, whether he likes it or not. That is not the path towards the happy, productive partnerships that we all wish to have with our horses.

So now that we are aware that the longe line and whip can be used, even inadvertently, to abuse the horse how do we make sure that scenario doesn't happen?

As with most things horse related, the most important requirement is time. It takes time to teach yourself and your horse to longe properly. If you try to do it in too much of a hurry or under too much pressure you will probably find yourself on the end of the line with madly galloping beast, hanging on for dear life or, the opposite, you won't be able to get him to go around at all.

Find a friend to help you.

Choose a situation that is as enclosed as you can, a round pen will work but a small arena that is bigger than the circle your line allows is better. It will give you more of the feeling of longeing out in the open but not enough space so the horse can get away from you.

Take your time to roll the line in such a way that it can come off your hand smoothly but not get wrapped around it. Then with the help of your friend leading the horse from the opposite side, send him away from you around the circle using the whip to drive him forward at the walk. The whip is not supposed to frighten him it is supposed to tell him where to go and at what speed. Just like your legs when you are riding. He should respect it but not be frightened by it. If he ignores the whip asking him to go forward it should be applied just sharply enough to make him move. When he does move he should be rewarded by cessation of the aid, whip down.

USE THE WHIP AND "WALK ON"

Your first session should be walk and halt only. Use the whip and the word command "walk on" to go forward. Use the word command "whoa" and your friend (she will use her hand on a lead line on the outside make him halt). Your friend can also help with the direction while you get used to managing the whip and the line. The trick is to not let the horse turn in towards you, he must keep going forward around the circle. To start with you will have to follow him, driving him forward, gradually as he gets the idea, you will move in towards the middle of the circle with your whip pointing at his rear end and your line gently guiding him around.

LINE GENTLY GUIDING HIM/HER AROUND

Once you have mastered walk and whoa, which will take a few sessions, and you can do it without your friend's help, then try moving him up to trot, back down to walk and so on. If you are consistent, every day or at the very least every other day, you will soon find yourself confidently longeing at walk and trot and when that happens you can ask for a canter. Start with a few steps and gradually increase over a number of sessions. It can take anywhere from a week to 6 months to teach a horse to longe. There are many variables, condition of the horse, previous training (can work for and against you) personality of the horse, conformation, experience of the handler, weather and on and on. The one constant is that if you rush the process it will take you longer because you will have to fix the problems that arise from rushing.

There are many things that you can do with your horse on the longe line ranging from simply exercising him in a safe, structured manner to teaching him how to jump using cavalletti. You can improve how he moves, how he balances himself, how he transitions from one gait to another, how he responds to you, it all comes with time and practice.

YOU CAN IMPROVE HOW HE/SHE MOVES

HAPPY LONGEING! and if you are interested in learning more, come to my clinic at the Equine Affaire, Sunday Nov 13 at 9:30am. I will be going over all of this and much, much more!

Next time: I will answer the following questions and any others that come up as people read this installment.

What do you do if your horse is wild and won't walk or be calm on the line?

What do you do if you don't have a friend to help you?