My trainer has told me to always start out at a jog when I lunge my 12 y.o. mare.  I got to thinking yesterday that we humans usually stretch and warm up before we exercise.  Wouldn't horses need to do the same thing?  Especially if they've been standing around in a stall?  Will talk about this w/trainer, but what you do y'all think/do??  Start right out at a trot/jog, walk your horse??

Thanks,

Mary 

I don't see why you should "always" start at a jog, but I also don't see where lots of walking is necessary either.  I'm in decent shape and walking before exercise (running, biking, etc) does nothing for me as far as stretching or warmup (and I have a desk job, so I sit all day).  Stretching does, as does a relaxed jog to get the blood moving.  If you are concerned about warmup I'd say you should start working on some stretching exercises with him before lunging and then start him at a brisk walk or a relaxed jog/trot I would consider that a warm up for a horse in reasonable shape.

Bassclef- I usually try to lunge my horse at a trot then a lope for about 10 minutes to warm her up. I find this helps calm her down before I get in the saddle. She is a half arab so tends to be hot this time of year. I have read that it depends totally on the horse and rider as to whether lunging is important or not. If you have a real calm horse, then mounting right away won't hurt anything. PJ

Oh, she definitely needs to be lunged before I get on her.  She's a dominant mare type (I call her The Dominatrix) and needs the lunging to get her focused and ready to work and tuned into me.  I forgot to talk to my trainer at our last lesson about going straight into a jog rather than warming up first.  Next week, I guess.

Mary 

Actually, even humans don't need much warmup before they move at a moderate speed.  Trotting is easier than walking on the longe because a lot of horses simply won't keep walking.  They'll quit and come into the center.  Then the warmup session turns into a major event.  I doubt that it will do her any harm to go straight to the trot unless you're keeping her trotting for 20 solid minutes.  If you've watched horses in the pasture, you'll see that they can go from snacking to 60 in zero seconds flat!    Besides, you had to lead her at the walk from wherever you tacked her up to wherever you're longeing her, right?  And unless she's a stall-bound captive, she does considerable walking on her own.  I wouldn't worry about it.

Personally, I don't like lungeing my horse routinely before I ride her (and I have a spooky and hot girl, believe me). Routine lungeing gets boring, is uninteresting for the horse, and is the cause of major problems. If youre horse hasn't figured out yet that the rules don't change if she's fresh or not, maybe she needs a bit more professional training?

If your trainer insist upon lungeing her, I wouldn't be too concerned about going straight into the trot. A walk does nothing for a horse. They spend their lives walking (as do we humans). Stretching will do the most good for her, and trotting will do some good stuff for her also. I would also suggest "intervals" to keep her thinking. More than likely, the reason she's so hot is because she has been stalled and wants some thinking games. Ask her to trot for a few circles, slow her to a light jog or walk, then back up to trot and to canter, and vary it as you wish. This will do much more for her exercise regime than just trotting as warm up, plus it will keep her interested and focused on you.

Another way to lunge is free lungeing (if you can). Instead of lungeing her with a line, let her loose in the arena, round pen, or a small pasture and use the same tools (lunge whip, lead line, vocal command, etc) to send her away. This switch up will get her attention, get her warmed up, and get her focused on you, while keeping her interested. She'll be able to work herself where she feels comfortable (unless she's comfortable at a walk, and then you can motivate her :D). It will also build your relationship and communication with her to a new level as she learns to read you. This interaction is similar to a lead mare directing her herd and will establish dominance.

 Best of luck. 

 Longeing doesn't have to be boring.  It also doesn't have to be just going around in a circle for 10 minutes to cool down a hot horse.  There are lots of actvities that can be done on the longe that add to the horse's knowledge base.  

I don't longe before every ride, and generally Zip is the only one of the horses I longe regularly at all.  For him it is part of the routine, and it gives me a heads-up about his attitude for the day.  He's by no means a "hot" horse.  He does, however, have his moods.  If I suspect he's in one that's likely to land me face-planted in the footing, I start with longe work.  There's an immediate transformation from giraffe on crack to "What next, Master?" that I like very much.    

The other horses only work on the longe if there's a reason, like I'm trying to teach one of them something that he's not getting under saddle, or my back is out, or there isn't time for a full tack-up-and-ride because the weather is about to get bad (again!).  Still, it's a valuable training tool.  Free longeing works, but you have to work with the horse to get him to mind you when there's no line connection.  A round pen works for that, but if you're going to free-longe in the ring (like I often do), teaching him to stay in a circle around you so you can accomplish more than just letting him run around at will is important.  Zip's been at this long enough so that he'll free longe around me even in the pasture totally to voice commands.  It takes time to get there, but it's worth it.  

This was, coincidentally, today's topic from the Superstars of Horse Training newsletter.  I figured it was worth posting under this thread.

 

    Lungeing.

    It's valuable.

    Some trainers use it.

    Some don't.

    I do.

    Should you?

    Depends.

    On what?

    How you view lungeing.

    I know trainers who see lungeing as
a forced control.

    Those trainers want to control the
horse's obedience through "just" his brain and nothing else.

    Should you agree with that?

    Maybe...maybe not.

    I see it this way.

    When I lunge a horse, I'm still getting earned obedience from him - it's still getting into his brain that I have control.

    That's what I'm after anyway.

    Lungeing can serve many purposes.

    One is this.

    When we filmed Danie and Doug Hewlett
for the "Reining" DVD, Danie started off by lungeing the horse.

    Why?

    Because she's using lungeing as a tool
to check her horse.

    Just like a scientist would use a microscope for his tool of the trade...Danie and Doug use lungeing as "their" microscope.

    Your horse will reveal many things to you if you lunge him.

    For instance, Danie says she wants her horse to walk quietly around her when she first starts.

    Why?

    First, a quiet horse is a calm horse.  A calm horse learns better, is more cooperative, and therefore trains better. (and is also safer)

    But if he's walking around, swishing his tail, shaking his head up and down, his ears are pinning,...then you need to figure out what's going on.

    If he's walking around you quietly, then that's a good sign he's okay with you, he's likely not in pain, and so on.

    Next, while Danie lunges the horse she will ask him to walk, canter and lope.

    When she says "walk"...he walks.

    When she says "canter"...he canters.

    And so on.
    
    So guess what?

    If he doesn't walk, canter, or lope when you ask him to...then you need to fix that.

    Why?

    Cuz he ain't gonna know it when you're in the saddle.

    You want to teach it from the ground first.

    Get all the confusing stuff outta the way and get him knowing it before you get on.

    That's just one of the valuable things about lungeing.