We had a theory lesson this week, so there’s not too much to report on. We had a horse down in the arena (Winston was the lucky volunteer ;) and our instructor demonstrated some lunging for us. We discussed various kinds of equipment and their pros and cons as well as how to handle problems one may encounter while lunging a horse. On the whole, she prefers ground driving or working them loose, though she only does the latter with horses she knows are suitable for it. They don’t use lunging a lot at the riding school either (basically, its just done for demonstration purposes), so most of the horses aren’t used to it at all. They do some ground driving occasionally when getting a horse back to work after an injury, but generally they work them under the saddle.
Winston was a pretty decent subject to work with (though he did try to kick me a few times in the stables as I got him ready ;P). He was relatively okay with lunging, but he did try some evasive tactics, giving her a chance to show various ways of countering them. Next time we have a theory lesson, we’ll probably do lunging again, and try to get some hands-on practice in. I am already looking forward to getting dizzy. ;P I have tried it a few times, and that has been the inevitable result each time.