Difficult to Lunge

Lazy on the lunge

I have a seven-year-old TB who is incredibly lazy when I lunge him. He either walks really slowly or stands still. He doesn't even move when I tap him with the whip. He's also really lazy to lead, although he's fine to ride. What can I do to encourage him to go forwards on the lunge? Peter, Hamilton

Glad you have asked this question Peter, mainly because so many people stereotype thoroughbreds as raving lunatics when many of them can be just as idle as the gentleman you have described above!

To work with horses you need to develop a body language that makes it perfectly clear that you are confident and that you really mean what you say. So develop a repertoire of noises and actions that are very simple for all around to understand. Body language is incredibly powerful and infectious, if you start moving and thinking how you want your horse to react, you’ll start getting what you want.

The lazy horse can’t be bothered to be exuberant because he is bored or thinks that his work is too tiring so he needs to realise that things will be easy for him if he goes forward but will be uncomfortable and/or embarrassing for him if he drags his feet. When dealing with a lazy horse learn to move with power, put a spring in your step, a smile on your face and be fun to be around.

With regard to getting him to go on the lunge – position yourself well behind his shoulder, look him in the eye, think, say and be prepared to make your body language quite clear that you really do want forward motion and if necessary you will smack him into action. Don’t be inhibited by what onlookers might think, do what ever it takes and then reward any and all increases in activity! Learn to enjoy saying “Yippee”.

The same applies to leading, make it perfectly clear that forward is fun and dragging behind is going to be uncomfortable, position the horse beside a fence line or barrier so that he can’t back away from you, place yourself well behind the shoulder, think enthusiastic thoughts, use vocal encouragement and body movements to create forward energy, allow that energy to come through and reward ostentatiously.