About Lunging Young Horses

It seems to have become standard practice to work horses on the lunge before beginning to ride them. One often gets the impression that this is largely due to a fear of falling off a bucking horse that needs to burn off excess energy because it lacks sufficient free range in the pasture.

When using this approach, it is important to bear in mind that the horse’s limbs are subjected to considerable stress during faster movements at a trot or canter on relatively small circular arcs (usually significantly smaller than a circle with a 20-meter diameter). It is primarily shear and rotational forces that act on the lower limbs.

This is especially true during the canter, when with every canter stride, the horse’s entire body weight—along with the additional centrifugal forces—must be supported by the respective hind outside and front inside legs.

The Science Behind the Effects

An international research team conducted a scientific study on the effects of lunging on maintaining the health of young horses in particular and published their findings in 2021 in the journal “Animals.” The recommendations resulting from the study are primarily to avoid lunging very young horses altogether, as this can lead to subsequent misalignments if the epiphyses have not yet closed by the time lunging begins.

In further training, lunging should be done in moderation—not unnecessarily and not too frequently—and, whenever possible, only at slow gaits or at a slow pace, and in as wide a circle as possible.

This is reminiscent of the views of earlier equine experts, who also warned of health risks associated with lunge work when training young replacement horses.

Lunging During Breed Appraisals

This should give breeding associations pause for thought—especially those that still require young stallions to be lunged during licensing inspections. There is a growing chorus of criticism on this issue, including from neighboring countries, where, for example, a well-known Dutch stallion breeder recently called for the following in the magazine “Züchterforum”: “Lunging at licensing inspections must be abolished immediately.”

Whether is also a question of how

Proper lunging can certainly be very beneficial as a supplementary training method. However, one gets the impression that many lungers are not properly trained in this technique and thus do the horse more harm than good. In this regard, it was the right move to require the acquisition of a lunging certification as a prerequisite for Trainer C training. It is regrettable, however, that lunging was abolished as an exam subject a few years ago—of all things—for equine management students.

At the same time, one gets the impression—though it cannot be substantiated with statistics—that horses are lunged more often today than in the past. This also applies to lunging in warm-up areas at competitions, particularly in connection with preparing very young horses for riding horse classes.

It is not uncommon for the horses to be tied out with the reins (often too short) and lunged (“spun around”) at a trot or canter in a small circle with the stirrups hanging down. The supervising judge must absolutely call out such a practice.

The guidelines—specifically Volume 6—also apply at tournaments, and lunging is permitted only as described in the guidelines; this means that auxiliary or loose reins not listed in the guidelines may not be used.

Unacceptable Practices

This applies in particular to a “tool” that is misleadingly marketed as a “lunging aid.” From an animal welfare perspective, the use of this rein is borderline, as it causes the horse unnecessary and avoidable pain by delivering a jolt to its mouth with every step.

Lunging with the stirrups hanging down is also completely unacceptable, considering that a horse’s perception of pain is comparable to that of humans and that this additionally triggers constant flight responses in the horse.

Therefore: We need to rethink the way we lunge young horses. Lunge training in the manner just described should be banned.

Martin Plewa