The Art of Longeing
LONGEING……Almost everybody does it; however, the way that it is done varies immensely. Some call it an art, some don’t care, and some just want to get the energy out and will let their horses do whatever they want on the end of their longe line. Some use it as a teaching aid, and that’s what I do. This is what I want to explain here and hopefully take some of the mystery out of it, making it easier for everyone to use as a teaching aid, having less injuries for all involved. After all, I agree, it is an art…and it’s something that is very simple to do. It starts to become an art when you realize how much you see when the horse is on the longe line. You see subtle signs of body movement, expressions and more, and you also learn when to correct and how to correct, but that is a subject for another time, all we need to know now is to keep it simple and C.P.P.

Why do we longe? As I stated in my last article, we can longe for a few reasons; for focus, for training, for retraining and for exercise. Those are the main reasons that I will address. If I can get my horse to focus on me, then I can train or retrain or exercise him with less difficulty, and I still get to choose where he goes, how he goes and when he goes. I get his feet to move.

I’m going to give away the secret of longeing, with no suspense, no waiting till the end of the article, no nothing……USE YOUR BODY…….I know, I know, everybody knows that but not everyone does it correctly, and therein lies the secret. If you think about this, we have been using our body to communicate with our horse since our very first lesson, and we will continue to do that especially on the longe line.

Another secret to longeing is not necessarily on what we do but how we make the corrections. Obviously our body position will play a large part in this, more than most realize, and also on how fast we move to correct our horse’s movement.

WHEN YOU GET DOWN TO IT, IT’S ALL ABOUT HOW WE MAKE THE CORRECTIONS…THAT’S THE SECRET!

Starting with a good longe line (no chain), a longe whip (hopefully a light one), protective boots for your horse (again your choice) just so they don’t bang themselves up, and gloves for us.  Initially I hook up under the chin, in case my horse gets excited and twists and turns a lot, I don’t want to wrap the line around his head or neck and cause panic. Once I know they are calm, I then hook it to the side of their halter and that way it tips their nose to the inside. I personally don’t wrap it through the halter, over the poll, and hook to the other side. I think it adds a lot of twist and torque and I don’t believe it’s necessary.

If you don’t have a round pen (and most of us don’t), go to an arena or small paddock, and try to keep yourself in a corner giving yourself at least 2 walls to slow or stop your horse.

We’ll assume we are going to the left and I will start with the most basic position. As the last article stated they must know to stand (whoa) and that’s where we will start.

I believe the safest way to hold my equipment, giving me the best control is to hold the line in my left hand on a line towards their nose and with my right hand holding the whip and excess coils pointing towards their hocks placing me directly in the middle. (See Image 1) Having the coils looped in the same hand as I have the whip is done for a couple of reasons. One is that I can uncoil and recoil my line safely without me or my horse tripping, and I also want to have large coils, so that I am not always working the coils.

If I stand too far in front of my horse, I will be at their shoulder and my body language will be saying “whoa”. This is the most common problem I see. As I’ve stated, we have used our body to communicate and now that we are longeing we will continue to do so.

Stand at your horses head with your body facing them, in front of their shoulder, off to their side. (See Images 2a - 2b) You want them to stand until you ask them to walk (you choose, where how and when they move). Now take a step to the centre of the horse, ready to go back towards their head, past their shoulder if need be, to have them wait for the walk request. Continue to correct them using your body and saying “whoa”, until they stand then you can go to the centre of your horse and ask them to walk. It’s not important for you to walk backwards to get into a safer position just yet, you can just stay close and move to the center of their body. (HOWEVER, OUR SAFETY IS ALWAYS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, but hopefully your horse is respectful of your body by this point if you’ve done all the previous steps).

Because we’ve been teaching our horse to move with us, they may not always want to move away from us and/or they are not sure what we are trying to get them to do, so some horses will try to turn and face you (its also a natural behavior to keep perceived threats or unsure things in front of them) and with them turning to keep us in front of them, a circle game begins. You keep trying to walk to their side, and the horse keeps facing you. Don’t fall into this game, you have a 3 foot arm, a 6 foot longe whip and if needed a 6 foot line attached to that. That’s at least 15 feet we have to correct the horse (See Image 3)

Instead, with your left hand leading the horses nose away from you and to your left side, gently roll the whip towards their hind end. You’ll find once their hind end starts to walk, they will walk past you and go onto the circle, then you will try to get the horse at least 10 feet away from you (out of kicking range, to keep you as safe as possible)

Your next question might be, “how do I keep my horse away from me?” Good question. It’s not that hard, as with all of our lessons we must teach them what they need to know and this is no exception. If I want my horse to move away from me I must get his shoulder to move away and the way I do that is by pointing to his shoulder with my whip, and if that doesn’t do it I will get a little stronger and actually tap him with the whip and if that doesn’t get the point across I will tap him harder till he moves away. At that point he may break into a trot or a lope but then it would be my job to correct him, and say, “I was just asking your shoulder to move, not speed up”, so I would correct his speed by using my body and cutting across (See Image 4) until he slowed down, and I would use as much body as needed to get him to respond. I will use this for all speed related corrections, (more on this later) but to restate, I would use my whip to move his shoulder out, and then anytime thereafter I need to move him out, all I usually have to do is just point at his shoulder and he will make the circle larger.

When you do point the whip it is important to not startle your horse, so when you start to bring the whip towards their shoulder (See Image 9a - 9b), do it as you would throw a softball underhand, (See Image 5), meaning, bring the whip from the ground up, towards their shoulder and therefore the movement of the whip will allow the whip tip to continue on to their shoulder and maybe even actually touch them, and that gets the point across too.

Now, assuming you have your horse walking on a circle to the left, at least 10 feet away, (out of kicking range), and you are in the middle of that invisible triangle; (See Image 6a) its important that you keep your chest facing your horse’s barrel, all the while keeping yourself as the tip of the triangle and not moving in front of the shoulder. Doing that would inadvertently tell your horse to slow or stop using our body language and obviously that would confuse them. So it’s better to turn slowly (as they walk around us) and actually be a little late with keeping our chest facing their barrel. That is another common problem. If we turn too early you will notice that we actually put ourselves out of position, and in front of their shoulder, which tells them to slow or stop. (See Image 6b)

We have been using our body position since day one, and to get our horse to stop we will walk across the circle, not towards them, so in essence we will be moving in front of their shoulder. How much? As much as is necessary. How quick? As fast as need be. So, we will be using our body to apply pressure and to release pressure.

When I ask my horse to “STOP”, I will ask in steps. I will first say “whoa”, and then if no response I will then immediately start to cut or move in front of their shoulder, I will continue to walk (or scamper quickly) to get in front of them. I will continue to move my body until I get the desired response from them. THAT’S THE SECRET. Continue to move your body. (See Image 7)

Who has seen or done the perpetual “whoa”? You say “whoa”, and your horse just keeps circling and circling and circling. Well, you have seen how your horse responds to body pressure and language since day one, and now that they are further away, you need to continue to use your body language. This is what they understand and you must communicate with them on their level. You have all seen how horses cut each other in a herd using nothing more than body position, and that is what we are doing.

Now, onto the next potential problem that may arise. When you ask your horse to stop, by cutting in front of the shoulder, your horse may turn to face you, but that is not a “whoa”. A “whoa” is stop and plant four feet where they are. So if your horse turns to face you when you ask for a “whoa”, as soon as you see those hips turning away from you, attempt to move back to your “home “ position (tip of triangle, to release stop pressure) and roll the tip of your whip to get him to move forward (like we had to do in the beginning when he tried to circle you) and ask him to walk a few steps, then say “whoa”, cut across, to apply pressure and if he again stops and tries to swing his hips away and face you , immediately re-ask your horse to walk and repeat the “whoa” request again. You’ll find your horse will eventually give you the correct answer and just stop where he is. When he does this, stay where you are (in front of the centre line of the horse, by the shoulder) and tell your horse what a good horse he is. Give lots of praise.

Another potential problem you may face when asking your horse for a walk is they may “shotgun” into a trot or lope. The fix is the same. Use your body. However, you will have to move very quickly to get in front of their shoulder. So you can’t just saunter casually over there, you must move VERY quickly. How quick? As quick as you can, and just enough to get them to slow to a walk, then you go back to your “home “position and release the pressure. You may have to correct often, but do so….remember C.P.P.  Remember that we talk to our horses with body pressure ….apply body pressure to correct something and remove body pressure when they have done the correct thing.

A further common mistake is NOT going back to the “home” (tip of triangle) position. You must remember to release, by moving back to the center. That is very common and you must be on top of your game. Realize that you applied pressure and remember to release that pressure. When a horse gets conflicting signals they will eventually try to leave, but if you communicate so that they understand you’ll find a very willing partner. Take into account different types of horse personalities, but they will all eventually respond and respond very well.

Up to this point I have assumed our horses were walking, but what if they just stand there? With our body position in the center of the triangle, take a step to the right (See Image 8a - 8b) (towards their hip) and being 10 feet away, roll the whip gently towards their hip, click and say “walk”, and continue to repeat, if they are still resistant to move, then you can actually tap them on their hip and continue to click and say walk….they will eventually tire of what you are doing and move forward, as soon as they do, stop applying pressure with your whip movement, your voice and release….Consistent, Persistent and Patience….above all, stay calm and patient. They are trying to figure out what we want (and some may be trying to assert themselves and NOT do as we ask) but C.P.P. will always win in the end.

 

Jog (or Trot). We will ask our horse to jog the same way we did for walk. Take a step (or half step) sideways towards their hip, roll the whip and use a verbal aid of “jog” (or “trot”) and continue to roll the whip and use your voice aid until they go into the next gait. If you find after a few requests that they are ignoring you, you can always crack the whip (in the direction you want them to move, not up and down) and if you find they are still ignoring you, you can lean down (a bit) and use a stronger, more predatory like position to get them to move their hips, for that is what you are addressing, their hips. If the hips go forward, their front end must move forward. You want to make sure that you are NOT in front of their shoulder. No conflicting requests. If they go too fast, then move sideways in front of their shoulder. How much? As much as you need and as little as you can get away with to slow them down. As you see it’s our body that does most of the work.

I teach my horse the difference between a jog and a trot and that’s just how I like to do things. The more they know the better they are. I use the same aids for a jog and a trot. I will slow them to a jog by using my body and I will ask them to extend out to a trot again the same way I asked for a jog. Roll the whip, voice aid, and a release when they do what I ask….K.I.S.S.

The lope or canter is done the same way. Once jogging or trotting I will roll the whip and use my voice aid plus this time I will use a kiss sound. (I save the kiss sound strictly for loping or cantering). I will continue but I will always make sure that my circle is bigger before asking for a lope or a canter. Hopefully by the time you are asking your horse for a lope, you have been gradually making your circle bigger and bigger by pushing your horse’s shoulder out (away). When you ask for a lope you may have to walk a larger circle or at least make sure you have a proper amount of line to make the lope possible and to avoid injury. If the horse “shotguns” (takes off) into a lope, I will re-ask him to jog and then re-ask him for the lope transition properly.

I want to teach my horse on the longe line what is acceptable behavior. So, a fast transition will be corrected by asking the horse to come down to the previous gait, settle back into that gait and then I will re-ask for the transition again. If my horse “shotguns” into a lope that is not what I want when I am riding them. This is unacceptable. So, I will use my body to cut across and block them (obviously not getting in front and being run over...our safety is paramount) But I will slow the horse as quickly as I can, release my pressure and then ask them to lope properly, Do it as often as is necessary. You’ll find they learn quickly. Again, C.P.P.

Bucking. If I have a horse that bucks going into a transition, I bring them to a stop as quickly as is safely possible and then immediately re-introduce my back up repercussion to let them know that this was totally unacceptable and then go back to my previous request. For example, if I ask for a lope, and the horse bucks, I will stop, back them up a few steps, ask for a walk, and as soon as they are walking, I will ask for a jog, and as soon as they are jogging, I will ask for a lope. If they buck again I will repeat. Stop, back, and this time a few steps further, and then walk, jog, and lope. If they buck again I will repeat but this time they will back further and then progress through the gaits again. What I am trying to do is get them thinking and responding correctly. I ask them, “do you want to do this correctly or do you want to work hard, and you will still have to lope, so you are not getting out of work. Do it right or re-try over and over”. If I come upon a horse that is not strong enough or is too tired (I don’t want to cause an injury) I will settle on some good transitions, say from a walk to a jog back to a walk to a stop, and end on a good note where we can both walk away feeling good. Sometimes a horse might not be ready or strong enough and it’s important that you recognize this and work accordingly. You will own your horse a long time so be patient.

You will obviously repeat all gaits on the right side as well. You will ask your horses to learn all gaits or even stop and walk. Begin with walk and stop, to the left and to the right on the same day. As your horse gets stronger and knows more you will then ask for a walk and jog on the left and right on the same day. Do that for a few days and maybe weeks until your horse is confident in himself and strong enough. Then continue on by asking for a walk, jog, trot, on both sides. Do this as long as necessary and then add the lope. Remember we want to make this enjoyable for our horse so they will want to do this. They won’t want to do this if they are sore or get scared or angry. Have fun with longeing and be patient. Watch your horse become a better partner as you go along.

Until then, Walter

If you would like to contact me, please do so at, eternaldreamshorse@hotmail.com