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"I have a notebook of the tips from your site and I love them... Bonnie Anderson has been wonderful. All the tips I tried of hers worked the first time. I am now in the riding stage and my horse is awesome. Thank you all very much and keep the training tips coming!!!!!!"
Karen Gossard
Fayetteville, NC

Why teach a horse to longe? First, longeing benefits the horse as a form of exercise. If the horse is not yet trained to ride, or if we are unable to ride for some reason, longeing fills the bill.

Second, longeing can be used as a form of training. For instance, by learning to longe, a horse can be taught to listen to cues while learning wear a saddle and bridle. Then once were in the saddle, the lessons carry over to help the horse and owner understand one another as the riding process continues.   

Before teaching a horse to longe, remember that body position is important in controlling the horse while longeing. If we stand forward of the horses withers as hes going around us, he will naturally be inclined to slow down and stop. If we stand back toward his hip as he moves, he will want to speed up. Simply step forward to slow him down, and step back to speed him up while using a longe whip to reinforce the cues. To keep the horse on an even pace, stand facing him with your body between his withers and hip.

The first thing your want to teach your horse is to follow your voice commands. Teach him to halt, walk, and trot while leading him with a halter and a lead rope using the verbal cues. When longeing use either a longe line or a round pen. If using a longe line, start by finding a smooth area to work the horse and snap on the line. Then put a bit of slack in the line and begin moving toward the horses hindquarters while giving him the walk command, a longe whip waving at his tail if needed. He should start to shuffle around in small circles, which is good, for at least he is moving and starting to get the idea of longeing.

Keep encouraging him while looking at his hip and not his head, and begin to make the circles larger by continuing the voice cues and stepping a bit away from the hindquarters and more toward the center of the circle. If he should try to stop, step toward his hindquarters again and keep him going. Hell soon get the idea that hes to move around you. After a few minutes, halt him with a voice command and a small tug on the line. Let him rest a minute or two then turn him around and start him off in the other direction.

When using a round pen to longe, turn the horse loose in the pen and step toward his hip to encourage him forward, give the "walk" command while waving the whip at his tail until he moves away. It may be necessary to keep the pressure on him by walking slightly behind him with the whip ready should he slow or try to turn back. If he should get turned enough to face you, step toward his hip and let him shuffle around you until you are able to ease away and step back to the center of the pen.

Praise him for the correct response but keep him moving. After a couple minutes, step toward the horses shoulder, which will gain his attention and slow him down. Give the command to halt and let him stand for a half a minute or so. The halt should be his reward for working hard. Then have him turn around and work in the opposite direction. When finished longeing, ask for the halt then drop the whip and take a step or two backwards with eyes lowered. This is the signal that all the pressure is off and its time to quit. He will come to recognize this signal and start coming to you at the end of each lesson. When longeing, be sure to train the horse to be consistent in gait changes, turns and halts.   

Lets look at the benefits of longeing again. Longeing is a good form of exercise for the horse. Its wonderful for getting rid of any extra energy the horse may have prior to riding. Its also great for just warming up a horse before a class at a show when the warm up arena is too busy to ride in. The list goes on and on, but one can see why training a horse to longe is so important.