"Hello, I am looking for a little advice. I'm about to lunge my pony for the first time ever and I'm not exactly sure how to do it. Can you please give me some tips on what I could do while I am lunging him, and should I wear my riding gloves in case he tries to pull away? Thanks, Sophie."

H&C blogger and propietor of Contessa Riding Centre Tina Layton-Elliott BHSI replies: "Dear Sophie, thank you for you question. Yes, you should definitely wear gloves and a hat at all times. You should also have on suitable foot wear and must make sure that you have a safe enclosed area in which to lunge.

Lunging can be a great way to give the horse variety in their exercise routine and you can look at their way of going. You can also use lunging if for some reason you are unable to ride due to rider or horse injury.

Before you lunge your pony, it is a good idea to find out if they’ve been lunged before. Even the quietest of horses can get quite excited and feel more ‘free’ on the lunge, so it’s important to keep safe. I suggest you ask an experienced, qualified person to help you the first time, so you can see how you pony behaves. It is also a good idea to practice lunging a quiet, well-schooled horse under instruction first.

If you are nearby you should book onto one of our Lunging Afternoons that we hold here at Contessa. You can also practice looping up the line and ‘playing it out’ smoothly with the line attached to a chair or something first!

You will need a lunge line, lunge whip and lunge cavesson as well as your normal tack and boots and perhaps side reins. The idea is to keep a smooth consistent contact on the lunge line, with the excess in large loops. The pony should walk, trot and canter at your command around you on a large circle, about 20m in diameter. Your body, lunge line and whip should form the shape of a triangle and you should try and maintain your position without getting in front or behind the pony.

You have to use your voice as an effective aid for upwards and downwards transitions and may also use the lunge whip to help as long as your pony doesn’t react negatively to it. If you are holding a whip, it should be pointed at the hock area and should stay nice and still when you are not using it. You must try not to let your pony get over excited on the lunge to prevent injury and remember to work your pony equally on both reins and that working continuously on a circle is quite strenuous, so (depending how fit your pony is) 30 minutes, including warm-up and cool-down should be sufficient.

It can be quite a difficult art to master and takes lots of practice, so again make sure that you have some help from an experienced person or qualified instructor for the first few times. Some things to be aware of if they are not used to being lunged is stopping suddenly, turning in/around or kicking out. Always put your safety first and if you are in doubt or having problems stop and seek some more advice.

Hope this helps.
Good luck ! Tina."