Longe? What is Longe?
Steven tried to longe Sage.....apparently she doesn't know it? Safe in the enclosed section with Caly locked away in his stall....Steven snapped the longe line on Sage. Walk. Huh? Everytime he told her to walk, she did, which, except for when longing, is a good thing: walked right up to him.
Hmmm. I was tied up, not really watching....tho I did know what he was attelpting to do. Not having a round pen here, that enclosure was the next best thing, or so he thought.
He told a friend that he was having trouble.....and he offered to show Steven just how he longes his young horse: Danny. Steven went to observe John longing Danny, which, from what I hear, was successful and Steven was quite impressed, and anxious to try John's method with Sage.
My experience, on the other hand, years ago, was a feeble attemp at repeating what I had learned from a book. I decide to try this longing thing with my 2 geldings, before the Boyz....They must have thought I had lost my mind.....I come out with a brand new longe line, snap it on under the halter and lead them to my front yard......much to the dismay of my, then, husband. These geldings were in their 20's, WELL into their 20's and it had been quite some time since they'd been asked to longe.......and they let me know it.
So off I go with the first horse, the Fell, Angel, who's real name was Hell's Angel, and I tell him: Walk. He looked at me like I was kidding...he just stood there, and I am sure he was laughing at me.... " You want me to do what???" WALK, I say more insistently.....still this blank stare of disbelief. I didn't have a whip in those days, so I made use of the extra longe line, wrapped in my left hand.....Walk!
Ok, so he understood, and immediately tossed his head and started to trot, nose in the air....Now, you must understand my front yard was really not all that large, and, in the middle of it stood a large Oak tree....with a circular rock wall around it, that, in summer, contained flowers.....So I go pacing around this planter, with trotting horse on the other end of the line.....and I truly believe, that had he not stopped and come to me, I would a lost my lunch. I was so dizzy!
Certainly, I thought, I am doing something wrong......and I go get the other horse, Domino, who was trained to the 9's....certainly HE would know what to do and give me a clue! He did. It did not cure my nausea, walking in circles, but he did show me just how this longe concept worked....and we worked at it for about 20 minutes.
When I was done, I was not only nauseaous, but I had made a mighty rut in a perfect circle thru the grass in my front yard....which promptly froze and didn't disapper until well into the spring.....and I heard about the damage....I heard about it a LOT....and I never tried it again. That was probably 20 years ago.....Since then, I have elected to ride out the crazies and not waste them on the other end of a line....
Steven tried to longe Sage.....apparently she doesn't know it? Safe in the enclosed section with Caly locked away in his stall....Steven snapped the longe line on Sage. Walk. Huh? Everytime he told her to walk, she did, which, except for when longing, is a good thing: walked right up to him.
Hmmm. I was tied up, not really watching....tho I did know what he was attelpting to do. Not having a round pen here, that enclosure was the next best thing, or so he thought.
He told a friend that he was having trouble.....and he offered to show Steven just how he longes his young horse: Danny. Steven went to observe John longing Danny, which, from what I hear, was successful and Steven was quite impressed, and anxious to try John's method with Sage.
My experience, on the other hand, years ago, was a feeble attemp at repeating what I had learned from a book. I decide to try this longing thing with my 2 geldings, before the Boyz....They must have thought I had lost my mind.....I come out with a brand new longe line, snap it on under the halter and lead them to my front yard......much to the dismay of my, then, husband. These geldings were in their 20's, WELL into their 20's and it had been quite some time since they'd been asked to longe.......and they let me know it.
So off I go with the first horse, the Fell, Angel, who's real name was Hell's Angel, and I tell him: Walk. He looked at me like I was kidding...he just stood there, and I am sure he was laughing at me.... " You want me to do what???" WALK, I say more insistently.....still this blank stare of disbelief. I didn't have a whip in those days, so I made use of the extra longe line, wrapped in my left hand.....Walk!
Ok, so he understood, and immediately tossed his head and started to trot, nose in the air....Now, you must understand my front yard was really not all that large, and, in the middle of it stood a large Oak tree....with a circular rock wall around it, that, in summer, contained flowers.....So I go pacing around this planter, with trotting horse on the other end of the line.....and I truly believe, that had he not stopped and come to me, I would a lost my lunch. I was so dizzy!
Certainly, I thought, I am doing something wrong......and I go get the other horse, Domino, who was trained to the 9's....certainly HE would know what to do and give me a clue! He did. It did not cure my nausea, walking in circles, but he did show me just how this longe concept worked....and we worked at it for about 20 minutes.
When I was done, I was not only nauseaous, but I had made a mighty rut in a perfect circle thru the grass in my front yard....which promptly froze and didn't disapper until well into the spring.....and I heard about the damage....I heard about it a LOT....and I never tried it again. That was probably 20 years ago.....Since then, I have elected to ride out the crazies and not waste them on the other end of a line....
So Steven asks me to help longe Sage.....in the open practice area behind the barn. Granted, he has now seen, first hand, a successful longing session.....so I better measure up. I am trying to recall all of the past 20 years of what I had learned....all those trips to Equine Affaire where I watched the best of the best demonstrate longing and round penning.....So I clip the longe line to the side of the halter, put my best Mother's Stare at the shoulder and bark: walk on.....she did. She did very well, and I was quite pleased with myself......so I figure I will try: trot.....After all the whole point of this exercise is to build muscle and balance, right?
Sure, she trotted and then got snotty: tossing her head and not really bucking, but getting all excited. Quick, brain: What would Cathie Hatrick Anderson do??? Pull down and whoa. Whew! It worked! She stopped, and looked at me...."Like that was just getting fun, what'd ya stop for?". I sent her off at a walk, and passed the line to Steven.....she walked to him. I explained about driving from the shoulder and the neck....had seen greeat results....and she did it for him, briefly.
We tried the other direction. Nope, that is the 'other' side of the horse....and the one not to be trusting. That, coupled with my neighbors little herding dog of some breed that I can't recall, loose in her yard, was giving Sage an excuse not to perform. This same dog, Sassy, had freaked out Caly once. She just sat in the abutting woods, staring, with her head down.....motionless....and that was enuf to convince Caly it was something to be feared.... it was also quite windy.....so we cut the session short, led her back to her enclosure and had a successful moment: lifting of feet: on command. All was well, she had succeeded on her last task of the day.....and we will leave longing for another time.
We tried the other direction. Nope, that is the 'other' side of the horse....and the one not to be trusting. That, coupled with my neighbors little herding dog of some breed that I can't recall, loose in her yard, was giving Sage an excuse not to perform. This same dog, Sassy, had freaked out Caly once. She just sat in the abutting woods, staring, with her head down.....motionless....and that was enuf to convince Caly it was something to be feared.... it was also quite windy.....so we cut the session short, led her back to her enclosure and had a successful moment: lifting of feet: on command. All was well, she had succeeded on her last task of the day.....and we will leave longing for another time.
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