Exercise 1 SPIRALLING IN AND OUT
A key exercise that I suggest on the lunge is spiralling in and out of a circle. The special features about this is that because you have lateral bend, you have a slightly different action to the muscles on the inside as the muscles on the outside. To be straight on the circle, the outside hindleg and foreleg have to take a slightly bigger stride and you are not just challenging the muscles that flex, extend and move the limb on a straight line, you are also working the muscles that work on abduction and adduction. That is asking for more effort than going on a straight line.
■ In trot, start on a 20m circle and then reduce the size by bringing your horse onto a 10m circle.
■ To bring him in, shorten the lunge line so that your horse turns his nose off the line of the 20m circle. Then he will wind in towards you.
■ To ask him to go back out onto the bigger circle, walk a larger circle yourself so he stays the same distance from you. You want a little drift to the outside, so his weight is taken to the outside.
■ You want him bent in the direction you want to go, so his ribs are flexed to the outside but the inside hindleg steps up and underneath to lift him up. Once you’re in this carrying position, if you can maintain it, you are then working those muscles.
■ It will take two or three circles to get back onto the bigger circle. It’s hard work, so two or three circuits of each size before changing the rein is plenty.