Teach the Basics – Seat- Part 4
By Barbara Ellin Fox
LONGING or LUNGING
Longing is often over looked in riding instruction programs. Good lunging horses take time to train and until recently the art of longing riders was not normally taught to American instructors. With USDF instructor prep classes, the teaching of longing the rider has been given more attention.
It’s well known that riders that enter the Spanish Riding School in Vienna are worked on the lunge line, without reins or stirrups for up to two years. This method permanently imbeds an educated independent seat as well as independent hands and legs to the riders. Because the riders start this way they carry with them an elegant and effective seat through their entire riding lives. Obviously things are handled differently in the US. We don’t have a central school and few riders are willing to be lunged for 2 years, but riders can still benefit from regular lunging lessons whether the lessons are in a series or periodically.
2 Important Requirements
The two most important requirements of lunge lessons are an excellent instructor and an excellent lunging horse. When you find one or the either you’re fortunate, but when you’ve found both be sure to buy up as many lesson slots as possible because this will be money well spent. If you are an excellent lunging instructor with wonderful lunging mounts, I’d encourage you to exploit this part of your ability both with students and student instructors.
Being lunged on a good horse by a good instructor is one of the safest learning atmospheres that a student can experience. The horse knows his job and is controlled by a person who knows their job. The instructor will regulate pace, rhythm, size of circle, and transitions leaving the rider the opportunity to concentrate fully on herself. This is the best environment for any level of rider to pay attention to detail. Because of the safe environment, lunging is also a great way to start beginners and to help rider’s who have confidence issues.
Since the instructor is literally feet away from the student she can work on the student’s whole seat from the bottoms of the feet to the top of the head longitudinally and laterally, allowing the rider to be in better balance and to move more harmoniously with the horse, developing rider awareness.
Exercise
Most lunging lessons involve “exercises”. Valuable exercises for the seat are all those that work toward suppling, alignment, and good posture because without these three things it’s impossible to have a good seat. Consequently even exercises that have eliminating stiffness as their main goal are valuable toward developing a good seat. Most of the exercises that are done off of the lunge line are suitable for lunging the rider; including neck stretches, arm circles, shoulder shrugs, toe touches, scissors, and sitting with knees up like a jockey in order to feel seat bones. Most instructors agree that legs away is one of their favorite seat developing exercises because it helps to stretch the tight hip area, a major stumbling block in developing a good seat.
Because the rider doesn’t use the reins during lunging, it’s easier to develop the idea that we don’t stop the horse with the reins. A good instructor will teach students how to stop the horse with their seat, once they’re capable of using seat correctly. Students also learn how various pelvis movements and pressure with either seat bone effect the way the horse moves and travels.
Expect to spend plenty of time on the lunge line without your stirrups. Riding without stirrups is one of the best methods for developing your seat. Having the opportunity to sit the trot, on a controlled and balanced lunging horse, while not using stirrups gives students a taste of the feeling that they will strive for on their own, off the line.
Students that wish to develop and effective and elegant seat would give themselves a gift by searching out an excellent lunging instructor with horses that are well trained. They should expect lunging lessons to be short, perhaps 20-30 minutes, because lunging a horse for a long period of time is strenuous on the animal. This might be a reason that good lunging lessons are hard to find. Students should also expect lunging lessons to cost at least as much as private lessons, perhaps more if they are used to having lessons on their own horse, since a specialized animal is required. It would be wise to ask if you may watch part of a lunging lesson before you book lessons with an instructor. It is very important that lunging lesson be taught by an excellent instructor with an excellent lunging horse. I can’t repeat this often enough. Lunge lessons on erratic horses or given by instructors who are inexperienced at lunging riders on horses can be unsatisfying and dangerous.
In my next post I’ll begin to take a look at some of the non conventional ways to develop a good seat.
Thank you for reading “The Riding Instructor”
Barbara Ellin Fox
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As an instructor who lunges riders daily, I was very happy to see this article. My riders show the results of learning to have an independent seat because of their lessons on the lunge line.
Thank you, Jodi. I wish all good instructors would take the time to invest in their students like you do.
Thank You for this article. It helps to reinforce what and how I teach. In August 2009, one of my students mother gave me a choice to remain her daughters instructor if I completely took the 9 year old off the lunge line. Due to my teaching ethic, I told the mother that I would continue to use the lunge line in her lessons from time to time, so basicly, in a nice way, she was dismissed if she wouldn’t comply. The mother is a so call “former” instructor herself. She then showed up at the last horse show on a similar large pony under another instructor, and, didn’t place as well. For the kids it’s about fun, but, they know what blue ribbons and trophys are. The student shared the Lead Line Championship with another student of mine, at this point the mother blew it and my other student walked away with Reserve Champion for the year. I can proudly say that good beginnings with lunge line lessons with and for my students have had winning results in the show ring time and time again.
Dear Dawn,
Give yourself a pat on the back for sticking to your guns. It can be very hard but Oh so important. When an instructor has developed a system or plan that works well for her students, I believe in staying the course. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be flexible and able to accommodate necessary needs – to a point- but compromise is an evil that goes after the basic tenants of what we believe. The foundation is soooo important and if taught (and learned ) correctly the student will come back to it over and over through out their career. Instructors have the opportunity to give something of lasting value to their students.
On the other side of your student, i think we’ve all run into a good share of pushy parents. This situation can really tax an instructor’s creativity. It might be an excellent topic to work on the Riding Instructor after a while, especially if some of the good instructors out there, such as yourself, would add their experiences.
Thanks for commenting and thanks for reading The Riding Instructor. Keep up the good work in teaching and never be afraid to stand for what you believe.
Barbara