Long lines with Charlie

Yesterday I was feeling under the weather so I didn't want to ride Charlie after training the other horses, but I did want to do something. I was going to do a lunging session in side reins but since Jan and I have been having so much success with the other horses using long lines, I decided to give it another go with Charlie. I had tried once before over the summer and he was ok with it but I didn't really have a good space to work in.

I was really impressed! Charlie was very attuned to my cues and picked it up super fast (maybe I've just been working with the babies so much I had forgotten what it was like to work with a trained horse).

I like how the long lines can reinforce verbal and rein cues without the horse worrying about someone being in the saddle, and I think they do a good job of helping a horse learn to drop his head and use his back, especially when they are used like a lunge line (see the video below). Having one line under his butt encourages him to be aware of his body and hind end while the line in front, looped through the stirrup, encourages proper head and neck bend and softness. In this way they work similarly to side reins but are a little more versatile, I think. They also were good for Charlie in encouraging him to drop his head when he backs up and instead of throwing it up in the air. I will be using them again!