Using leg yields, a rider can make larger or smaller circles during a lunge exercise, simply by pressing in the inner leg to encourage the horse to make a wider circle. Find out how the pressure in the legs can direct a horse with riding information from an internationally-certified horse trainer and instructor in this video on horse lunging.
Hello my name is Rebekah Larimer, and I am an internationally certified horse trainer and instructor, and today I am going to show you how to make larger and smaller circles on the lunge line. Today I have Rosemary the rider as my assistant, and our ground assistant is Maria the lunger. And right now Rosemary is riding on a pretty small circle on the lunge line, and what she is going to do she is going to shift her weight slightly to the inside seat bone. Her inside leg in on the girth, and her outside leg is slightly behind. So she is going to use her right inside leg, and ask John to make a larger circle. Her inside leg is asking him to get away from it, and make the circle larger. And her outside leg, her outside left leg is allowing him to make the larger circle. Now Rosemary is going to ask him to make a smaller circle. There is a little hiccup. C'mon John trot. So now Rosemary is going to ask him while remaining in the trot, to go on to a smaller circle. So she is going to shift her weight a little more into the inside seat bone, use a little bit of inside leg to ask him to round around her leg, and use the outside leg to ask him to come, and make the circle just a little bit smaller. And now we are going to ask him to go back out onto a larger circle again. So she is going to use her inside leg, and ask him to move away from it. Her outside left leg is going to allow him to make the circle larger. And that is how we make larger or smaller circles while we are the rider on the lunge line.
