Lunging Horses - Why Bother?

to talk to her teen about his exam study plans at Wonderland. Allowing a horse to ignore your cues is teaching your horse to ignore your cues.
Lunging Benefits for the Horse
Done correctly lunging teaches a green horse to organize and balance himself at all gaits and in transitions without the added factor of a rider. The horse learns to slip not blast into upward transitions. He discovers that opting for the inside lead takes less effort than the outside lead and that crosscantering feels really awkward.
The horse learns to keep his attention tethered to the hub of the wheel the lunger. Through the lunging process I confirm my role as decision maker. The horse follows my initiative and responds to my body language. The onus is on me to be readable and fair.
Lunging is a useful tool in a new environment to test the horses attentiveness before climbing aboard. Even though the horse is experiencing sensory overload in a new situation lunging helps him remember those skills hes familiar with just like we practiced at home.
Reestablishing the building blocks in your training foundation at the start of a session is like a circle check before driving your truck and trailer. Are all systems working well before we take it on the road? These include voice commands and yielding to pressure the language we use on the ground extends to the conversation under saddle. We speak the same language at home as at a horse show. Skipping training steps inevitably leads to stepping backwards in the process its false economy. 
Lunging Basics Easy as Pie
Think of your positioning like a pie slice your horse at the base of the triangle and you in neutral position at the point Figure 1. Your lunge line and lunge whip form the two sides of the triangle with the tip of your whip lowered. Move sideways slightly behind your horse and elevate your whip arm to send him forward. Slide sideways toward his shoulder to direct him straight for a few strides enlarging the circle. This tends to slow the horse as well. If you slide too far in front of his shoulder however he may turn around on you.
Out of control The horse is oblivious to the person on the other end of the line and whirls around at his pace of choice typically whinnying. Whats more the horse cuts in toward the lunger.