What does your horse think about long lining?

Freedom Long lining — You don’t need words to know what he’s thinking! Freedom thought it was really stupid for me to ground drive him.

While Freedom was still rehabbing his leg, I thought about teaching him to long line. I had taught Sheldon the day before and he picked it up in about 20 minutes with no fuss or bother and with no help. I was able to long line him and double lunge him (you have one line coming from the bit through the surcingle, the other rein going through the surcingle and around the horse’s butt).

Sheldon long lining — Sheldon was very amenable to ground driving. In fact, he immediately dropped his head and started using his back. Long lining can be a great way to teach you horse how to work properly, but sometimes you need a helper to get started.

Freedom was a completely different story. He could not for the life of him figure out why I wanted to stand behind him and drive him! Finally I had to give up because I was afraid he’d get tangled up in the lines and hurt himself even more. If I ever decide to teach him again, I’m going to draft a volunteer to lead him for the first session.

I’ve probably taught five different horses to long line over the years. Freedom was by far the most puzzled. Just look at his expression!

Do you long line your horse? How easy was it to teach them?