I have decided to address the work on the longe line in my blog, because the longeing you normally see is of very poor quality, thoughtless, and often downright harmful for the horse. Unfortunately, most riders find longeing boring and are not interested in improving their knowledge in this respect, although they could further the training of their horses a great deal with correct longeing, while poor longeing is highly disadvantageous for the horse’s health and training.
In this entry I want to comment on Kästner’s chapter on longeing. In the German original text, Kästner refers to the longeing circle as a volte. This must not be misunderstood. He is not talking about a small circle. The longeing circle must always be sufficiently large, and the tempo has to match the size of the circle. If the tempo is too high for the size of the circle, the horse legs will suffer damage. Unfortunately you see riders all the time who chase their horses at the longe line, in order to make them tired. That misses the point of the work on the longe line and makes the horses lame. The centrifugal forces damage the legs when the tempo is too high. When the horse is unbalanced, which is always the case in situations like this, it makes things a lot worse. Apart from that, you cannot expect high quality work and high energy from a tired horse. Chasing a horse around like this is always a sign of incompetence and a lack of understanding.
Kästner emphasizes the unity of the work, i.e. that all forms of training have to follow the same principles in order not to confuse the horse. They all have to complement each other and build on each other, no matter of whether it is the work under saddle, longeing, work in hand, long reining, or pillars work. Balance and suppleness are the cornerstones of dressage, and all variations of the training must serve these goals. The horse therefore has to learn to keep a round circle line and a steady tempo on the longe line, which leads to a steady contact on the longe line. Kästner calls the steady contact the sould of horsemanship. In this sense, longeing can become the foundation for all further training under the rider. Once staying on a round circle and in a steady tempo has become second nature for the horse, then it will not be difficult for the rider to achieve this regularity of the gaits under saddle. Longeing is supposed to help the horse to find his balance. This also teaches the horse to pay attention to the rider and the aids at all times. One can teach the horse a certain work ethic on the longe line, and one can establish a positive relationship between horse and rider which the work under saddle builds on.
Longeing is also an artform in itself. For this reason, Kästner underscores that the trainer has to be an experienced and educated rider, who understands the principles of dressage training. Longeing green horses or correcting spoilt horses requires, as Kästner writes, up to four people. In most cases two people will be sufficient. A trainer, who has a good feel for the contact and the timing of the aids, stands in the center of the circle, holding the longe line. He applies half halts, if the horse starts rushing. He bends the horse, if it braces with its neck and poll, he can enlarge the circle, if the horse comes in, and he can turn the horse, if it wants to leave the circle. The aids of the longe line aim at the inside pair of legs, i.e. they are applied when one of the inside legs is on the ground. It is often a good idea to give series of rein aids that end with the inside hind leg, in order to bend it and to regulate the tempo. The final aid can be longer and stronger than the others.
The longeline holder has to engage his core muscles in the same way as in the saddle, and the hand must be anchored by the seat and weight in order to be able to go through. The upper arms and elbows should rest against the torso for this purpose, and the wrist has to be supple and relaxed. If the core muscles are too soft and the wrists are stiff, the horse will not stay on the circle, but drift to the inside and it will not be able to maintain a steady tempo.
Kästner recommends that the longe line holder walks in the rhythm of the horse’s gait, if he walks on a small circle himself. I don’t find that practical, especially in the canter. It is generally better to stay in the center of the circle and to turn around the inner heel or toe.
The second trainer holds the whip and initially leads the horse in the walk around the circle line. Once the horse walks calmly next to the trainer, he spirals in towards the center of the circle, while the horse remains on the circle line. He has to have a good feel for handling the whip, in order not to scare the horse out of clumsiness, which is something you can see only too frequently, unfortunately. Sometimes it is necessary to lead the horse on the circle line in the trot for a short period of time, before retreating towards the center.
The whip must be used as an extension of the trainer’s arm, so that the movements continue on through the very end of the lash. Slow, large movements are more suitable than short, quick ones. In most cases, raising the whip slightly is sufficient as a driving aid. The next bigger aid is a supple swinging of the lash of the whip from back to front. When a horse is lazy or inattentive, it can be necessary to touch the horse lightly with the lash of the whip. The cracking of the whip should be avoided, especially when other horses are in the arena as well, because it often makes them nervous or fearful. They tense up and start rushing as a consequence.
When a driving aid is applied, the longe line has to catch the increased thrust of the hindquarters and translate it into flexion of the haunches through properly attuned half halts, so that the driving aid does not simply result in a faster tempo.
With difficult horses it can sometimes be helpful if the whip bearer walks behind the horse and a third assistant leads the horse with the cavesson. This allows for more effective driving aids with horses that are sucked back. In other cases, one or two assistants are needed on the outside of the circle to prevent the horse from leaving the circle. However, such problems tend to appear only in horses that have been longed by clumsy riders before and have developed bad habits.
Horses that have been round penned typically run away frantically, without paying any attention to the trainer and without allowing the trainer to regulate the tempo in any way. Once the trainer finally gets their attention, they stop abruptly and turn around. With green horses, such mistakes happen very rarely.
The better the horse understands its job and the more it finds its balance, the more the whip bearer can approach the center of the circle and finally hand the whip over to the longe line holder.
One should always use a cavesson for longeing. Unfortunately, most cavessons that are sold are so heavily padded that they don’t fit most horses and that they swallow the aids instead of transmitting them to the horse. Longeing with a halter is a total waste of time, because one cannot influence the horse with it. Neither should one attach the longe line to the bit, since it cannot address the horse correctly, either.
Correct longeing also requires a longeing surcingle with as many rings as possible, that allow a variable attachment of the side reins. The surcingle should be placed over the saddle, so that the saddle can prevent the surcingle from slipping.
Side reins should be attached neither too high nor too low on the surcingle. If they are attached too low, they pull the horse down onto the forehand, and the purpose of longeing, i.e. finding the balance, is missed. For the same reason, one should never attach auxiliary reins between the horse’s front legs. Viennese reins are attached to the rings on the side of the surcingle. From there they are run through the snaffle rings, and then they are either clipped t to the center ring of the surcingle or to a set of rings high up on its side. The higher the auxiliary reins are adjusted, the more they elevate the horse. The best adjustment has to be researched by the trainer from scratch every day.
Kästner recommends to bend the horse slightly to the inside with the snaffle reins by buckling the inside rein to the highest ring in the middle of the surcingle, while the framing outside rein is attached to the adjacent outside ring. In addition, he uses the cavesson reins by attaching the inside cavesson rein to the inside ring on the surcingle, in order to bend the horse. The outside cavesson rein is attached to the outer ring on the surcingle, but it is kept so long that it has no effect. This is an interesting variation. I personally use side reins of equal length, which I attach to the snaffle rings. The bend is achieved through the interaction of the driving and restraining aids. The length of the side reins must be checked every day. If they are too long, the horse can block the rein aids with its underneck muscles. If they are too short, the horse cannot use its neck as a balancing rod. Some horses then become claustrophobic and can flip over backwards. It is therefore the smaller mistake to have the side reins a little too long.
During the 19th century it was quite common to longe with an overcheck and side reins, in order to determine precisely the degree of elevation and poll flexion. However, that seems too inflexible and too restrictive to me.
Kästner’s explanations of the aids are helpful. He uses a backward-upward squeeze of the longe line as a half halt, which mimics the rider’s rein aid in the saddle. It has been very useful in practice to utilize bending rein aids as half halts to slow down the tempo and to bend the inner hind leg. Sequences of aids, such as inner front leg > inner front leg > inner hind leg or inner front leg > inner front leg > inner hind leg > inner hind leg are especially well suited to balance the horse and to regulate the tempo. The duration and the intensity of these aids can vary. For instance, a sequence that addresses specific legs can be applied as short > short > long (> long), or as light > medium > firm. The leverage of the neck intensifies the flexion of the haunches, when you apply the bending aid at that moment when the inside hind leg is on the ground.
If the horse drifts out of the circle, Kästner applies a turning aid with the longe line when the inside front leg is on the ground and the outside front leg is in the air. This makes the outside front leg move in an arc around the inside front leg, and the horse turns.
When the horse drifts into the circle, the opposite aid is applied. When the inside front leg is in the air and the outside front leg is on the ground, one can get the inner front leg to cross over by swinging the longe line towards the horse, so that the circle becomes bigger.
As far as the whip aids are concerned, it is advisable to let the whiplash and the end of the solid part of the whip rest on the ground, if one does not intend to drive. Pointing the whip at the inside hock, which is often recommended is on the one hand tiring for the rider’s arm, and on the other hand it is similar to a gripping leg. It is a permanent driving aid which will scare some horses initially. In the long run, however, it will only make the horses dull. Most horses can be tuned very easily to the raising of the whip as a driving aid.
Those who take longeing seriously and who study it assiduously can learn a great deal about their horse and about dressage in general. They can educate their eye, and they can improve their feel for the application of the aids. It would be desirable for the horses‘ sake that more riders apply themselves more diligently to this training method. Then we would not hear the opinion so often from veterinarians and trainers that longeing is bad for the horse’s soundness.
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Thomas Ritter
