Evaluating the horse on the lunge line

You can learn to evaluate your horse on the line by simply trotting him without anything on its back. You can use a halter or bridle, depending on what works better for your horse, but do not use any side-reins or other aids at first.

The first thing you want to look for is the motion of muscle. On a loose horse, you will see each muscle group working with every step, engaging and relaxing in an obvious manner from the top of the neck all the way to the tail. Wherever the muscle does not engage AND loosen, there is tension. The same applies to muscles which look like they are "jarring" with engagement.

The next thing to look for is bend. Wherever you have tightness or shortness over the topline of one side, the horse will bend in that direction. (Tight over the right equals hind end bend to the right without being able to straighten and vice versa. This also applies under saddle).

The next thing to look for is engagement of each individual leg - front legs and back. You want to look not only for reach, but also for height of the lift of each leg. If one front leg lifts higher than the other, you have tightness or shortness of the shoulder muscles in that leg, for example.

The way the horse carries itself while moving freely will also tell you a lot. While it is natural for a horse to choose a higher neck set and carry more weight on the forehand, and overly "inverted" position hints toward extreme shortening over the topline. A frame which is too low without extra  lifting of the back hints toward other, serious problems (the topline is too loose without engagement of muscle). If the horse keeps it's neck curled in, rather than stretching the nose forward, you also have a sign of tension and tightness.


If the horse looks loose when trotting freely, you can use the same evaluation while using side-reins. I prefer doing this in a surcingle instead of a saddle, so I can see the large back muscles at work. Once again, do a complete evaluation to see which muscle groups might show tightness, shortness or "jarring" when the horse moves. Watch for lift and reach of legs, and changes in the way the horse bends its body.

Keeping a close eye on foot fall, break-over points, and leaning (front or hind end), can tell you a lot about possible shoeing issues and can also simply let you know if there is something your farrier could do to help your horse.

Oftentimes, a horse moving freely on the lunge line will tell you a lot about possible trouble areas.  It is a vital tool in evaluating your horse long before you ever put him under saddle. Once you develop a good eye for how your horse moves without a rider, you will have a much better idea of how to help him in your training program.