How to Amp Up Your Training with Long Lining – Interview with Becky Seizert

Expert Interview

Click on the video above to watch the entire interview.

What sorts of skills do you need to long line your horse? And, what’s involved in long lining in the first place?

In the first of my video interviews with other equine training and rehabilitation experts, I tackle these questions with dressage trainer, Becky Seizert. As a specialist in equine rehabilitation, Becky has used long lining for years as a tool to help her clients’ horses recover after injuries and gain strength.

During our chat Becky and I talk about:

  • The differences between lunging and long lining (and why long lining can be a much more effective tool)
  • How long lining can be used for training, proper muscle development, and rehabilitation
  • How you can use long lining as a diagnostic tool to better understand how the horse moves without a rider on its back
  • The potential dangers of long lining if done incorrectly
  • What equipment you should have and what to avoid

Resources Becky recommends:

Where to find Becky online:

Seizert Dressage on Facebook and Instagram

Interview Transcript:

Brooke:

So today we’re going to come together and talk about something that we can do during the winter that’s both beneficial for your horse and educational for the rest of us to learn about. Our big topic today is long lining.

Becky, what do you do for a living? What is it? What’s your background?

Becky:

I’m a dressage trainer and I work with a lot of rehab horses, which means I have to be good at long lining because a lot of my horses can’t tolerate having a rider on their back due to back soreness or pain. So long lining is something I’ve invested a lot of time into learning how to do. And it’s one of my favorite tools for helping horses at various stages of their development and getting through some kind of sticky spots and also seeing what’s happening from the ground.

Brooke:

Excellent. I figured you would be the best person to have a conversation about this with because a lot of people don’t really understand the difference between lunging and long lining or ways that long lining is beneficial over just lunging. You know, kind of the deep down info that a person like you knows best about. I figured why not learn more? So, why do you online?

Becky:

So long lining is similar to lunging, but where lunging, you put the horse out on the end of the line and you usually use some kind of attachment to help the horse carry itself better. With long lining, you use two reins and you can almost ride the horse from the ground.

So you can give half halts, you can move the horse sideways, you can bend different directions. You can, I should say you can flex different directions. You can also go down the long side, you can do figures, and you can, in theory, do just about everything that you can do on the horse in the long lines. Eventually that takes a lot of skill, but there are some people who are very, very good at long lining and can do whole tests in the long lines, or do extensive patterns. There’s a guy from Sweden named Bo Jena, who I learned from many years ago who is very good at long lining. He can do a whole Grand Prix test with a horse in long lines. So, you get your cardio.

Brooke:

Oh yes. That’s impressive work. Right?

Becky:

There’s a lot that you can do. And, it has  a lot more potential that you can build on as opposed to lunging.

Brooke:

Okay. So for long lining, obviously you can do it for horses that are injured and you’re trying to stay off their back and that sort of thing. But how is it a beneficial thing for people who have their horses in a regular program and they’re doing pretty well? How is this a good thing to add in?

Becky:

So long lining is great because you can really see a lot of your horse’s tendencies without you. So most of us know that the horse sort of has its little crookedness and asymmetry and little tendencies. And we put a rider on top and they have their little crookedness and asymmetries and habits.

So we can separate the two and just see what the horse wants to do and what the rider wants to do. And that can really help the rider and help the trainer work toward correcting that. So for example, if I have a horse that tends to really be hollow or really against the bridle, if I put it in a long line, I can see right away if the horse just goes out on a circle and comes right through on the bit. Well, it’s probably the rider’s fault. If the horse takes a little while to come through in the long lines, well, that’s probably an issue with the horse and that’s maybe something that we could work with through body work too.

Brooke:

Right. Right. Yeah. So almost like a diagnostic tool for you to be able to see your horse and get a better feel that sort of way.

Becky:

It also allows you to work through some of those things without the weight of a rider, which is really nice because, you know, sometimes we can, even the best of us can be more harmful than we help.

Brooke:

Right, right. Exactly. Give the horse a chance to do it on their own. Is long lining for everyone? Can anyone just jump in and do it? What are the things that can go wrong?

Becky:

There’s a lot that can go wrong and you definitely don’t want to just jump in. But I do feel like it’s something that just about anyone can learn. So I would say the prerequisite would be, you want to be able to really be good at lunging. You want your horse to really understand that it should move around you in a circle. You should feel like you can hold the whip well and align well and manage the line.

So the biggest accidents that happen in long lining are when the rider mismanages the lines and either switches them or gets them tangled and trips on them – those kinds of things. So if you can’t manage one, you probably don’t want to jump in and try to manage two. Right. Then if the horse is really proficient in that, but maybe doesn’t move forward very well.

They can sometimes turn the wrong way. So if they twist toward you in the long lines, depending on how you have them set up, you don’t want the horse to learn on the line to turn towards you because they can get wrapped up in the long lines very easily. And that can be dangerous. Right. So basically if the horse lunges really well, if it totally understands how to go on a circle, that’s your prerequisite. If you’ve got that down, that’s when you can start practicing some stuff with long lining.

Brooke:

For people who are trying to have a more balanced program, and maybe they don’t have a trainer that they’re working with, what are ways that they can learn how to long line? Or what are ways that people can get more confident in this?

Becky:

Well, I think that first of all, the best way to be confident is to have the right equipment. Safety is a big issue with this, so I think the best thing is to have a good quality surcingle. You should always long line using a surcingle and preferably a surcingle with turrets. So turrets are like little hook islets, things that actually stand up off of the surcingle. They prevent the surcingle from trapping the rein down and getting hung up. And that’s really important because we don’t want the horse to feel trapped and then have a panic attack and then, you know, create some sort of issue that way. There are some fairly affordable singles with turrets. I think they have one on dressage extensions, that’s like $60.

Brooke:

But, you can spend a lot more, like everything?

Becky:

Yes. I do think that it’s important if you’re going to plan to make this a part of your routine to really invest in the right equipment, because it’s something that can go very wrong. And that’s not what we want. Get a good quality surcingle. Then it’s best to make sure the surcingle is really properly fitted.

So if it’s the type of surcingle that just goes around the horse, that doesn’t have a bump over the spine or have some sort of way to grip around the horse’s withers, you’ll put that over your saddle. If it’s an English saddle, you should be able to, so that should be fitted over the saddle so that it doesn’t twist or pull forward or push into the horse’s withers – which could again, cause pain.

I prefer long lines that are leather because they glide through the turrets really well and they give a sort of a natural rein feeling in your hands.

So the ones that I use are about the same width as my reins, and that just helps sort of keep my riding education and my long line education a little bit more together. They have a lot of nylon versions, so that’s okay. If you don’t have anything else you can always, of course just use two lunge lines too. But I think if you’re doing that, you definitely want to make sure that you’re using a surcingle with turrets because the nylon just doesn’t glide quite well. So the leather is probably best, but again, it’s kind of hard to find those, and a bit more of an investment. I would say that the biggest thing is make sure you have a good safe setup.

Brooke:

And then as far as finding trainers…  or are there any videos or anything like that, assuming there are good videos… perhaps that’s something on our radar and we’ll surprise people.

Becky:

Right. I think that you really want to be aware of any of the videos that encourage you to do things that seem like your horse wouldn’t like. So the biggest thing is you should do what you feel like your horse can handle.

There are a lot of different ways to hook up the long lines. And if your horse gets a little concerned about things going behind it’s butt, wait to run the lines behind his butt. But you can run them over the horse’s back. Some horses I don’t ever put the thing behind their butt and they do just fine. It’s okay. Some horses, that’s a really good tool to be able to run the long line behind the butt. The other thing is you can always use when you’re first starting out, you can always hook the inside rein directly to the bit. That’s a great way to start.

It’s really simple. It’s a direct aid. So you’re a lot less likely to put too much pressure on that rein, which is important because like I said before, you don’t want to turn the horse toward you and have it start spinning and wrapping itself in the long line. I would say that’s a good idea. You don’t have to do that for very long.

Once everybody is comfortable, you can progress to connecting the lines a little bit more differently, but there are a ton of ways that you can connect the lines. There’s a ton of ways that you can use your body language to influence the horse. And there are all kinds of ways that you can do different movements in the long line. So I would say start basic, but then just, you know, think about your horse, where you’re at, what you can handle and build up slowly. There’s a lot of experimenting that can be done, but best done slowly.

Let me know if you found the video and post helpful. And, make sure to follow Drassal Equine Bodywork on…

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