Hi am doing stage 3 at the end of september and am freaking about the lunging. i passed stage 2 first time a year a go but have done very little lunging since then and my own horse is impossible to lunge which i think has dented my confidence. how hard is the stage 3 lunging and how big a jump from stage 2? i will be having lessons with a instructor but am panicking already anyway. has anyone any tips or advice,
much appreciated,
Cherry

I think in stage 2 if you can lunge a horse and not upset it or let it be lazy and you handle the lunge rein and whip ok then you pass. In stage 3 you have to work the horse so you have to make sure it will get enough exercise as if that is all it is going to do that day.

you need to practice a lot - you will only have about 15 minutes so you need to time yourself - start off without side reins on one rein, walking. one circuit then trot one to one and a half circuits. back to walk, halt and change the rein. if the horse has been perfect you could now put on the side reins but if not sure, lunge the same way on the other rein without them.

once the side reins are on, make sure that the horse is tracking up in trot, if not and you think it should canter ok, then do one circle of canter just to get the trot improved. don't spend too long on one rein though.That's where practising comes in - timing etc. whatever you do make sure you can explain what you've done to the examiner. For instance - when I took mine - I stopped and lengthened the side reins from what the previous candidate had put them at because I thought the horse was overbent - I eplained this to the examiner afterwards - as long as you are confident about what you are saying then you should be ok.

hope this helps.

Evelyn.