Whats the longest you should lunge a young horse?

i lunge my 4 year old b4 i ride her, usually about 15-20 minutes but i've heard some ppl (usa vaulting team) lunge horses for 30 minutes, and they say 30 minutes is the most you should lunge a horse, so just checking on this, i free lunge her in a round pen btw


so plz be nice and thanks for the help :)|||20 minutes of good solid work will suffice - 10 mins on each rein.





Lunging is very hard work for a young horse, they have to balance themselves the whole time (especially if you are good enough to notice when he falls in/out and correct him each time he tries) If the lunging sessions are too long, he will become tired and disheartened - and will learn very little other than "lunging is bloody hard work" from the experiance. you want to keep it as positive as possible - the brain of a young horse is like a sponge so really make the most of things, keep it interesting and make sure your horse is always learning the positive things as opposed to the negative things! example:


"well mum made me work quite hard today but i enjoyed it because it was kept short and simple"


or


"mum worked me almost into the ground, not sure im going to behave tomorrow when she tries to take me in the arena - im exhaused"





Just put yourself in your horses shoes and you honestly cannot go far wrong" good luck and enjoy :)|||15 minutes tops for a young horse, 30 for an experienced and fit horse. Lungeing is extremely stressful on the joints and tendons owing to the fact that it is done on such a small circle and there are no straight lines. Even the fittest horse - ie an eventer cannot be lunged more than half an hour, but normally 20 minutes is thought to be safest.|||Most round pens are 50-60 feet in diameter, but that still puts a horse on a fairly small circle. That is really hard on their legs, both the running and being on the circle. Why are you lunging her? Is she too spirited to ride without it?|||depending on the horses energy levels and how fit it is but most people dont lounge over 30 mins


if you lounge just make sure you change direction do good walk trot transition trot walk and canter walk