At 13:22:57 on 08.02.10, Flicka wrote:
I was just reading another thread and loose schooling(horses at liberty) was recommended. I like to do a bit of loose schooling but realized pretty quickly it's not quite as simple as chasing a horse around with a lunging whip-well not if you want to do it well lol! So, I thought it would be good to have a place where we could share stories and tips.

At 15:34:44 on 08.02.10, j_leopold wrote:
i also loose school..in the outdoor menage...and thats where i always "play" with them...as long as they no their basic commandes on the lunge it should be really easy 2 do...i wouldnt call loose schooling liberty though...as i work them differenly in liberty as i do that in a ring...but it helps with jumping ive found as u dont have the problem of the lunge line getting stuck on the wing...

At 22:46:14 on 25.02.10, Deps wrote:
Last time I "loose schooled" Affy in the arena she thought it was a big game and was trotting around twisting her neck towards me in that manner they do with other horses when they want them to play. In fact it was all such a big game that she decided it would be fun to jump the 5 bar gate straight out of the arena and canter back to her field, where she patiently waited for me to catch up with her. After I got over the shock of what had just happened I could see the funny side ... and was actually quite impressed that a 14.2hh pony could jump an near 4 feet gate from a slow canter!! Imagine the show jumping competitions she could win if she didn't have her "lets just do the small jumps" mother on her back!!

At 23:26:47 on 12.03.10, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
I free school, well its not really free school cos' i do it every where, the school, the paddocks, ANYWHERE :D. Play a game of tig or race your horse (yes you will lose haha) or even play football, football is very fun especially with a large treat ball as the horse gets a reward every now and again. After all this bonding trick training and training your horse to stretch means you stretch muscles you maybe wouldn't normally with ridden work creating a better topline and muscle tone. Try training bows, this is really good for back and neck muscles and really fun (both for you and the horse as they get a treat out of it).

At 07:40:36 on 14.03.10, j_leopold wrote:
as with what deps said about the horse jumping the gate my old boy who was an ex grade 2 show jumper would jump the gate..so what we use to do was gaurd the gate and he use to free school with you in the corner..he then use to play a game of how far can i persuade you out of that corner which was very fun as you use to have to race back to send him away from the gate..and like jess said games like tag ec really work and i play them any where..its a bit mad when i have my mentle 2 coming at me from different directions and ducking out at the last min...but i trust em and i no they wont get me (well they might but it would be an accident)...and i no I have a great bond with all of mine and it lets the horse b a horse with you...