A very special lungeing clinic

Starting the clinic series of 2007 with a bang, the lungeing clinic held March 17 – March 18, 2007 was quite a success. Ralf Schmitzer, international clinician for classical riding and circencic, taught this course and showed how to lunge a horse according to traditional and classical principles. Unlike modern lungeing techniques, Ralf has developed his method based on groundwork. Therefore this is a very gentle way to lunge a horse. It is especially important to pay attention to the physiological movement of the horse and to train with feeling, patience and empathy. Once again, participants could observe that it is possible to work in a sensible and responsible way with the horse. Lungeing often abuses the horse and degrades it to a piece of sports equipment which can cause injuries and health problems. It is very easy to misunderstand the balance and biomechanics while lungeing and therefore to create problems for the horse. The clinic had both theoretical and practical elements which allowed all participants to maximize their learning experience. Ralf is offering more clinics in Germany as well as USA since the demand is ever increasing. Every participant received a certificate of participation as well as a small gift. It was truly a weekend to remember.