Kula Lunge

Kula Lunge DEVELOP your horses training under saddle from the ground with the Kula Lunge Horse Training System

10/06/2025

Author is believed to be a William Steinkraus
Read , let it sink in, then read again :

“No. 1. Get your tack and equipment just right, and then forget about it and concentrate on the horse.

No. 2. The horse is bigger than you are, and it should carry you. The quieter you sit, the easier this will be for the horse.

No. 3. The horse's engine is in the rear. Thus, you must ride your horse from behind, and not focus on the forehand simply because you can see it.

No. 4. It takes two to pull. Don't pull. Push.

No. 5. For your horse to be keen but submissive, it must be calm, straight and forward.

No. 6. When the horse isn`t straight, the hollow side is the difficult side.

No. 7. The inside rein controls the bending, the outside rein controls the speed.

No. 8. Never rest your hands on the horse's mouth. You make a contract with it: "You carry your head and I'll carry my hands."

No. 10. Once you've used an aid, put it back.

No. 11. You can exaggerate every virtue into a defect.

No. 12. Always carry a stick, then you will seldom need it.

No. 13. If you`ve given something a fair trial, and it still doesn't work, try something else—even the opposite.

No. 14. Know when to start and when to stop. Know when to resist and when to reward.

No. 15. If you're going to have a fight, you pick the time and place.

No. 16. What you can't accomplish in an hour should usually be put off until tomorrow.

No. 17. You can think your way out of many problems faster than you can ride your way out of them.

No. 18. When the horse jumps, you go with it, not the other way around.

No. 19. Don`t let over-jumping or dull routine erode the horse's desire to jump cleanly. It's hard to jump clear rounds if the horse isn't trying.

No. 20. Never give up until the rail hits the ground.

No. 21. Young horses are like children—give them a lot of love, but don't let them get away with anything.

No. 22. In practice, do things as perfectly as you can; in competition, do what you have to do.

No. 23. Never fight the oats.

No. 24. The harder you work, the luckier you get."

Credit believed to be William Steinkraus

10/06/2025

We know that the correct carriage of the neck of a correctly ridden horse is a bent position. However if the flexor (underneck muscles) played an active role in this , then we would expect them to increase in size throughout the course of training. This would mean the lower part of the neck would become larger.

However this is not the case; with correct training the flexor muscles decrease in size and the jugular groove becomes more obvious.

The upper neck muscles increase considerably in size over the course of correct training.
This is because they do the work of supporting the head and neck against gravity.

When the horse stretches or lowers his neck the vertebral column hangs on these muscles.
As the horse’s upper neck muscles become stronger over time, they are able to hold the neck in a higher carriage, while it remains in a lengthened state. They are able to lift the 4th to 7th vertebrae to the withers, the neck loses it’s S- shape and the neck becomes longer. In this way the horse can also appear to gain height.

It is possible to assess how your training is progressing by observing the changes in your horse‘s musculature over time.

06/06/2025

I know i say it all the time but watch what the back is doing to see if the training is beneficial.. its really not just all about the head carriage.

In the top two photos this was Finns second unaff dressage test as a 7yo - in hind sight he wasn't ready physically but i wanted him to get out, see things and travel, the carriage would be desirable to some - polls nearly at the highest point probally is if you take his crest out the picture.

Let's look at the body, he's taking short strides in the trot because he needs to lengthen and his body is out of alignment. The canter he's stepping through but look at his back, in both images it's hollow behind the saddle totally disconnected. In general see how weak he is compared to the bottom two images. He was quite tense this day as a new venue which didn't help either.

The bottom two images are 2 years apart, achieved by concentrating more on his back and alignment and letting his head be where it needs to maintain better alignment and balance himself in a slower pace to the norm - as a result his whole posture has improved too.

We must not concentrate on one thing during the stages of training, the body has to work and connect as a whole, one thing helps the next and sometimes it doesn't look perfect.

I love these little time hop photos to remember how we are doing on our own personal journey - my photos will never be " perfection " or the end goal because we are forever learning with horses.

Aslong as my horses continue to improve physically and mentally I am happy.

* The saddle is different in each photo, people may assume this made a difference in way of going - it was part of trial and error. I am back in the top saddle now.

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