When the lunge line snaps!

The joys of working with a young horse are that you are guaranteed a learning experience and an adventure...

Yesterday I let Teddy out to stretch his legs and eat grass on the ally between the paddocks of the other horses. Then I led Toby to the arena to lunge him. While we were lunging, Teddy started squealing with the other horses. The squeals were becoming louder and louder and started to get distracting for both Toby and I. Toby got more and more excited and started running numerous canter circles. This was fine by me as he needed the exercise.

But the next thing I knew, Toby was running free!  The lunge line snapped! It just severed completely. Toby B-lined it to the corner of the arena because that was the most direct route to Teddy (if there was no fencing in the way). I ran to the open gate of the arena and luckily beat Toby to it. Toby ran around the edges of arena looking for a way out.  He quickly realized there was no way out so came to me at the gate, not knowing what to do with himself.

Can you see the severed lunge line attached to the halter? So perhaps I will not buy used lunge lines in the future. And I will always remember to close the gate when lunging in the arena!

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