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If you haven’t heard it already, here is your public service announcement: ALWAYS WEAR GLOVES WHEN LUNGING A HORSE. If you’ve been around horses long enough, you’ve probably gotten rope burn at least once from a horse yanking a lead rope out of your hand. It hurts. It’s something I taught all of my students when I was giving lessons. I would send people out of the arena if they were not wearing gloves and trying to lunge their horse. It’s also important to wear gloves if you are leading or loading a horse that may yank the lead rope out of your hands as well. Lunge lines are about 4 times the length of a lead rope. You may think you can let go of that lunge line quick enough to avoid a bad rope burn, but it’s often not the case.
The time I Didn’t Wear Gloves . . .
Let me tell you a story about the time that I didn’t wear gloves while lunging a horse. This is how it went: “Hey, will you lunge my horse for a minute. I want to see if he is sound?” asked a student. “Absolutely,” I replied. Lunge, lunge, buck, bolt, and take off across the arena. I knew better. I knew better! That is all that ran through my head in those split seconds that the lunge line tore through my hands while tearing off layers of skin on its way. That is called getting “degloved.” If you Google “degloved” you will find some pretty shocking pictures. I had a very minor case of it, but it was still extremely painful. I couldn’t grab much with that hand for a long time. The injured part healed slowly and remained sensitive for quite a while even after it looked fully healed.
Glove Recommendations
I love Roeckl Riding Gloves: https://amzn.to/3g9SAoN. They are lightweight and feel wonderful, however they are pretty expensive. I use them when I ride, but if I am just lunging a horse, I don’t use them. Arena sand on the lunge line can wear the gloves fairly quickly. If expenses are not a problem for you, then go ahead and use these gloves! My second favorite glove to riding in are these: https://amzn.to/3L70DWL. My favorite gloves to use for leading, grooming, loading, lunging… are crochet gloves. The leather on the palms tend to hold up pretty well. I have also used them for riding when I am in between pairs of Roeckl gloves. I have used Ovation’s Crochet Gloves: https://amzn.to/3iTsmcd, Heritage’s Crochet Gloves: https://amzn.to/347qJU0, and SSG’s Crochet Gloves: https://amzn.to/2YqCgdF. They all seem fairly equal in price and quality.
Conclusion
“Experience is a hard teacher; it gives you the test first and the lesson is learned afterwards.” ~ Unknown
This is one of my favorite quotes. However, it shouldn’t apply to wearing gloves while lunging a horse…learn from my experience. No matter how little time you think you will be lunging a horse, you should always wear gloves. If the horse is super calm and never takes a wrong step … still wear the dang gloves! The skin on your hands will thank you later.