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Videos of Esprit
http://www.artofnaturaldressage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=467		 Page 3 of 3
Author:  Karen [ Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:57 pm ]
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Quote:
Just what GOTM with head down actually looks like


The Goat On A Mountain Top is supposed to be done with the head down. Head up is a variation, done gradually, that was shown to me by my trainer friend, Paul Dufresne.

In the normal GOTM (Goat on THE Mountain), with the head down, stretches the topline wonderfully well. The balance point is the front feet...you can even see a horse wobble forward and back, balancing on the front feet. By bringing the head up, even slightly, you begin to shift the weight backward. Some horses (like Cisco) will take a very long time to become strong enough not to move the back feet further back as soon as you ask the head to come up a little.

Theoretically, if a horse learns to keep his feet still, then can raise his head to the point that the poll is the highest point, then they will be balancing almost entirely on the hind legs. It is a very tiring position, so with Tam (who is almost able to do this now), I use it only as a momentary transition into something else...like walking briskly forward out of it, or perhaps in the future, rearing up, piaffe, etc, in which they can then move the feet. If I want the position held for any length of time, the head pretty much has to stay down, or only slightly raised.

I transition to a brisk walk with Tam (not always so "brisk" but that is the goal), then halt, then back to GOTM, then back to brisk walk, etc, so he will hopefully learn, essentially, a partial GOTM in movement. The GOTM is on verbal cue (my cue word is "PUSH"), and through these GOTM/walk/GOTM/walk transitions, I hope at some point to be able to simply verbally cue a more exaggerated stepping under of the hind legs (or shift to collection) by saying the word "PUSH" while he is already in movement.

I'm assuming it will be a long time yet before he's made this connection (if ever).

But the true and original "Goat" as far as I know, is head down. I have also heard it called "End of the Trail", or "Elephant on a Ball", or "Stand On a Dime".
Author:  HelenMai [ Wed Jan 09, 2008 3:16 pm ]
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Thank you very much for the comments :D
That goat on the mountain I have to try 8)

Donald- I love you sentence: love is trust, trust is all.
That is very beautiful and truth.
Author:  admin [ Wed Jan 09, 2008 3:50 pm ]
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Karen wrote:
But the true and original "Goat" as far as I know, is head down. I have also heard it called "End of the Trail",


That seems like very sad name for such an exercise... :wink:

And it's true that the original mountaingoat is with head down and hooves as close together as possible, but that there is also a more collected, higher mountaingoat. The thing is though that in order to be able to shift his bodyweight backwards in order to curl up the back in collection, the hooves need to be placed a bit further away from each other. With a higher neckposture and the hooves very close to each other, the horse will not have the room to lift his back correctly and instead of being truly collected, will just lift his head and sag in his back, becoming hollow in the back instead. About exactly the opposite that you would want to see. 8)
Author:  Karen [ Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:44 pm ]
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Both Tam and Cisco scooch the back feet a bit farther back when I ask the head to come up. I feel they know where they must be, so I never got picky about it. Especially with Cisco, who has enough trouble doing a full goat with his head down, I do not ask him to keep the feet so close when he raises his head.
Author:  HelenMai [ Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:54 am ]
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Donald Redux wrote:
HelenMai wrote:
In NHE horse must be 8-years old, then the horse is allowed to do simple airs above the ground and when the horse is 10-13-years old - difficult airs. If Esprit voluntary wants to do pesade, centavo, courbette, terre a terre (or one time he did capriole in liberty) then I must prohibit it and tell him that "wait, not now, we will do these exercises after 2 or 4 years"???
I think its individual for every horse, taking into account horse´s talent, abilitys, health etc. If the horse is ready (strong hindlegs and back), then he will do it.


Could not be clearer than what you state.

Do horses in the wild wait until they are 10 - 13 yrs old?



Well, I got confirm to this sentence by NHE School members, that we really need to tell the horse "wait, not now, we will do jumps after 2 or 4 years". :shock:
And what is the conclusion here? We wont develop further, we standstill or reverse. This is very "motivating"!!!!!!! :shock: :roll: :evil:
Author:  HelenMai [ Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:37 pm ]
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All my videos are removed and you can see them in my diary:

http://www.artofnaturaldressage.com/viewtopic.php?t=683

8)
Author:  Tlove [ Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:00 pm ]
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Waw...
It is so amazing. I watched your videos. And they all are so stunning. It is really amazing.
Keep up, you are very talented!

Greetings
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