The Art of Natural Dressage

Geez you guys....thank you!

You know though, it DOES begin to feel very normal after awhile and I tend not to see it as special because it just IS (if that makes any sense at all) and you kind of forget that not everyone works with horses in the same way...and that in itself is both odd and wonderful at the same time, don't you think?

If I didn't have this forum to visit everyday, then perhaps I would have a big head and a big ego about what Tam and I are doing, but I see even more special things all around me here, from so many of you. Helen, the movements you have achieved with Esprit blows me away (Ah yes! the other "chase the tiger" inventor!), and for everyone there are so many beautiful moments (and beautiful movements) that I haven't got anywhere close to achieving. And where I know it's not a competition, it IS awe inspiring at times and keeps me working harder to learn more and try more. I'm still torn between the relative ease of using reins when I'm riding and the challenge of learning to do without them. I want so badly to figure out how A.N does it all...especially the transition from the ground to riding...so I keep telling myself that if I can figure out what we've got so far, perhaps I CAN figure out the rest.

And I look at someone like Ralph Goessens (Where is he anyway? We don't hear enough from him!) and dream of what I could acheive if I learn enough, and if I remain patient enough to see it through.

Thanks, Karen

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Helen
http://wwwesprit.blogspot.com

This was already posted in my diary...just posting it here so it is also in the right forum for videos!

Tam's developing piaffe

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=WZqu4lFV_tU

oh Karen,

The whole video is absolutely gorguous to look at!
Stunning!

You are doing so well!!!!

Oh, it must be so rewarding!

His facial expression reminds me a lot of Inocencio...

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www.equusuniversalis.com

That is wonderful, Karen! It was so neat to see how collected he was getting, and that he knew he should be collected!

Also, the canter was lovely, beautiful transitions.

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"Do you give the horse his strength?"
~Job 39:19a

www.cambriahorsemanship.com

Oh, Josepha, thank you! I am very proud of my Tam and his happy face

Even my friend Paul approved, giving me a little advice to try and get Tam to understand the role his hind legs should play (because he gets stuck when he puts his head too high and his hind legs too far under him).

So I will encourage Tam actually to lower the head a little, and reward for his hind leg action...that should put the emphasis where it needs to be. And it will continue to develop as Tam understands more.

But it is a thrill for me every time he tries! Right or wrong. Just the TRY is very special

Hi Karen, what a nice video of you and Tam again! Tam looked great by the way!
I also saw your video 'This and That' for the first time.
Both videos are amazing, I find them really inspiring and they teach me a lot ! So thank you for posting them!

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Best wishes,
Jolanda
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our introduction with photos: http://www.artofnaturaldressage.com/viewtopic.php?t=744

Wow, great video, you have done very good job! And I love Tamarack coat colour- chocolate

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Helen
http://wwwesprit.blogspot.com

Hi Karen, I just had a chance to get on the forum again....I have been pretty busy.
I checked out some of your clips, very nice work.

Then I came across the discussion on the ears back thingy....ya know, I see alot of horses in liberty work do this and I often wonder why?

2 of mine do it, and it doesn't mean what it looks like it means ...both came to me already doing it.
So I don't think it was inadvertently marked and reinforced.....

I had asked Sue about this, she said she has seen her horses like this playing and goofing off....

the ears forward looks nice but is really a very alert....not the learning alert...but "oh crap what the heck is that" alert... at least with my guys it is.... oh well....

Mine do have ears forward to greet people, and I had a discussion with a few respected trainers about the teaching ears forward...there is the possibility to have a reliable behavior on cue but the emotion isn't as it appears....
like teaching a reactive dog not to show reactivity around other dogs, teaching it another behavior like down or look at me, the dog still wants to rip into the other dog, he just doesn't appear that he will.
Just a discussion I had is all.



anyhow, I think Tam is gorgeous, and I know how much work went into this...how nice to see the progression.


CHEERS
Carrie

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Force no matter how well disguised begets resistance.
Lakota proverb

BRAVO! Tam is a joy to watch. I'm so happy for you.

BRAVO! Tam is a joy to watch. I'm so happy for you.

Woowww your beggining of Piaffer is stunning Whats a great horse and so much progress, its a please to see!!!

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i will add text later

Great piaffe!

So much better and more engaged than the one Blacky and I are working on. It's nice to see the different horses tackle the same exercises! Blacky is much more slow and sees the piaffe at the moment as a kind of active halt, while Tam is much more active and seems to think like trot when doing the piaffe. I love how he really draws his neck in the ramener just by engaging his hindquarters and placing his hindlegs further under his body. Super!

I also like how you let him do canter when he starts to hint at canter in his piaffe. That one is very good already too!

Thank you again to everyone!!!

Miriam, you know how we discussed in microshaping, the need to have a primary activity that the horse finds easy and rewarding to do, as another way to reinforce the effort of trying something new?

Well, as perhaps targetting is a good way to give the horses a break from the microshaping belly lifts, then for Tam, the canter is a good break from the piaffe attempts. He tends to confuse the two a bit anyway because my hand gestures are so similar, so not only does it give him an easily rewardable break, it also helps him remember the subtle differences in the cue for canter and piaffe on the ground.

You can see the relief in his entire body when he gets to canter..."ah! something I'm sure of! Thank you! Now give me a cookie!"

Carrie, I forgot to say thank you to you too. I think Tam is gorgeous too, and I am still at times convinced I'm only dreaming that I get to have a horse like him in my life.

I don't worry about his ears at all anymore. They are what they are. I'm convinced that the emotion he feels is more of a childish demanding feeling (I want a reward NOW), and as long as he doesn't back it up or intensify it to including biting or any other dangerous behaviors, then he's free to feel it and express it.

He can be bratty, but it's part of who he is and a part of it is of course a result of our training style...how we interact with each other.

If I were a more perfect clicker trainer, perhaps he wouldn't be so "ears back"?