The Art of Natural Dressage

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:51 pm 
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Standing on a plateau! Huge favorite over here! :D

Blacky has always been a plateau-addict, but Sjors only did it for food, up to about half a year ago when he started to appreciate the plateau for itself and now when I ask him to step onto it and then close off the training session, Sjors will just keep standing on it for minutes, while I'm already long gone.

And cones indeed are a lot of fun, and a nice bridge to focused work again (make circles and eights around them, touch and play with them, then use them again for directions). The same goes for poles: you can walk/trot over them the regular way, but also step on them and walk over them 8) with the front feet, do the jambette and bow while standing on it.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:16 am 
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hi. i think that any of the games can be calm. i like to play the games with yearlings, and it all is very calm. i play "chase the tiger, but it is more, walk after the tiger. i had my student guiding her pony at walk and jog through an activity course. it was very calm.

mum plays alot of ball games. like fetch. she had a major leg operation, so she has no feeling, so no ability to move out of the way fast, and she cannot run, just a kind of hoppy jog.

she also is trying to teach him to pic up specific coloured cones. Doc is a very talented horse, and really keen to do anything, but this really keeps him happy, and gets his mind going. he is very creative and offers many different things.

Image

everything can be calm and safe, it just depends on how you teach it. with my kids ponies and young horses i keep it all calm and fun, but with big and bobby, i want it to be expressive and fun!!! :D :D :D

i am finding that pedistal play is very calm and relaxing. also learning the stretches are fun. learning to turn from a touch to either side of the neck is a calm exercise as well. but my favorite is just going for a walk!!!! :love:

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:24 am 
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That's true, just the fact that you're playing with a Tiger doesn't mean that it should be a wild chase! You can also lunge with it, asking the horse to stretch his neck down and out with the tiger on the ground in walk and trot.

That's what Sjors and I do a lot: we do a wild 'jump on the tiger' game when I say (well, shout 8) ) 'Get him!', but also do a calm trot after it, and I can ask Sjors to go to a halt in the game and then back up, with the tiger backing up with Sjors in front of him - and then back to trot again. Actually, the differentiating between the Tiger as target, as Wild Game and puzzle really adds something to this game for us. It's great to ask them all after another in one go!

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:17 pm 
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This topic looks like Exercises Sticky material! :)
I've renamed it already and will move it the Exercises forum later.

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:35 pm 

Joined: Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:03 pm
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A lot of times when Dikales & I are just hanging out ,I'll walk to the pedestal and point to it , and he'll usually just step on up , there he will receive his favorite belly scratches :D He will stand like that for a long time.
Then maybe I'll just walk away and he'll come down and follow me and we'll play can you put your foot here , I'll start first and then he'll mimic...then I'll extend a leg then another and before you know it he'll offer Spanish walk. We do have a lot of fun in our sessions together.
I'm at a boarding barn ..where lots of people do Parelli(which was helpful for us in the beginning to an extent for friendly games and respecting space) But....I have moving away from the "stick" and using just the slightest cues from my body.That's the way I want to communicate w/ my horse& he is responding .He's probably thinking..."Ahhh, finally she's got it :cheers: "
Anyways back to the barn ...I have friends there ..and I don't want to be judgemental...but everyone is sooo task orientated...do this do that w/ their horses. And to me do this & do that= doo-doo. ;)And then it's saddle up and do this & do that and more tasks. :roll:
I guess what I am trying to convey is that calm games are good :smile:and we do a lot of that, so much so that I'm always being asked "your not going to ride him today :^) ?" And I just smile and say"No....not today" :)

MitziImage

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 2:57 pm 

Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:11 pm
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Location: Barcelona
It's a lovely topic. The cions are such a lovely idea.

Thank you :)

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:05 pm 
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At the barn I keep my horse they keep a pile of small cones in the corner of the arena. My horse loves to grab the whole pile, throw them around, and then go pick them up and bring them back to me one at a time to restack. :funny:


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 10:30 pm 

Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2013 10:59 pm
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Location: Costa Rica.
I love some of these calm games. I want to try the food under the cones and they sit in a chair and free shape. Archies favorite calm game is smiling. He does it to mug me for treats :blush: but also i use it to help calm him if he has been spooked (he is quite a spooky horse) and it works to direct his mind away from being scared of something.

We also use the podium with his front feet on it as he loves to hang around on it.


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:41 am 
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I play the "come and see here game" it started when I had troubles walking with Porch because she was so eager to get grass when going in to the stable (when she used to be standing inside four years ago) I did not want to punish or pull her as she did not do anything wrong, she was just hungry and it was her only way of getting food for herself.

So what I begun to do was point myself out a really god spot with grass and run over asking her to come. At first it was no reaction, but when she understood I was leading to "better" food and she could turn back if she wanted it became something she really had no problem with doing and after a little while it became a fun game not only for her, but also for me who in the beginning was just set on using it to get her inside.

It has given me so much for free later. Now I can walk with her and when she stops eating and I want to get going i just ask her to come and she does because she knows that if she really wants she can stop, turn or get more grass. It is no stress around it anymore. We also have transferred the game into a more universal use and actually a way of interacting as she often will come to me when I am in the stable nudging me to come with her and see... then she will show me for example the broken fence pole or maybe that the rubbermat that used to be in the stable is been pulled out.

She can be a little frantic about these things but it makes her more calm when she has been able to show me and I in a way have said "yhea... I can see it" then it is okay because now I have seen this "madness" that usually not happens x)


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 4:05 pm 
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Jeanette, this put me in mind of Brenda and Lucy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7drRCy5oeUo :applause: :applause:

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:55 am 
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Ah yes. That is so fantastic, when the communication becomes a two way street. And so great that you realised and listened! That's not something that comes natural for most people.
With Mucki and me it definitely marked the best adventures when I followed Mucki and he showed me things and games from his world. Every time he did this, I felt so incredibly privileged :love:

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