The Art of Natural Dressage

She must have been a flying yogi in her previous life

Lovely!

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Kind regards,

AnneMarie

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You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make'em drink...

aha, you should better get to work on your suppleness if you may one day be riding your already perfectly trained haute ecole horse ;-)

and she knows she is sooo pretty, show off!!!

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Horseriding is an art

My horse is a beautiful living sculpture

I want to know what the aids are for the "Levitade"! I'm assuming one must first have a very light seat....

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"Ride reverently, as if each step is the axis on which the earth revolves"

I have just the whole tread to avoid confusion, but I need advice. VIolas bow was taught bit by bit by her owner but I think just by putting a treat between her legs. The problem is she does a funny and I dont think a very safe bow - she tiptoes on her front feet and puts her head way between her legs; smth like the cowboy girl on the first page of the thread did, but with both legs. At times she will do it one leg; sometimes with two legs and even though it should strech her neck muscles, she doesnt look too balanced, that worries me. holding her leg back to teach one leg kneeing doesnt work or maybe Im asking not clearly enough. please help, anyone had this problem ?

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Smile, and the world will smile with you.

Maybe you could try to ask her foot up, hold it and than present a treat at the level you would like her to start, somewhere at her breast or between the front legs?

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Kind regards,

AnneMarie

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You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make'em drink...

Angel, the reason she is buckling over at her fetlocks/knees is because she's probably not leaning back enough. It's always possible that for some reason (some stiffeness in her back, ligaments cannot stretch, etc) that she can't lean back properly, so you could begin again and teach her how to lean back while she's bowing. Expect to do it very, very slowly and take many days/weeks even months if she needs it.

A cordeo is a very nice tool for this because you don't affect her lateral balance, but can still help her to figure out that she should leeeeeaaaaaaan back.

So with some neckrope or other, ask her to begin to bow the way she was taught already...but as you lure her with one hand, also put some light pressure backward on the cordeo. As soon as she drops her head, and even if she doesn't at first lean back, reward her. Do that many, many, many times until gradually she will actually lean back. Feel for the slightest leaning backward...reward the tiniest tries. If she thinks to lean back, and then moves her own hind feet further back to make more room for herself, reward that for several times as well.

What you are doing is rewarding all the little components separately, that go into a nice front crunch. Over time (and please take lots of time and do not rush) you will see her possibly try more and more leaning. If she buckles her feet, you know you asked too much (or that she tried to go further than she actually can with straight legs). So always reward before the legs buckle.

Just take it very, very slowly and teach her to lean back in the cordeo.

Not all horses can do this, so only go as far as she can without buckling her legs. This really just means you have to reward sooner, and take it slower.

I hope this helps?

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"Ride reverently, as if each step is the axis on which the earth revolves"

Karen

Yes thanks it makes a lot of sense. I ll try and see how itr works, I have so little time left with her, but it is definately smth we can work on! Illl try tomorrow and see when is the point she starts to bend her knees.

Ama holding a leg up is still worked on. SHe lifts it up but starts digging with it, I am working on rewarding her BEFORE she starts moving her legs

thanks guys that really helps!

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Smile, and the world will smile with you.

I think some of the trouble for some horses is that they are taught (or guess) to go down then lean back...when in fact they need to first lean back THEN go down. Now you can do both at the same time of course (because she already knows the "down" part), but just put more emphasis on the leaning back than the down part. She'll get it!

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"Ride reverently, as if each step is the axis on which the earth revolves"

they are great pic's .have started teaching bob how to bow with a carrot inbetween his front legs moving back under i let him have a bite and say "bow" we are getting there .

I thought that horse has to have his frontlegs vertical in back crunch.
So is it even better if they are more forward as horse is more stretched?

I also learned that the frontlegs should be vertical, but my horses just prefer having them stretched, too. Also for us (especially the children ) it´s much more fun that way... seeing how loooooong he can get.

Romy, I don't know if I ever saw that video...all I can say is:

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"Ride reverently, as if each step is the axis on which the earth revolves"

This is really amazing!
Never saw anything quite like that!

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Kind regards,

AnneMarie

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You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make'em drink...

Thank you, Karen and AnneMarie!

What I love about this video is how Dardan reacts to Titum´s efforts. This mixture of admiration and finding him just a bit crazy but incredibly cute. Such a pity that probably most of you can´t understand what he is saying, but maybe the emotion comes through, though. I have never had a child who was as wonderful as that with the horses.

This is fantastic ROmy, oh and look at the boy's face )) so incredibly cute

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Smile, and the world will smile with you.