www.taranolanhorses.com I am learning how to teach my horse piaffe this winter. I am going to share the steps with you as I learn them. Step 1 is teaching your horse to lift each leg when you tap it.
Not worthless at all. The collection can be added to this later. The animal can only learn one thing at a time. Then later you slowly put the parts together! Good job on the teaching! Keep it up!
Agreed. Not worthless, it is at the very least an improvement to the horse lifting and holding its legs while being balanced (I was surprised my farrier thanked me for it), and it can be a good stretch once the horse can lift a leg high. I started teaching my laid-back mare in short sessions, at liberty, for two weeks when I was sick, and just moved the cue to in motion on the ground... it's dandy, I can get her to give a little kick or big stomp to help loosen her up.
I do agree that a piaffe is a diagonal movement with the weight on the hindquarters; piaffe is also a movement carried through the entire body-not just a leg movement. I find that developing communication with my horse is never completely worthless.
Great question. Your horse is trying to figure out what you want. Kicking out is one option. The key is to keep tapping gently when the horse kicks. If you stop when he kicks then you are teaching him to kick. Keep tapping while he kicks and stop tapping when he momentarily freezes his leg, even just for a second, immediately stop the tapping. If you are still having problems get some help so you don't let your horse scare you.
Thank you for the kind feedback. As I am learning to teach my horse, I can only learn one thing at a time as well in the beginning. I am sharing this process because it is hard to remember back to when you didn't first know a skill once you've perfected it.
Very good! i like it and nobody who is working with his horse and teaching his horse new things is a bad person. horses love attention and love to learn.
"Good Luck" - you're gonna need it. This is not correct training of Piaffe. Correct training of Piaffe comes from correct and progressive gymnastic training of the horse - the aim being for the horse to work correctly through his back to collection. No collection, No Piaffe. It is NOT a leg lifting trick.
+RidingismyReligion I am sorry but Chrissy is absolutely right. It's not that hard to teach if your horse is working over his back and has been trained up to this level correctly. Real Piaffe is not a trick and lifting of the legs is not a first step at all.
You use the same technique as the natural horsemanship teaches. Tap gently and increase your tapping until the horse makes the slightest response. Immediately stop and praise your horse. It make take a bit for the horse to figure out what you want. The key is to immediately stop tapping and praise.
@workingdogbarney I completely disagree with you, this is not completely worthless. Your disrespect for this person's work puts you in a position to be pounced on just the same. By the way do also say that the piaffe has to be performed on the spot or with very reduced forward movement when you give those neat definitions. This is a very simple and therefore good way to initiate piaffe and passage. I am glad you use other ways, but this is not worthless.
if your horse kicks to the whip then you must first do the friendly game that is stroking the whip so sees the horse the whip not only hurts. you can safely do this exercise!
I tried this with my horse...the only time he lifted his legs was when a fly landed on one. He even tried to eat my whip lol.. I guess I'm gonna have to do it the old fashioned way.
Wrong. A Piaffe is, by definition, done in the trot but the essence of the movements, half steps and elevation, are the basic elements of many different dressage moves. Starting at a trot would only confuse the horse, its too much to start fast and slow down. Instead, she is using a better method by starting slow. The idea is to teach him that the whip doesn't just mean "forward", it means "up"
This method is completely worthless!! Piaffe is a trot like motion, which is the utmost character of this exercise. To satisfy this requirement the horse has to make a diagonal movement, meaning lift the two diagonal legs at the same time. What you are doing is circus - this equals more to training a poodle and not an equine athlete.
no no no u are puting sharp thind in its front feet and hiting it and it hurts the horse so i lifts the leg up no on the back feet your just hiting the horse if i was there i would os said can i see that wip and i would hi your legs
She isn't hitting the horse, she's tapping the leg with it. If you have a de-sensitized horse that's not going to be much of a problem; of course, if your horse is used to you beating it with the whip it's going to kick out instead of just lifting its leg. You have to do something that will make your horse understand what you want from him, and "touching" is one of the best methods to do so.
+Heidi Farnsworth First off its not sharp. Secoundly its not hurting the horse. Its probaly smart to know a little about horse before you start criticizing and giving advice.
Just leave the horse alone and let the horse be a horse. Why don't you go dancing or something. Maybe someone can move your feet around. Stupid humans.
Sisi MaddH, you are ALSO wrong. In this type of training it is GOOD if the horse kicks at the whip and we would NEVER punish him for doing so. You're attempting to apply some mixed up idea to this training. The horse is praised for kicking at the whip because that is a reaction and we want a reaction, we will later gradually shape the right reaction, and that works very well. The horse is never punished for TRYING SOMETHING in this type of training. He needs to think of piaffe as 'another one of his trots' and that type of training works very very well. You can teach piaffe as a circus trick so the horse stamps his feet up and down on the spot, or you can teach it as a dressage exercise, I prefer the latter.
honestly, this is the best way to teach your horse piaffe. I learned this from my dressage trainer and my mare has taken it nicely, she did kick out for awhile but I ignored it. now my mom or who ever is with me just has to tap the mares legs when Im on her to start her off.
Stabina42, you are very, very incorrect, and you don't understand what half steps are or what they're for. And piaffe is VERY often started from a trot and this is very, very effective. It also works to start from the walk. But most trainers used BOTH - at different points in the horse's training.
Well, I don't know what the ancient masters of classical dressage would say... But of course, it is good to make the horse react on the touch on the legs. But sorry - if I were your horse, I'd be absolutely puzzled. Your signals and feedback are so confusing! This lecture is about conditioning - choose one (always the same) signal and after the correct answer, reward the horse. Respite, then repeat. For example "my", not too intelligent horse, would simply not move, cos she wouldn't understand!
I found three ways to "cheat"; when there were flies on my horse's belly, I would wait until she reached up with a hind leg to scratch at them, and I hold the whip on the risen leg at the same time and praise her highly afterward. I also find that *bothering* the horse by tickling their leg with the whip or giving them a small, quick tap makes them lift their leg as they react like the would if it were a fly. Lastly, touching the whip to the horse's leg the same time they step over something.
