Beginning bridleless riding (Maia; July 5, 2010)

Maia has had only a handful of bridleless rides, which shows up in some of the confusion she has about the yields. We began by playing with head position (down and round) which she changes according to my body posture. We then played with some yields, then followed the rail, punctuated by some halts and rein-backs.

It would have been easier to do the yields by the fence so she had fewer options to think about.

You can see towards the end how I flicked her withers when she dropped her head. This was on purpose -- I could feel her withers dropping and knew if they kept on jamming her shoulders down, she would soon step forward, unbalanced and on her forehand. I released her withers up and she fixed her posture, not moving forward.

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Cambria Horsemanship: Liberty Dressage Through Play, Feel, and Dance
www.cambriahorsemanship.wordpress.com

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• bridleless
• reinless
• bareback
• natural horsemanship
• horses
• follow the rail
• yield
• turn on forehand
• turn on haunches
• Andalusian

[CambriaHorsemanship]

@greyhoundhorse Thank you! I think she's pretty, too. :) The lightness was there mostly from the beginning, as it's something I try to start with, versus work towards. It also helps that she is a sensitive mare. But with the horsemanship through feel approach, lightness is built in right from the first step (unlike some other approaches, that use phases of pressure, which means the horse has to learn to be light). I hope that helps!

[greyhoundhorse]

The horse is gorgeous! Very interesting how light your cues are. How long did it take to get her to respond so lightly?