Six Feet on the Ground
Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 4:27 pm
My old man horse (23 this year!) has a young mind, but an old body. His mind desperately wants to do all the things,but despite our best attempts, his old body isn't quite up for anything but low level activities. And unfortunately I get bored by the purposeless riding he can do.
But I think I have found a compromise.....the North American Western Dressage Six Feet on the Ground program. All done in the comfort of our own backyard -- perfect!
NAWD is one of the startup western dressage groups (see,also, Western Dressage Assoc of America, the official WD group; and Cowboy Dressage as the other major WD groups). NAWD has a whole plethora of offerings, from western dressage to NAWD trail and NAWD 6FotG. It offers online tests and shows. (http://www.northamericanwesterndressage.org)
The 6FotG is groundwork, in a series of six increasingly complicated patterns.
The first test is done all at a walk, and includes walk, halt, circles, turns on the forehand, work from both sides of the horse, and longing small circles (at a walk).
So The Old Man has been getting out, dusted off, and we have been playing with the pattern. Back in the day, we both did showmanship, so those parts were easy. Off-side leading, longing, etc, though are new challenges for us.
It has been fun for both of us. Henry gets to "play" and get attention and treats, while I have appropriately small goals for us to focus on. I can't believe how fast he picked up some of the cues for the new behaviors! Yay!
But we still have stuff to work on....he lags on the off-lead circle, and you get bonus points for being able to do the pattern sans lead rope (we used to do tackless showmanship, so I bet we can do this tackless too). Perfect!
I am just really pleased with this.
But I think I have found a compromise.....the North American Western Dressage Six Feet on the Ground program. All done in the comfort of our own backyard -- perfect!
NAWD is one of the startup western dressage groups (see,also, Western Dressage Assoc of America, the official WD group; and Cowboy Dressage as the other major WD groups). NAWD has a whole plethora of offerings, from western dressage to NAWD trail and NAWD 6FotG. It offers online tests and shows. (http://www.northamericanwesterndressage.org)
The 6FotG is groundwork, in a series of six increasingly complicated patterns.
The first test is done all at a walk, and includes walk, halt, circles, turns on the forehand, work from both sides of the horse, and longing small circles (at a walk).
So The Old Man has been getting out, dusted off, and we have been playing with the pattern. Back in the day, we both did showmanship, so those parts were easy. Off-side leading, longing, etc, though are new challenges for us.
It has been fun for both of us. Henry gets to "play" and get attention and treats, while I have appropriately small goals for us to focus on. I can't believe how fast he picked up some of the cues for the new behaviors! Yay!
But we still have stuff to work on....he lags on the off-lead circle, and you get bonus points for being able to do the pattern sans lead rope (we used to do tackless showmanship, so I bet we can do this tackless too). Perfect!
I am just really pleased with this.