Three circus horses are worked at liberty

Something can always be learned by watching other people train and work their horses, especially what not to do. But finding what to do can be a challenge and show up in the most surprising of places. I am not a huge advocate of trainers who specialize in trick training.

Don't get me wrong, I have been teaching my horses to perform various tricks since I can last remember… the key difference is whether that is ALL you do. Certainly not all trainers who specialize in trick horse training focus all of their attention on the tricks, and that is particularly what caught my eye in this video.

What I want to draw your attention to is the horse's high neck posture – it is a vital part of the equation how his trainer is able to ask for and execute such brilliant movements from him. Certainly he doesn't have a Piaffe that will score a ten at the next WEG or Olympics (particularly since he hasn't been trained in Rollkur…) but note the instantaneous jump from Piaffe into standing up on his hind legs and balancing. There is clearly more at work here than mere tricks and I give kudos to this horse and equestrian.

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3 Comments

  1. Yes this is myself, Dianne Olds Rossi and the horse is a brilliant
    Arabian stallion Cal Dorado. Thank you for your comments they are “right
    on” and usually not addressed. Cal Dorado was a small horse so after
    performing and having larger horses I decided that the “Longing reining”
    was a better choice. He turned out better than expected and he did all
    the tricks…..this being Piaffe, Passage, cantor on 3-legs, cantor in
    place, high trot etc.I call them tricks but in fact even tricks done
    well takes a high degree of knowledge so I do include them in Classical
    Rising and not Trick Training. My idea of Trick Training is a horse
    rolling a ball, counting, shaking his head yes and etc. This can be seen
    most anywhere and certainly takes no great talent

    I chose not to
    enter the discipline of Competition Dressage but went where my passion
    could fly by being a performer. In my earlier career Dressage was very
    sloppy to be sure with huge dull warm bloods carried riders hanging on
    for dear life with no lightness or gaiety. Piaffes were done by the
    rider’s swinging back and forth and the horse begrudgingly swinging his
    butt back and forth…Passage was even worse and there was no such thing
    as clean transition between Piaffe and Passage. Collection and
    conformation that’s another story and I am happy to see that it is
    starting to change.

    Thank you for posting this lovely horse, he was a pleasure to show and be around, he passed away in 2013 and lived a long and good life.

    Take a look if you would like to know more on my performing horses
    http://www.worldofdancinghorses.com

  2. Things that encouraged me were that maneuvers were not over exposed and there was evenness between what the front and back legs achieved.

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