This was such a joy to watch...a kind training approach, understanding when the horse is trying, rewarding the try, and a beautiful demonstration of the proper use of a whip. Well done sir, and you have a new subscriber!
Your systematic, gentle commands and timing (including knowing when its enough for that session) are so wonderful to watch. Its really about breaking it down to the most basic simple beginnings. He doesn't look stressed at all. Thanks for sharing.
Hands down this is one of the best videos explaining the steps. Most of all I loved the conversation you had with the horse, he really aimed to please you Joseph !
Thank you for posting the process- it is so helpful to see what that looks like when the horse is seeking out the movement but isn’t yet perfect within it!
I work with traumatized and problem horses and I have always put great foundation on them in western trail to dressage but I have never taught the piaffe until your awesome video!!! I thought that this horse had to already know with how fast he picked it up but when I tried the same methods (with adding some treats) I literally got an aggressive horse (trauma horse who gets upset about anything new including new environments. He will lash out violently even biting himself) to start this with few problems in a day!! Thank you so much REALLY!! I try to rehabilitate all the horses to be able to do everything from pulling a small cart to letting kids on them to basic dressage to help rehome them and to test my own ability. being able to just start this even if I do not ride pro dressage thi helps these horse become more re homeable. I am just so surprised and excited and worked up about this thank you thank you thank you :-)
Nicky s you're welcome. That is great. It's always cool to hear about all the people working on their horses. Every one has a story! Don't forget to subscribe for more videos. I will continue to post more. Thank you for your post.
This is 7 years later..I have a gypsy vanner who has very good movement. She is a bit elaborate when she lifts her back legs but she is willing and I don’t do long sessions. This will be helpful thank you. I can’t help but think this is good exercise in general for a horse.
Can you do a " teaching leg yield in hand ". And a " teaching canter pirouette". And teaching flying lead changes. Teaching the horse to " skip". Not all of it can be done in hand but, you make such good vids and id love for you to do it
My horse is up to the base narrow phase, we can pick up hind feet and stand on a postage stamp, but I can't seem to quicken the steps in walk. I don't get that little bounce, she just walks with longer strides
but he's been doing this for a while right? seems he has gotten a hang of things. looking forward to more videos on piaffe and it'll be awesome if youd do spanish walk also. great work! and thanks
Ok so I’m trying to do the same thing with my guy and unfortunately before I bought him I think he was abused just enough to ignore “tap” like I’ll tap and tap and he’ll just give me the “ok and?” Look he’s very stubborn lol he’s also not naturally the most smart. Any suggestions he literally will not pick his leg up unless I use some hand aid to physically assist .
Hi Joseph. I've been 'lightly' introducing half steps to my boy and he's doing quite well with it. My question : He used to kick out when I touched his hinds ..but now understands I just want the lift and hold but, he gets a little disturbed and swishes his tail. Will this be something that will dissipate with work or should I be approaching it differently? Or - should I not be worried as the tail will 'swish' when eventually asking for it undersaddle for balance:)
For what it's worth, here are my suggestions. When you first run the whip over him, and his hind legs, does he swish his tail then, too? Some horses are sensitive and take a long time to relax with this. You might like to try not actually touching him with the whip if he provides the answer for you (leg lifting, first steps...etc). That way you can condition his response to your cue (voice, hand, whip along his side without touching him) so that he understands if he doesn't respond, the whip will touch him. Without seeing your horse, it's a lucky dip to respond via email, but .... if he is responding willingly for you, and you are clearly praising him for every effort, I would ignore his irritation and try to finesse your approach so that he offers before you enter the next phase of (gentle) firmness. I have taught my horse to piaffe very successfully using this type of method as shown here. I ignored what I didn't want and praised what I got. It took us about 4-6 months until he is piaffing easily in self carriage and will allow me to take steps forward and return him to 'on the spot' and out again. I hope this helps you. Good luck.
MoonLight Mystique Hey!!!! Yes it sounds like you are on the right track. You guys are right to keep working with sensitivity and lightness. The tail swish is usually a sign that the horse is sensitive and wants to find relief to the pressure. Your job as a trainer is to show the horse that the relief comes when the horse lifts the leg to the right place. Keep your aids small and continue to refine them. Do as little as possible with as much clarity to explain what you want. You don't want to punish the tail switch just wait them out until they find the correct answer. Hopefully this helps. Joseph.
Hi Joseph. Thanks so much for your reply. I was actually working a little with him yesterday ..just spur of the moment to see if he remembered and I didn't have my whip - or the bridle on him for that matter - and just clicked and pointed to his hock area. He immediately lifted his inside hind and to my surprise followed with his outside. He is a sensitive boy so I'll be sure to keep the first cue at minimum pressure .. it makes things easier when they're that 'touchy' :) The warm weather is here in Canada so I'm excited to get out and try this with him after getting him a little more fit after the winter!! He's a third level dressage pony (17 yrs old) so his collection is beautiful - I'm wondering what your opinion is on using sidereins (loosely) in the beginning of this training with half steps once we start the lifting of the legs and forward movement. ?? or should I just use the reins from the ground ? Thanks again. Love all of your videos.
Sometimes you just gotta persist. It took me two hours of tapping and even moving my horse myself so he'd think movement when I tapped to get him to even shift his weight. Some horses just take longer to learn things. Especially if they're older. My gelding is 12 and pretty sure even as a two year old it would taken a while to teach him the trick. He's very willing, just not too bright.
Hi, I’ve been trying to teach my mare this, but she kicks out to the side with her hind legs instead of lifting them up, because she is very enthusiastic. How can I help her understand that we don’t need such large movements? Thank you!
ThatMareMika This is a great question. Sometimes the sensitive horses want to over react. I try to be super sensitive and reward the little tries in the right direction. If they are irritated, I want to make sure that they accept being touched on the hind leg. First they have to be soft and accepting of the aids. Then we can use them to teach the piaffe. Good luck!
I have a very large and very lazy gelding (18 hands) who doesn’t react to being touched on the legs with a crop/stick. Is there any better way I can get him to listen and focus on what I’m asking him to do? Thanks!
Lily Warburton hard to say without seeing them. Try to be effective but light and sensitive with the aids. Sometimes the more basic groundwork helps get them moving and more sensitive. Good luck.
She might have anxiety about your training tools or just training for tricks in general. Try desensitizing her to your tool and doing some tricks without the need of a whip first. Use treats. Then you try something small with the whip and give treats for big effort. She might also just struggle to trot slowly. In which try lunging her where everything is relaxed and you only ask her to trot. She'll get tired and being more relaxed she'll start to slow down to a nice little jog. Reward her for it by letting her walk a lap or two. Don't know if this helps but hopefully so.
I assume, if he’s eight yrs old that he has had some experience carrying a rider. This seems to a convoluted method of starting the piaffe, it’s much easier under saddle. But I guess, each unto his own.
I saw a German trainer teaching piaffe in-hand and she was using the lighter end of the whip and touching with lighter flicks whereas you are using the thick end of the whip and knocking the canon bones so hard we can hear the hollow 'thock thock" over your mic. Just curious about the amount of pressure ... seems painful (?)
Sarah Poisson he has been in consistent training with Dawn White O'Connor. He is also ridden by his owner mack Tiessen who is A very good rider. At the point of the video I had worked him maybe 5 times or so over the course of a few months. But he clearly shows talent for the piaffe. Some horses take longer to get the hang of it.
This is not the correct technique. This creates leg lifting, what you want is for the horse to push off the ground with their hooves, not just lift. And, you want their hind to come under.
Barbara Bolton Hi Barbara. You’re correct, we do want the end result to be that the horses push off the ground. I’ve found these stepping stones to help certain horses to understand. I think good horsemanship always adjusts to each individual horse... I’m trying to work on getting better at this and helping my horses understand what I’m trying to get them to do. Best of luck with your training. Thanks for the comment!
Why is it on every single one of these equestrian videos there is at least someone, even on expert clips such as this one, that claims the person teaching the technique is wrong? I've never seen such snootiness....worse than liberals and conservatives bickering!
Because there are hundreds of different styles and disciplines of riding. To Barbara, this is wrong. This has never been the way I have taught the piaffe either, but it works for him. Every one has their own style and this conflicts with hers. To her, the horse should be properly gathered from the beginning of training. To him, you work toward it. It all depends on your style of riding and presuppositions.
Thank God finally a piaffe without any abuse
thank you
😒😒😒 It has to be a joke
Be Q, but really. Or I just had the coincidence to never witness any abuse.
That's one of the very rare beautiful gentle work with horses! Truly wonderful.
Sherifsb thank you!
thank you
This was such a joy to watch...a kind training approach, understanding when the horse is trying, rewarding the try, and a beautiful demonstration of the proper use of a whip. Well done sir, and you have a new subscriber!
that's great I'm glad you like it!
Your systematic, gentle commands and timing (including knowing when its enough for that session) are so wonderful to watch. Its really about breaking it down to the most basic simple beginnings. He doesn't look stressed at all. Thanks for sharing.
Hands down this is one of the best videos explaining the steps. Most of all I loved the conversation you had with the horse, he really aimed to please you Joseph !
thank you
Omg, i tryed this with my shetland pony. We almost did it with this method in less than 30minutes!!! Thank you!!
Royal Isabella that's awesome!!!
Royal Isabella I'll be posting some more videos soon in my 4 weeks to piaffe series. There are more helpful tips on this.
If your to heavy that will fuck up your horses back pardon my French
Illusions 4life she didn’t ride the horse lmao
that's great!
This was amazing to watch!! Thank you for sharing this! Your training method is amazing and admirable!
thank you
Thank you for posting the process- it is so helpful to see what that looks like when the horse is seeking out the movement but isn’t yet perfect within it!
gonna try this with my new PRE gelding. Thank you so much for making this guide, it was the best one I have seen so far!
So helpful, thanks for the video. Beautiful horse and you have such great horemanship
Breyer Fanatic thank you so much!!! I love it.
thanks talee
He's such a BEAUTIFUL horse! He looks like Valegro a little bit. He's so beautiful and gentle!
He does look like Valero
I work with traumatized and problem horses and I have always put great foundation on them in western trail to dressage but I have never taught the piaffe until your awesome video!!! I thought that this horse had to already know with how fast he picked it up but when I tried the same methods (with adding some treats) I literally got an aggressive horse (trauma horse who gets upset about anything new including new environments. He will lash out violently even biting himself) to start this with few problems in a day!! Thank you so much REALLY!! I try to rehabilitate all the horses to be able to do everything from pulling a small cart to letting kids on them to basic dressage to help rehome them and to test my own ability. being able to just start this even if I do not ride pro dressage thi helps these horse become more re homeable. I am just so surprised and excited and worked up about this thank you thank you thank you :-)
Nicky s you're welcome. That is great. It's always cool to hear about all the people working on their horses. Every one has a story! Don't forget to subscribe for more videos. I will continue to post more. Thank you for your post.
This is 7 years later..I have a gypsy vanner who has very good movement. She is a bit elaborate when she lifts her back legs but she is willing and I don’t do long sessions. This will be helpful thank you. I can’t help but think this is good exercise in general for a horse.
Thank you for this. It was so sweet watching him want to get it and working it out.
thank you
That’s so amazing!!! Thanks for showing that. It’s really thoughtful.
This was a joy to watch , it is so seldom to see just a gentle and good demonstration
Thank you for your Video 😊
I will trying with my horses 🐴🐴🐴❤
awesome
Nice video, great explanation. Thank you.
Thank you! Some of my favorite videos on RUclips are on your channel. I always enjoy watching them. Awesome job on your channel.
Is there any way to get your contact info. My email is joethermal2@gmail.com
Yes you can contact me at bbinify@gmail.com
Wonderful teaching method!
Stunning horse, and GREAT training.
Danni thank you Danni!
thank you
very good class.thanks a lot
awesome
I've recently bought an Italian Saddlebred, im going to try this :)
Royal Isabella good luck! Please comment with any questions you have. I'm happy to help.
good luck!
Great instructional video 🐎🐎🐎🙂🙏💕 will help greatly
Great work!
Kurmärker - ein Pferdeleben thank you!!!
thank you
Calm and relaxed, which is nice to see. Still trick training though.
Super! great practical advice - will be trying it out. Thank you!
greatmistleighfarm thank you! Good luck with the training.
good luck
Can you do a " teaching leg yield in hand ". And a " teaching canter pirouette". And teaching flying lead changes. Teaching the horse to " skip". Not all of it can be done in hand but, you make such good vids and id love for you to do it
Thank you!
Amazing explanation👍
Amazing video !
After how long into training do you believe is a good time to start this?
Also, how would you proceed with this method if the horse kicks out at whip?
Wow. Impressive.
Nice work !
He is really sensible 😀
Alina G. Thank you Alina. He is really a super horse. Mac his owner has done a wonderful job training him.
he is super
Yes He is !
My horse is up to the base narrow phase, we can pick up hind feet and stand on a postage stamp, but I can't seem to quicken the steps in walk. I don't get that little bounce, she just walks with longer strides
Yes. This is really tricky. Have you watched my 4 weeks to piaffe series. Try looking at that.
Very well done.....
good job!!!
but he's been doing this for a while right? seems he has gotten a hang of things. looking forward to more videos on piaffe and it'll be awesome if youd do spanish walk also. great work! and thanks
Ameen Dabo yes I have worked with him a few times now. He is still just learning. Thank you!
Ok so I’m trying to do the same thing with my guy and unfortunately before I bought him I think he was abused just enough to ignore “tap” like I’ll tap and tap and he’ll just give me the “ok and?” Look he’s very stubborn lol he’s also not naturally the most smart. Any suggestions he literally will not pick his leg up unless I use some hand aid to physically assist .
Can you possibly post a video on how to get your horse to pick up their feet with a touch of the whip? Having trouble teaching my horse.
Autumn Stormdragon hi autumn. Have you watched my series 4 weeks to piaffe. Search for it there is some good videos on this.
Thank you so much! I'll go look at that right now!
Isn’t hank a bit skinny? Or do my horses have a hay belly
Wow
Hi Joseph. I've been 'lightly' introducing half steps to my boy and he's doing quite well with it. My question : He used to kick out when I touched his hinds ..but now understands I just want the lift and hold but, he gets a little disturbed and swishes his tail. Will this be something that will dissipate with work or should I be approaching it differently? Or - should I not be worried as the tail will 'swish' when eventually asking for it undersaddle for balance:)
For what it's worth, here are my suggestions.
When you first run the whip over him, and his hind legs, does he swish his tail then, too? Some horses are sensitive and take a long time to relax with this. You might like to try not actually touching him with the whip if he provides the answer for you (leg lifting, first steps...etc). That way you can condition his response to your cue (voice, hand, whip along his side without touching him) so that he understands if he doesn't respond, the whip will touch him.
Without seeing your horse, it's a lucky dip to respond via email, but .... if he is responding willingly for you, and you are clearly praising him for every effort, I would ignore his irritation and try to finesse your approach so that he offers before you enter the next phase of (gentle) firmness.
I have taught my horse to piaffe very successfully using this type of method as shown here. I ignored what I didn't want and praised what I got. It took us about 4-6 months until he is piaffing easily in self carriage and will allow me to take steps forward and return him to 'on the spot' and out again. I hope this helps you. Good luck.
MoonLight Mystique Hey!!!! Yes it sounds like you are on the right track. You guys are right to keep working with sensitivity and lightness. The tail swish is usually a sign that the horse is sensitive and wants to find relief to the pressure. Your job as a trainer is to show the horse that the relief comes when the horse lifts the leg to the right place. Keep your aids small and continue to refine them. Do as little as possible with as much clarity to explain what you want. You don't want to punish the tail switch just wait them out until they find the correct answer. Hopefully this helps.
Joseph.
Wonderful. Thanks so much for taking the time to write this. Great advice!!!
Hi Joseph. Thanks so much for your reply. I was actually working a little with him yesterday ..just spur of the moment to see if he remembered and I didn't have my whip - or the bridle on him for that matter - and just clicked and pointed to his hock area. He immediately lifted his inside hind and to my surprise followed with his outside. He is a sensitive boy so I'll be sure to keep the first cue at minimum pressure .. it makes things easier when they're that 'touchy' :) The warm weather is here in Canada so I'm excited to get out and try this with him after getting him a little more fit after the winter!! He's a third level dressage pony (17 yrs old) so his collection is beautiful - I'm wondering what your opinion is on using sidereins (loosely) in the beginning of this training with half steps once we start the lifting of the legs and forward movement. ?? or should I just use the reins from the ground ? Thanks again. Love all of your videos.
If I touched my horse's legs with something, she wouldn't even pick it up. She would give me a very confused look.
Sometimes you just gotta persist. It took me two hours of tapping and even moving my horse myself so he'd think movement when I tapped to get him to even shift his weight. Some horses just take longer to learn things. Especially if they're older. My gelding is 12 and pretty sure even as a two year old it would taken a while to teach him the trick. He's very willing, just not too bright.
My horse is 21 years old
Is he to old to do/learn this?
Is this recommended for young horses
Hi, I’ve been trying to teach my mare this, but she kicks out to the side with her hind legs instead of lifting them up, because she is very enthusiastic. How can I help her understand that we don’t need such large movements? Thank you!
ThatMareMika This is a great question. Sometimes the sensitive horses want to over react. I try to be super sensitive and reward the little tries in the right direction. If they are irritated, I want to make sure that they accept being touched on the hind leg. First they have to be soft and accepting of the aids. Then we can use them to teach the piaffe. Good luck!
Thank you so much for your help! I will work on that. :)
I have a very large and very lazy gelding (18 hands) who doesn’t react to being touched on the legs with a crop/stick. Is there any better way I can get him to listen and focus on what I’m asking him to do? Thanks!
Lily Warburton hard to say without seeing them. Try to be effective but light and sensitive with the aids. Sometimes the more basic groundwork helps get them moving and more sensitive. Good luck.
Last time I tried something like this, my mare tried to run me over 😇 hopefully my next horse will be better with this stuff so I can give it a shot!
She might have anxiety about your training tools or just training for tricks in general. Try desensitizing her to your tool and doing some tricks without the need of a whip first. Use treats. Then you try something small with the whip and give treats for big effort. She might also just struggle to trot slowly. In which try lunging her where everything is relaxed and you only ask her to trot. She'll get tired and being more relaxed she'll start to slow down to a nice little jog. Reward her for it by letting her walk a lap or two. Don't know if this helps but hopefully so.
I assume, if he’s eight yrs old that he has had some experience carrying a rider.
This seems to a convoluted method of starting the piaffe, it’s much easier under saddle.
But I guess, each unto his own.
I’ve tried this and my horse just stands there. She won’t lift legs at all. 😞
What whip do u use ?
I saw a German trainer teaching piaffe in-hand and she was using the lighter end of the whip and touching with lighter flicks whereas you are using the thick end of the whip and knocking the canon bones so hard we can hear the hollow 'thock thock" over your mic. Just curious about the amount of pressure ... seems painful (?)
My horse won’t lift his leg when I touch it with whip
Try shifting their weight back and forth and keep trying. Reward the smallest try and build on it.
No more videos this is 5yrs old guess there just sales noww loosening me I'll miss them
Poetry.
My horse is so desensitized to things she ignores the whip. I dont know how to encourage a leg lift without putting to much pressure on the whip.
He needs, relaxing massage,,,,
This horse seems to do good piaff under saddle nad in-hand long long before this filming. So this not 'how to teach" a fresh horse.
Ewa Hreczuch Hi. I taught two horses from scratch in this series. Thanks for watching.
ruclips.net/p/PLNG6pjvdqq02xPTDA_B2UZ28j8bvJWegI
hmmmm thanks for your input
how much dressage has he had before this
Sarah Poisson he has been in consistent training with Dawn White O'Connor. He is also ridden by his owner mack Tiessen who is A very good rider. At the point of the video I had worked him maybe 5 times or so over the course of a few months. But he clearly shows talent for the piaffe. Some horses take longer to get the hang of it.
he has been in training for a few years but very little in hand before this point
I tried this and almost got ran over lmfao
This is not the correct technique. This creates leg lifting, what you want is for the horse to push off the ground with their hooves, not just lift. And, you want their hind to come under.
Barbara Bolton Hi Barbara. You’re correct, we do want the end result to be that the horses push off the ground. I’ve found these stepping stones to help certain horses to understand. I think good horsemanship always adjusts to each individual horse... I’m trying to work on getting better at this and helping my horses understand what I’m trying to get them to do. Best of luck with your training. Thanks for the comment!
Why is it on every single one of these equestrian videos there is at least someone, even on expert clips such as this one, that claims the person teaching the technique is wrong? I've never seen such snootiness....worse than liberals and conservatives bickering!
So negative! The horse seems to be learning it well he's not gonna be perfect yet
Because there are hundreds of different styles and disciplines of riding. To Barbara, this is wrong. This has never been the way I have taught the piaffe either, but it works for him. Every one has their own style and this conflicts with hers. To her, the horse should be properly gathered from the beginning of training. To him, you work toward it. It all depends on your style of riding and presuppositions.
Bit?
The Right way,. Ride into in trot, galop,. Slower, and slowed, but that later in building a strong horse
This is wrong, irritation
Was there any need for a bit or a flash during this excersize?
There always, always has to be one arsehole1
Scheiße