Bow Horse

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March 17th, 2006 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Bow Horse
How do i teach my horse to…?

I have a 23 year old red dun quarter horse and i want to teach him to bow. How can i do that? Also would it be okay to have my horse bow at the end of a 4-H dressage pattern? Thanks!
He already knows all the useful stuff, like pick up the hat, untie himself on command, ground tie, trot in place, turn the radieo up and down and off, etc. oh and he knows how to smile too. also he was a world champion so hes trained super well. : )
Please answer!

This question has been popping up a lot lately.. ha ha But anyway, I’ve taught all of my horses to bow, its pretty useful and entertaining, but mainly its a great way to spend some time bonding with your horse..

I’ll suggest that you buy or rent Josh Lyons video, ‘Teaching Tricks.’ [[Tip: Try www.horseflix.com (its like netflix) if you would rather not buy it.. For $9.00/month you can rent horse-related videos..]] That is where I got my foundation in teaching the bow, though my method has changed a bit from his since I’ve been doing it, his was definitely the best starting point I’ve seen.

It takes a long time to go through my whole method, so just watch his video, it’ll save everyone time.. The most important thing is to establish your cues right from the start so you can keep progressing. Before I even start, I cue by saying ‘bow’ and lightly tapping my horses shoulder with a home-made ‘handy stick’ (anything would do though, I’ll just use my hands a lot of the time). Then after that, each part of the bow are given their own cues. This will help when you are actually doing this from the saddle. If you cues and technique are perfected on the ground, it should be no problem moving to the saddle. Remember to keep it interesting for the horse.. Only spend 5-10 minutes a day on this, otherwise he’ll get bored with it real fast, just like any other repetitive training.

Personally I would not add this in at the end of a class at any level of show. I think of it as almost borderline disrespectful almost because it is not part of the class. However, at 4-H shows (and other shows), often times they’ll have a freestyle class that allows members to showcase their horses. You might consider working on something put to music that includes the bow and some of his other tricks. Even if they don’t offer this class, ask to do it at say, the intermission or before the show starts.. People love seeing things like this and its no doubt they’ll be impressed. I have even been offered paying ‘gigs’ at different events after people have seen me and my horses.. Its a lot of fun..

If you have any specific questions, add them into the additional details and I’ll try to answer them as best I can.. Good luck!

horse bow