Dancing With Your Horse
The Dancing With Your Horse course offers a very entertaining way to develop or refresh essential riding skills
and is beneficial at all levels of training.
In the early stages of training, horses rely on momentum and inertia to help them re-balance with a rider onboard. While this technique has some success in disciplines which predominantly move forward at speed and in straight lines, changing gait or direction (basic dancing or dressage) presents additional scientific challenges.
Because the dancing horse's flexibility, balanced gait, and directional changes are all interdependent on the rider's rhythm, relaxation, and balance, equines are able to dance more freely when their rider has what is referred to as an 'Independent Seat'.
Entry level flatwork lessons seldom mention the 'independent seat' element of riding and, by the time riders appreciate the benefits of having one, some have developed habits which make dancing with a horse more challenging.
The DancingWithYourHorse initial seminar/workshop explains the science of what an independent seat truly is: the music provides entertainment for riders as they develop balance and rhythm ... and the final assessment is mostly about having fun.