This message is from: Lisa Sherrodd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I've had several people email me to ask how I got Fiona to bow. I had a system crash and lost the emails so I thought I would just reply on the board here. It is pretty simple, I just hold a treat between the horse's legs and as they grab for the treat I lower it to the ground. Once they get the hang of that I introduce going to the knee by holding up a leg while they go down for the treat.
I would stress that the horse needs to be very comfortable in its surroundings, comfortable with its handler and the type of horse that won't get nippy or pushy with treats. I had to back off of Fiona a bit with the treats because she was getting pretty pushy. But once she learned she doesn't get a treat everytime, she quit with the pushy behavior. It was much harder to train my Arab mare to bow because she was easily startled and wasn't very comfortable being in an awkward position. Fiona had no problem with that part. Once in the bow position she would stay there all day if she thought she would get a treat in the end. Hope that helps. Lisa
