The last few days have been really hot. I have not been working with horses because of the heat, I'm busy, and also because Ana is limping. She doesn't have any swelling in her leg, so I have no idea what the problem is. She doesn't act like she's in pain, but she's still limping. We thought that maybe she pulled a muscle, because the previous day we cantered for at least half an hour. (That horse would do awesome in endurance races. She's the kind of horse who can canter that long, and still be a pain. Nobody bothered to teach her that standing still was okay.) I decided that if she did pull a muscle stretching her legs might do her some good, so I commenced to stretch her front legs. It became a lesson on bowing. I used no ropes, and no treats. First, I picked her leg up and pulled it back with one hand on her ankle, and the other on her leg right below the shoulder, until she rocked back on her haunches, then let her foot drop. Picked up her foot again, and rocked her back on her haunches again. I found that it's just a matter of getting that first little rocking motion without her moving her feet moving, and she gets it. I also found that the further she was able to rock back the lower she put her head.
At the end of that session she did a very nice bow... and I was sweating like a pig.
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