TWH doing cowboy dressage???

Since I am set on getting a TWH, I would love to do a little more than just trail ride. I would love to learn cowboy dressage,but I am not sure if a gaited breed could do it. Are there any of you TWH owners out there that do dressage with your horse? Is it possible for a gaited breed like the TWH to be supple and versatile enough to be able to do dressage? I don't think I will be showing in it or anything, would just love to learn it and also I think it would be good for the horse too. What do you all think?

I have had TWH's all my life and although they're not bred for dressage I have seen them do many other incredible things, so im sure with the right amount of training a TWH could do dressage don't hold me to that though im just guessing I have never seen it done before

Do a youtube search of 'TWH dressage' there are lots of horses doing it. It's not as common as regular dressage...they actually adapt it to the gaited horse. Its very interesting stuff.

We incorporate dressage training with our gaited horses. Some of the shows my trainer attends have gaited dressage classes!

You really have to look at the individual horse's conformation.... You can't just say an entire breed can or cannot do a certain discipline.


I rein with my MFT mare, but she's built like a reiner:





This MFT probably wouldn't be able to rein as well: http://www.freewebs.com/missourifoxt...s/Project4.jpg





And this TWH is much more suited for dressage: http://www.eveningshadefarm.com/images/wildy2a.jpg

Than this one: http://horsebreedslist.com/horse_bre...-picture-1.jpg



It just depends... But it definitely can be done with the right horse.

Cloudsmystique: wow! Your horse is beautiful! And those pics of those TWH are great too! Thanks for the comparison. I see what you mean about conformation being an important factor.

Larry Whitesell trains gaited horses and uses some movements/training from dressage within his training programs with great success. I think the tricky part, besides conformation, is that I wouldn't expect to be able to take a TWH that's been trained to be stiff and ridden by a riding in chair-seat position, and start on dressage without some re-training on suppling and so forth. I think it would be great for both the rider and horse, but it will be work.

Dressage (with an upper case "D") is walk/trot/canter. Dressage (with a lower case "d") is "training" and can be just about anything.

"Cowboy dressage" (and "gaited dressage") is really the small "d" stuff and can be an effective way to train a horse, any horse.

G.

I have used dressage to train my TWH. There are some tests adapted to the WH, some shows are allowing them. Many gaited horse shows are adding them.

I live in AK so I just show up where ever I want to ride my guy, admittedly not at a dressage show yet until I know we are doing excellent.

Here are tests from intro to third level

National Walking Horse Association

I love the responsiveness and strength my horse is building. I love the way dressage training builds one skill that leads into another. It is a slower process but it has been a great way of going for us!