I was asked in the yoga paws thread why I’m practising my asanas on horseback, and I thought my answer might warrant a new thread 
I’ve been experiementing to see which asanas are possible to do on horseback, and how to do successful variations of different poses. Once I figure that out I’d like to develop different sequences that riders can do on horseback to gain confidence in their balance, flexibility and horse. I want to figure out how to incoorporate yoga with horses both on and off the mat for therapeutic, training, and equine bonding purposes. Also, horses and yoga are two of my passions, so any excuse to put them together is great!! :razz:
So far I’ve tried:
seated warrior one and two
reverse warrior
hero
upward facing dog
bow
1/2 bow
camel
bridge
mountain (this one takes a lot of trust in the horse!)
downward facing dog
childs pose
one legged king pigeon (this one needs work!)
1/2 mariachi
There are a few others I can’t think of. I need to learn more, and maybe have a more experienced yogini come with me when I go to my friends farm. I’ve been riding since I was seven, but I’ve only been doing yoga for 2 1/2 years.
It’s been really interesting seeing how my friend’s horse responds to my shifting balance and positions. The mare I’ve been experimenting with has heaves (kind of like equine asthma) so she can’t do much more than walking and trotting. I want to try incoorporating pranayamas with the movement on the horse, while asking for different transitions and tasks. However, I need another horse that can comfortably do all the different gaits before I can work on that next step. Once I have those figured out, I’ll be moving on to meditation, and seeing how to make that work.
Horses are so tuned in to how people are feeling and acting, I know yoga with the horse has limitless potential. If you sigh, your horse sighs. If you’re tense, you’re horse is tense. If you’re riding and you lean to the right, your horse moves to the right. The awareness of self that you develop through yoga can most definitely be developed into an awareness and understanding of your horse.
Here’s hoping I can figure it out! 