Question about all the animal stances.

[Shotokan-kez]

In our club stance such as horse and cat stance are really used in kata, it gives strength and power and is great for balance. For fighting i dont expect that someone would automatically go into cat stance but a freestyle fighting stance that is comfortable to them.

[alsey]

I was told that the horse stance came from soldiers learning to fight from horseback, so that all they could use was their arms.

who told you that? that's not true.

[Brandon Fisher]

I was told that the horse stance came from soldiers learning to fight from horseback, so that all they could use was their arms.

who told you that? that's not true.

I have never heard of that either.

[Jiffy]

Just to clarify, it's not "Horse Stance", it's "Horse Riding Stance". It has nothing to do with the legs of a horse, it's the shape your legs form when you sit on a horse. A lot of Katas are taught with this stance because back when they were created, people had to fight from horse back.

As for cat stance, as mentioned, it's not really anything to do with a cat, but has been given the name for the sake of convenience.

All stances have practical use if you know what you're looking for.

[parkerlineage]

Just to clarify, it's not "Horse Stance", it's "Horse Riding Stance". It has nothing to do with the legs of a horse, it's the shape your legs form when you sit on a horse. A lot of Katas are taught with this stance because back when they were created, people had to fight from horse back.

Oh! Oh! What now!!?

Maybe Parkerlineage isn't so crazy...

[Brandon Fisher]

Just to clarify, it's not "Horse Stance", it's "Horse Riding Stance".

This is true and I can confirm that. Eveer in my 13 years of research have I heard that karate was used from horse back ever. Keep in mind the creators of karate were farmers and fishermen. They worked on their hands and knees in the fields or on boats in knee deep water fishing. Now if they used that stance to help from getting knocked over in the water from the strong waves and or current I could believe that. But never once did I hear about fighting from horseback. I know the samurai did that to some extent but even then not a great extent. Do you guys have a viable source on the kiba dachi usage that I can see?

[alsey]

i really don't buy the idea that kiba dachi comes from horse riding; if you look at the techniques performed in kiba dachi in the kata; none of them would make sense if the practitioner was on a horse.

[parkerlineage]

Okay, so maybe I'm half-crazy then - it at least came from horses...

[AngelaG]

Do you guys have a viable source on the kiba dachi usage that I can see?

Yes, as I said before Kiba Dachi drops the body weight. All stances are transitional - the work is done in getting into the stance.

[bushido_man96]

Do you guys have a viable source on the kiba dachi usage that I can see?

Yes, as I said before Kiba Dachi drops the body weight. All stances are transitional - the work is done in getting into the stance.

In TKD, we have kind of abandoned the animal names of the stances. Instead, the name of the stance reflects the weight distribution of the legs:

1. Front stance-most of the weight to the front leg

2. Back stance-most of the weight to the back, 70%/30%.

3. Rear stance (aka "cat" stance")-most of weight to the back leg, 90%/10%

4. Middle/sitting stance (aka the "horse" or "horse riding" stance)-weight distributed 50%/50%