Riding at the Walk

The Rider

Gaits - Riding at the Walk

The walk is one of the hardest paces to improve if your horse's walk is naturally poor and one of most important for you to learn to ride well. If you learn the correct riding position and movement at the walk, you will then be able to move on to the other gaits with a solid base to work from.

Although this is not a 'glamorous' gait there are so many valuable lessons to be learned at the walk that you shouldn't begrudge any time at this pace. Moreover, if you find that you are having trouble with any of the other gaits, you should return to the walk, check your position and\or aids and ensure that they are correct prior to trying to troubleshoot your problem. Often problems are a signal of basic positional problems.

The Novice Rider

To ask a horse to walk you squeeze gently with your lower legs and once the horse starts to move forward your legs should be relaxed. This is known as applying a leg aid or 'leg on'. Some horses may not be as responsive as others and may need a gentle kick to move foward.

Always remember that it is the release of pressure that the horse is responding to. If you continually squeeze or nag with your legs the horse will either tune out completely or perform movements you weren't expecting in order to work out what you want. Conversely, you must not 'give up' if the horse doesn't move forward correctly or you will have told him that not moving is a good option.

Riding at the walk is the ideal time to master the correct riding position. You will probably find that you will lose it when you move on to faster gaits, but each time you return to the walk re-establish the ideal line and think about how it feels. This will help you retain that position at trot or canter.

Try not to use the back of the heel for this kick, nor move your leg back or up. This would either turn your toes outwards and\or bring your heel up (which in turn will make you lose your stirrups). Instead try to make this a little 'slap' with the inside of your calf and heel. This will keep your leg position and your stirrups!

When you are starting this can be very difficult until your legs stretch in the right places, but remember your aim and eventually you will do it. It's also important to note that for many people having a perfectly straight toes (parallel to the horse) is physically impossible but make them as straight as you can.

Try to make sure that your seat (your hips, upper thighs and bum) remain in the saddle when you apply your leg aids. By this I mean that normally when you attempt to squeeze with your lower leg or 'slap'', you may find that your upper thigh and especially your seat muscles will also tense up and your seat bones will pop off the saddle. The movement should instead come from the lower leg alone. click here for more on developing the correct seat

As the horse walks you will feel the body sway from side to side. If your lower back or stomach are tensed you will be stopping this movement and therefore stopping your horse! Make sure that you relax and feel that swinging movement.

This swing happens because as each hind leg in turn is lifted by the horse and moved forward that side of the horse becomes higher. The same as your hips swing when you walk. By feeling the sway of the horse's body from side to side you can tell which back leg is being lifted and is moving forward. This is a very important lesson to learn and will be invaluable for you to be able to perform correct halts and transitions later on. You should be able to call out which hind leg is off the ground.

As the horse walks you will also see that it moves its head backwards and forwards in a nodding motion. To allow for this you should keep your arms relaxed so that you can allow your hands to move forwards and back with the movement of the horse's head. By moving your hands with the movement of the horse's head you can maintain the same tightness of rein (known as "contact") throughout without restricting the horse's natural movement.

The Intermediate and Advanced Rider

Like any pace, the walk should sustain itself without any great reminder from the rider. So if, like many riders, you find yourself trapped into giving a leg aid every other stride you should certainly aim to improve this. You must also ensure that you do not push your horse out of its natural stride, have someone on the ground check you. They should look for a good active walk from your horse and check that your riding is not the cause of any problems. Listen to his foot falls as you ride over a firm surface and you should be able to count an even 1-2-3-4. If what you hear sounds more like 1,2-- 3,4 then your horse is probably hurried. Active is not the same as speedy.

Start from a halt and ask the horse to walk forward using a leg aid you are happy with (a definite squeeze is usually fine). If you get no response from the horse immediately back up your leg aid with a tap of your whip. The important thing is to do this really quickly after the horse has ignored or not understood your leg aid. If the horse then starts forward quite abruptly just let it go for a couple of strides before returning to walk. Once in walk be very careful not to repeat the leg aid until you need to. It is amazing how habitual using your legs can become!

Make sure you are not the cause of your horse's laziness! If your hips and lower back are not swinging along with the horse's walk you are forcing your horse to slow down - if you're not sure try purposely swinging your hips and letting your legs move as if you are walking too! You may be surprised at the result!

MOST IMPORTANTLY - REWARD your horse for correctly walking forward when asked. Praise him and take your legs off his sides (i.e. stop nagging) and importantly remember to allow him forward, he will not be terribly willing to go forward off the leg if he gets jabbed in the mouth each time he complies!

When the walk becomes lazy again give a small squeeze and, as before, immediately use your whip if you get no response. You may find at first that this means you are proceeding in fits and starts but as you both get used to it you will be able to remind the horse to walk on almost before it has slowed down and the horse will be quicker to respond to your legs. Remember to keep your seat relaxed when using your leg aids so that your horse does not get mixed signals.

The free walk is required in most dressage tests and should be practised, especially the transition from free walk (which is on a long rein) to the next gait. The transition should be smooth, coming from the leg rather than simply wrenching the reins up again, and the horse should remain in an outline.

If you find that the walk is still lacking in energy here are exercises to try.

The use of transitions will help to keep the horse attentive, remembering at all times to avoid using your leg habitually and to use your whip if you get no response to a definite leg aid. Go forwards to trot for say 20 strides and then come back to walk. Keep the walk brisk as you count to ten and then move back up to trot again. This exercise helps as with repetition the horse begins to listen more to the leg aid and anticipates the coming trot transition and speeds up his walk to get ready for the transition. When this is working well keep the walk going for longer, making sure that horse continues to move actively forward.
Trotting poles can also be used at the walk, spaced approximately 3 feet apart, adjust this distance as required for your horse. Aim to ride over a long line of poles and then to keep the same feel and rhythm that was achieved over the poles while you ride around the rest of the school.
If your problem is a hurried walk then you must ask the horse to slow down. Do this with the reins and seat by tightening the tension between your hips and hands. Think of using both equally, but always use your seat first (as with any movement or transition) so that you use the reins to stop as much by pulling your hips towards your hands as your hands towards your hips. It also helps to slightly tighten your knees and thighs against the saddle slightly as this blocks the horse's shoulder but remember that, like any other aid, it should be applied only until you feel a response and then relaxed again. Make sure you aren't leaning forward! Loading up the horse's forehand will make him hurry forward to keep his balance.
You should also be practising square halts and checking that your 'feel' of the horse beneath you is as it is seen from the ground. Halt your horse and call out to your checker where each leg is. Once you can get this right, you will be able to influence your horse's halt with fine movements during the downwards transitions.

Riding at the Walk / Riding at the Trot / Riding at the Canter

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