My six year old gelding is a slow walker on the trail, and it drives me nuts. If he’s in front he moves out more, but his preferred speed is somewhere between a mosey and a stroll.
Is there a technique that will turn him into a more enthusiastic mover? My previous trail horses really covered ground, without encouragement…suggestions, tips, ideas?
Some walk better than others. Here is a method that we have used on occasion that seems to work well. Ride out on a trail that the horse knows and ride until he is dragging butt. I mean tired! Somewhere in the 20 mile range is about right. Then put the spurs to him. I have found that once they are tired you can get them into the fast walk without them trying to trot, jig, and get buzzed up. Trying to get a fast walk until they are worn down a little just is a fight.
I have also used roany and Dutch and a pack string. Put the horse in the middle of the 2 mules and head for the hills. They soon learn to walk or they get drug. Jigging will get you bounced. I like to put a block of salt in each pack. Jigging will quickly result in a salt block banging on the ribs.
Farmer methods that seem to work for me. LF
Why would you not rate your horse at the walk as you would at any other gait?
Move him forward then use your cues and aids to control the speed.
Or, put another way, this is not a horse training problem, it sounds like a rider training problem. 
G.
I do tell him to go faster, but six hours of urging him forward gets pretty old. I guess it’s just the contrast with my other, now sadly retired, horses who would just move out when asked and maintain that pace… without me having to repeatedly say “yes, I mean it, MOVE.”
If I only did little rides around the park this wouldn’t be bugging me. But we go for hours at a time, three or four days a week, in the mountains. This is a new horse, and I’m cutting him some slack while he figures out his “job”. He’s a good boy…just lacking in initiative!
He may lack “initiative” but you’ve got spurs, crops, etc. to “fill in” some of that lack! 
Some ground work might in order to begin to teach the horse that “walk” is not a single speed gait. Mostly it would get him used to your command and complying with it. Then work under saddle in an arena or other controlled environment so you can work on teaching him to move to the cues and aids that work best in your discipline. This may require liberal use of the crop and/or spur. Then, after you’ve laid the ground work and you got a more forward movement without a lot of effort on your part then you can go out on the trail and the training should transfer.
At some point you might have to ask if this is the right horse for this job. If he’s not “getting it” and/or you’re not willing to use stronger measures to help him “get it” then your options become more limited.
Again, I see this as more a rider issue than a horse issue. This is not to say that you’re a poor rider or lacking in general skill, but from your OP we can see a problem. If you know what to do then do it. If you have some doubts on the best way to proceed then get some coaching. Adding observations from a new set of eyes may well give you some ideas that you don’t yet have.
Good luck with your project.
G.
I’ve been lucky enough to have nice forward horses on the trail, but Baloo is super lazy in the ring. He’s getting the hang of my rules now though.
You said this is a new horse? I would absolutely NOT “cut him slack” or he will start to think thats what he can get away with with you. Set the rules now that you expect a little bit of enthusiasm and effort on your rides. He’ll get used to it and eventually you’ll be able to stop pestering him to keep his feet moving.
As long as the horse is tracking up, I don’t think you should consider this a problem. IF the horse is tracking up, trying to apply speed to what appears to you as a “slow pace” will actually be detrimental to the gait. It would be like you trying to race-walk – it is not comfortable and is very wearing on the limbs and ligiments. Put the horse on a lunge line and watch the footfall. That will be your first clue if you need to do some encouragement to the gait… or not.
Now, if the horse is tracking behind (rear hoof falling behind the imprint of the front hoof) then you need to encourage a longer stride. There is tons of advice for how to do that (specifically on the dressage forums), so I would suggest you look there for some good exercises you and your horse can work on.
I agree with GTD. Make sure the horse’s hind footprint is falling into the front print. If it is, this is probably the walk the horse has. If not, then you can do some urging.
When you are whacking with the crop and kicking constantly, you tense up your whole body and your breathing is eratic. Instead try to learn where each hind leg is in the sequence of the gait. A person on the ground will help calling “left - right - left right.” You can ONLY influence each hind leg when the leg is off the ground. When the person calls left, that means the left hind is airborne. Let your left leg and hip swing and squeeze from your crotch to your knee during the flight phase of that hind leg. Same for the right. Learn to feel this rhythm. Breathe in and out, steadily and deeply. Any kind of tension blocks energy from your horse’s hindquarters into his body.
It takes an hour session of this in an arena or on the circle in the field to learn this rhythm.
Of course if the horse is downright sleeping and totally ignoring your seat and leg, haul off and WHACK once with the whip (I would use a 34" stiff dressage whip). Make it sting and leave a whelt if necessary. Don’t just pester pester pester, tappy poo tappy poo. Reach up and grab some mane and hit that bastard like he just attacked your first born child. I mean it. There is NO EXCUSE EVER for ignoring your aids and cues. EVER. It is dangerous, sloppy, and completely unacceptable. It takes 1 or 2 serious whacks to leave a mark and a sting and the horse usually wakes up and KNOWS you mean business. (But of course always give the horse the opportunity to give you the right answer FIRST before going to the whip. Ask once, ask twice - go to the whip.) Sounds like yahoo giddy up cowboy but it works. I had to do it to a dressage horse of mine years ago. This is a tactic I learned from a dresage trainer.
Then you go back to your calm, tactful riding, slow breathing, creating and allowing energy to flow from the hindquarters, open pelvis and swinging hips. If you pester and tappy tapp tappy poo with that crop, after a while it’s just white noise. Horse tunes it out. You kick kick kick kick and nothing ever changes.
On another note, I had to train my horse to trot and walk. She wants to just canter canter canter all the time. By riding her with experienced endurance horses, she has learned from them simply by watching. She used to canter canter canter mile after mile when all other horses were trotting. She could canter at another horse’s extended walk. Just by getting more miles and experience, and putting her neck to neck with experienced trail goers, she started matching their gait and speed. Sure, I work on her when I’m alone too, of course. But she just “gets it” SO MUCH easier when she’s with experienced horses.
I combine the experience of other hroses with my own loose hips, open pelvis angle, relaxed breathing, and combination of leg and rein aids.
walking the horse over cavaletti can help the horse learn how to reach and extend- gradually spread the caveletti further apart. But yeah, some horses just have slow walks and not much you can do. Maybe this horse would prefer to trot steadily instead of walk.
Just wanted to pop in and say that’s not the case 100% of the time. My mare is extremely long-backed, and has short little legs. The front feet and hind feet very rarely TRULY meet… :lol:
put him in faster cpmpany, Centered riding
send him out with a fast walker:yes: when you are balanced allowing him to move you :yes:his walk will lengthen out;) . A very basic Centered Riding:D exercise, “walk and the following seat” will give you all the tools you need:yes:; it it is amazing how much horses lengthen their strides when we sit /move in balance:yes:;
I’m fighting this issue with my gelding right now. He’s never going to be a super fast walker, but he’s learning he CAN keep up with the average horse if he puts his mind to it. The thing you want to avoid is getting into a habit of trot trot trot to catch up, then mosey along, then trot trot trot because the other horses have gotten ahead again. It may indeed be necessary to trot occasionally to catch up, but not every 30 feet like my guy wants to do. As soon as he drops out of the trot I’ll apply a bit of leg to encourage him to move along. At first I could only get a few strides of fast walking, but that was enough that I’d praise him. Now I expect more, and my expectations will increase even more as we continue. I will whack him with a crop if he ignores my leg. I’m also working on his slow jog. We go out with a few gaited horses who can leave smoke trails even at the walk. I doubt my guy will ever be able to keep up with them even at his fastest walk, so I’m hoping his little Western Pleasure jog (which he does so nicely when he’s antsy to go home and I want him to walk sedately ) will let us maintain an acceptable speed.
My now 5 yo appendix qh had quite the pokey walk as a green 2 and 3 yo. I tend to train mine to go at the speed I choose (faster or slower) until I direct them otherwise. To improve the walk, consistency is key, active rider legs tapping alternate sides at the walk to get them used to moving out. Both in the ring and on the trail. It didn’t take my fellow long to get with the program. My new 3 yo mare, only 14.1, has quite a nice set of gaits for such a little thing- so despite her stature I expect her ‘working walk’ will develop very nicely.
Best test is the trip back to the barn- they should just naturally be walking faster then (mine have always followed my rule, going back to the barn, you can walk as fast as you wish but it must be a true walk). See what you’ve got on that part of the ride first- and if that needs improving, improve it at that time, with the incentive of the barn in front of you, and move on from there.
Haha, too bad you can’t go trail riding with me and my little guy. He has a super fast walk, your horse would get tired of being left in the dust!
[QUOTE=saddleup;3323589]
My six year old gelding is a slow walker on the trail, and it drives me nuts. If he’s in front he moves out more, but his preferred speed is somewhere between a mosey and a stroll.
Is there a technique that will turn him into a more enthusiastic mover? My previous trail horses really covered ground, without encouragement…suggestions, tips, ideas?[/QUOTE]
You’ve gotten some good advice. If you think you might want to work with a trainer, a good dressage trainer could really help. Me and my ultra-pokey QH Jazz trained in dressage (pre-injury :(), and she really helped us develop and establish a consistent “free walk” and “medium walk” as some have described here. Jazz was never particularly thrilled about doing the more active medium walk, but he knew his job and did what he was told. Now that he can only do light riding on the trails, it’s translated nicely. He can’t keep up with our gaited horses, but at least we have the skills to accelerate our walk, and move along.
WE call that ‘pedal the bicycle’ - if you have ever pedaled a bike this is what you do with your bunns and legs and urge that walk on.
MAke it fun - do walk races with your riding pals! 
Sing while you do your pedaling to increase the tempo and sequence of foot falls. Sing to the speed you WANT and watch how your horse picks it up.
OTOH, I truely belive there are Type A and Type B horses - A being the worker bee who wants to there, see that and git 'er done. Type B wants to be a tourist, smell every flower, see every bee and who cares how long it takes. Know yourself and try to purchase the right type of horse to match your ride style - git 'er done, or ooooo flowers!!!:yes:
Oh how funny! Good point. 
[QUOTE=jazzrider;3326098]
If you think you might want to work with a trainer, a good dressage trainer could really help. Me and my ultra-pokey QH Jazz trained in dressage (pre-injury :(), and she really helped us develop and establish a consistent “free walk” and “medium walk” as some have described here. Jazz was never particularly thrilled about doing the more active medium walk, but he knew his job and did what he was told. [/QUOTE]
I agree. The walk can be a very hard gait to improve, and just a few lessons with a good trainer could help a lot.
OP, it’s not just about moving your horse’s legs faster. He also needs to lengthen his stride. To do that, he has to release his back, so he can step deeper. Some horses just have a harder time than others with this. Also, since he’s new, some of his pokiness may be uncertainty and nervousness that he’s not showing in other ways. Whacking him with a whip will get him to move faster, but suppling exercises before you get on to will help him loosen up and get you a much better walk (and a happier horse, IMO).
From the ground, walk him forward to the left with your left hand on the rein, asking him to lower his head. Make a fist out of your right hand and put your knuckles near his stifle or use the handle of a whip to ask him to step under with his inside leg. Just a little push when his leg is in the air. Do that from both sides, and he should become looser through the back. Another good back release is to stand in front of him, ask him to lower his head, then back him up a few steps.
From the saddle, continue asking him to step under and through with your seat bones and legs, but don’t rock too much. Just encourage him to swing his rib cage just a little more. You can also encourage him to step out with his front feet by tapping him with the whip or using your leg just behind the elbow when that front leg is in the air. When he responds by stepping out, stop. If he slows down, start tapping again.
If you do these things consistently, you should start feeling a loose, swingy back. And that’s the foundation for a nice, ground-covering walk.
Can this work to slow them down, too? I am new to trail riding, and my girl likes to be in front and walks nice and forward, but is difficult to rate when she is in back.
I have a QH that has too fast a walk on the trail so we are working on a more slower paced walk, one that won’t jog my insides out! I will cue him to slow down by relaxing in the saddle, the cue with the reins to slow and an “easy does it” to him then relax the reins on his neck.
There have been occasions when he has been rather pokey going away from home so I use my legs to cue him to speed up. I don’t use spurs, I don’t use a crop nor do I believe a wack hard enough to leave a welt would be conductive to training a horse. Each horse is different and you need to work with them and see what they are, just like people. Just because you may of been a marathon runner doesn’t mean that when I get out there I am going to be able to keep up nor wish to go that speed. Horses are individuals.
Try going out with someone who has a horse who walks a bit faster than your own, see how he does if you encourage him with leg cues to speed up or click with your tongue, whatever cue you use personally to signal to move out.
Good luck and you have gotten some good advice. I personally would stay away from that which boarders on abuse or rough handling, a properly trained horse doesn’t need to be whacked, slapped, or “hit in the ribs by salt blocks” to get the job done. They need time, teaching, patience and the knowledge that that is what you wish of them.
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