Getting a better walk without constant nagging or tension

[RainWeasley]

I feel like I ask too many questions, so I’m sorry in advance, there are just a lot of pretty knowledgeable people on here. I have looked up other threads, but since every horse is different…

TLDR: What are ways people get their horses marching out at a walk that they stay in and don’t break down, for horses that don’t naturally have a good walk?

I’ve been watching videos of my lessons on my 4 year old, and we really struggle with medium/free walk (among a million other things but one thing at a time). I feel like it isn’t marching enough, but I’m not sure how to get more without him tensing up and just doing faster steps. My instructors have had me pressing left, right, left, when the hind leg is lifting off on that side to get more reach, and he does reach more, but it still just seems so slow, not to mention I feel like he starts to tune that out. He is also downhill right now (might not ever really grow out of it, has a low set neck).

I know the walk is one of the hardest things to work on, and I don’t want to drill him on it, especially as a baby. But I would like to get just a bit more walk out of him. What are some things I can try? I had some success with getting him walking and leaving him alone, then tapping with the whip if he started slowing down on his own, but I stopped doing that because I wasn’t sure if that was really “correct” or if it was just getting him to speed his legs up and shorten strides (didn’t have video of then, might be something to test).

I have a video I can post if anyone wants to look, it’s pretty long though (half of my lesson last week) but I can point out the time stamps of when the walking bits are (and the rest can be ignored since it’s not exactly amazing and I’m not the best rider :D). If not, any methods that people have used to get a more marching walk that they stay in without having to nag or tense up the horse would be great to hear. I kind of wonder if I will just need to get him going more and let him be tense until he figures it out. Or if we just will always have a crappy walk.

[beowulf]

Hacking out. Lots and lots of it. Not just around the bridle path either - hacking up/down hills, roads, at a good forward pace. At 4, that’s probably on the agenda anyway – these things take time. Especially if he is unbalanced, or downhill, or in a growth spurt. :yes:

You can also do pole work, to encourage stepping under and lifting himself better.

[CanteringCarrot]

My P.R.E. Has a great walk… Now. It was never terrible, but now I feel like it’s so much better. I think it developed from a few things:

General training - he was 5 and greenbroke when I began

Getting and keeping him in front of my leg, always!

Loose rein hacks in the forest at a forward walk - helped with fitness too

Walking over poles and cavaletti for strength

Making sure I’m not closing the front door. You want to have the horse push from behind, make sure you’re not shutting him down with a restrictive contact, ie not a forward or allowing hand/elbows/hip/body. Get your hips swinging into it too. Lose your tension.

If he’s dull to the leg, reinforce with whip. He needs to be infront of the leg for a variety of reasons.

I never really “schooled” the walk much, it just developed by doing these things over time.

[RainWeasley]

Excellent. We have a schooling show tomorrow, doing Training 1 and 2, then I was planning on taking some time off to do more hacking out with a few arena schooling sessions, to build up some muscle and just relax, so it sounds like that will help with at least one of our current issues!

[merrygoround]

Your hips cam be helpful in increasing and decreasing stride length, while your inner thigh muscles control speed. If he gets too fast close those muscles, while your hips walk him forward. Relaxing those muscles allows him to speed up. You’ll have to learn to coordinate the combination of muscles.

Obviously bumping him with alternate legs works too, but is less controllable than using your seat.

[Training_Cupid]

Make sure your seatbones aren’t restricting him - this was my problem in an effort to sit up taller I was inadvertently “digging into” his back and once I was aware and fixed this my horse’s walk got much better.

And as others have said, make sure he’s in front of the leg. No constant nagging. A quick bump-bump (with small spurs if appropriate for you and your horse), follow up with the whip if no response, then when you get the desired response of moving forward leave him alone.

[Scribbler]

Do a lot of hacking out, and don’t let the horse fall asleep under you. Don’t use 'hacking out" to just be a cool down walk.

Let the horse have a loose rein. If he slows down, make him trot a bit, then walk again. Don’t worry if the walk seems hurried. Sometimes you have to work through that to get big and forward.

Teach him to reach for the bit and lift his back as he strides along.

And honestly, maybe better instruction. That bump bump bump sounds like it should work, but horses really learn to tune that out fast.

You also need to be letting him move forward at the trot too, He is four, and you are starting to have the sucked-back problem that is what limits many many ammie dressage horses. You can’t do a single thing at all without impulsion. You need forward as the basis for everything. At this stage you don’t want to lose impulsion in the search for balance or temp or whatever. I think you are better to ride fast and over tempo and then balance that, rather than worry all the time that his fast walk is unbalanced, and then make him slow down.

My mare was very very lazy and short behind when I started with her, and now we have power walk on the trails.

I’m also riding an older dressage school master mare with a power walk, and the revelation this past year has been how much forward you need to do the slightly more advanced things, like trot halfpass and walk/canter transitions and medium or extended trot. I see lots of riders work hard to make a horse appear calm for training and First Level, and then have no gas in the tank when it comes to starting the real work.

As far as upward transitions, a horse should take the gait and speed of gait that you ask from one leg cue, and should hold that gait and speed until you give a clear signal to transition down. You should not need to be nagging every step to keep a walk or a trot going. And your own legs should not be accidentally bumping the horse at any gait. if the horse is getting dull to the leg, then leg cue once and follow up with a crop. Let him go forward fast if that’s what it takes.

When you are doing your power walk on the trails, let your hips swing side to side with the movement, rather than taking the movement all in your upper body.

[RainWeasley]

@Scribbler

As far as upward transitions, a horse should take the gait and speed of gait that you ask from one leg cue, and should hold that gait and speed until you give a clear signal to transition down. You should not need to be nagging every step to keep a walk or a trot going. And your own legs should not be accidentally bumping the horse at any gait. if the horse is getting dull to the leg, then leg cue once and follow up with a crop. Let him go forward fast if that’s what it takes.
.

My legs are almost certainly bumping his sides at the trot. At least they look like they are, I’m not trying to but haven’t quite figured out how to keep them still. That’s another major source of frustration.

Riding was so much easier when I was just running around in a western saddle goofing off!

[Brown_Derby]

You might try to learn the sequence of footfalls at the walk, (and how his ribcage swings with those footfalls) and use alternate legs to influence his step. You cannot influence a foot that has already left the ground. Practice with a pole to help you learn the feel of those footsteps.

You can also take him for a mini trail ride out in the field. You know how those old trail hacks pick up the pace to go home? You can leave him alone and just ride to a precise point. When you reach that point, he gets to rest a minute or two. Repeat and he’ll get the hint. It doesn’t accomplish any real training but it does give you both a break to relax and has its own reward.

[Scribbler]

@RainWeasley

My legs are almost certainly bumping his sides at the trot. At least they look like they are, I’m not trying to but haven’t quite figured out how to keep them still. That’s another major source of frustration.

Riding was so much easier when I was just running around in a western saddle goofing off!

Well, then you need to work on seat so that you can ride without bumping him unless you mean it. You might find it helpful to practice two point in a jump saddle, or even just in your dressage saddle. Jumpers strive for that rock solid still lower leg, and they build up the muscles and balance to get it. Work up to being able to two point at the trot with your heel dropped and still and not grabbing mane, for 2 or 3 minutes at a time. it will work out muscles groups that straight dressage riding doesn’t use as much. Useful to do on the trails doing conditioning trot sets for the horse!

Dressage allows a slightly floppier leg than jumpers, but the top dressage riders have a pretty still leg.

The ideal is that your legs are in soft contact with the horse but are not giving any unplanned aids. Generally a hot horse needs to learn to behave with the leg lightly on, and a lazy horse needs to learn to keep moving with the leg off. So if you have a sucked back horse, it might be useful to try riding with your leg off if you can’t control your leg aids.

You might also want to do some longe lessons for seat, with and without stirrups, to correct any seat or balance problems that are making your legs unstable.

I have seen a lot of ammie dressage riders get into the habit of bump bump at each step at every gait, and then also closing their calves at every post stride up, so they are bumping every other stride. It really does dull the horse to the leg, because it just becomes background noise to them.

Can you make sure that when you post, your leg is off the horse, not clenching the calf against his side? Most of the post effort should be in your thigh anyhow, which is where two point and longe lessons without stirrups should help too.

If horse is getting made dull to your leg at the trot, then I can see why you’d have problems with him moving out at the walk as well. Your leg doesn’t mean anything to him.

Also shortening your stirrups a little bit might help you control your lower leg better.

[Rerider54]

What helped me was to realize I was too tight in my hips and that was slowing down my horse. The other was that my instructor said that I must never allow my horse to practice that which I do not want her to learn. So NEVER allow the slower walk. Instead of nagging with my legs I was told to tap near with the whip till she marched. If she jigged, at first, I was told to bring her back to walk with my seat not my hands. Now I just tap my boot and she knows she needs more march.

I was told she was in charge of keeping her energy level and marching. So I just need to remind her when she forgets. She is very calm, almost lazy so I am not afraid to ask for more. Trails helped a lot. Plus getting in better shape ( both of us), her for energy and me to be able to ride better(especially core strength).

[merrygoround]

If you want your horse to march, you too must march.

[pluvinel]

@RainWeasley

…

#1)…My instructors have had me pressing left, right, left, when the hind leg is lifting off on that side to get more reach, and he does reach more, but it still just seems so slow, not to mention I feel like he starts to tune that out. He is also downhill right now (might not ever really grow out of it, has a low set neck).

#2)…I know the walk is one of the hardest things to work on, …

#1 - Your instructors are part of the problem. If you always are asking with the leg, you are nagging the horse with the result that the horse will tune you out…as you have astutely pointed out. This advice is exactly how you train a horse to get behind the leg.

#2 - Every horse knows how to walk. There is nothing intrinsically “hard” about walking.

The horse needs to know that he is to get in a gait and stay in that gait unless asked for something else…this includes the halt…walk, trot, canter.

The horse is trained to move off by a request from the leg…if he doesn’t, there are consequences…the whip.

Once the horse complies, the rider goes back to “neutral”…eg., called by the French “descente/cessation of the aids.” The aids only come into play when the rider is asking something from the horse.

This goes for all gaits and the horse soon learns what is expected of him.

Other posters have given good advice about the rider holding tension etc…but the biggest problem is the advice your trainer is giving you.

[MysticOakRanch]

@CanteringCarrot

Getting and keeping him in front of my leg, always!

This is a big part of it! The walk should NEVER be slow. Too many people use it to relax and let go - and remember, every step of every ride, you are TRAINING your horse. So if you let them lollygag part of the time, you are saying it is OK to be lazy. In warm up, in cool down, when leading your horse - the walk should be forward.

[joiedevie99]

Most of the important stuff is already covered above. You can also use anticipation to your advantage here. Trot around the short end and up to the second letter (R/S/V/P), then transition to walk. At B/E, transition to a big, forward trot. With a horse that is a bit farther along, you can shorten the walk even more.

[RainWeasley]

Thank you everyone, this has been super helpful. I’m going to spend the next while just getting myself in order and getting onto the habit of not letting him ever lollygag. I appreciate all the responses!

[hut-ho78]

Thank you for asking the question. I’ve loved this post and the answers.

[jonem004]

@RainWeasley

My legs are almost certainly bumping his sides at the trot. At least they look like they are, I’m not trying to but haven’t quite figured out how to keep them still. That’s another major source of frustration.

Riding was so much easier when I was just running around in a western saddle goofing off!

Try your stirrups up a hole or two. Having a little more flex can help keep your leg under control. It takes a lot of strength and balance to have a quite leg with super long dressage stirrups. Especially strength in a bunch of tiny muscles that surround your hips, and they are hard to build until you actually learn to feel them and that’s hard too.

I might get fried for saying this, but I think the big thigh blocks on a lot of dressage saddles make it harder to find the balance you need to separate your aids. Once you have separate seat/legs/hands they can be a great support, but a well balanced AP saddle might make it easier to get to that point without bracing. I know I’m off topic, but still.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I have MS. I have NO “internal” energy to transmit to the horse. If I want to get faster than say 2-2.5 MPH at a walk I HAVE to alternate my lower leg when the barrel swings away twice each stride (alternating aids.) I ride school horses, used to all sorts of meaningless leg actions.

On some horses I have been doing this at the walk for over a decade.

The horses are not dead to the leg, each time I alternate squeezing with my calves the horses usually lengthen their walking stride. Each time I ask with my lower leg for them to move over they obey readily and promptly, often with no reins involved. While I do wear spurs they are the Spursuaders, a blunt disc with rounded edges, and I rarely use my spurs.

I have found that when I use my crop on their skin behind my leg the horses suck back and slow down. To get the horse going faster using a crop I have to hit my half-chaps strong enough to make a noise.

Sometimes when the horse is particularly sticky (not stretching out willingly to a light squeeze) I have found success by just tapping my crop on the top of the croup on the side that my seat bone is rising (hind leg in support and moving back.) I usually have to do that just once or twice and then I go back to my alternating legs. This works best when that particular hind leg does not feel like it is pushing as hard as the other hind leg, and that is the side I use my crop on the top of the croup, NOT the center of the croup (the later can be interpreted by the horse as a signal to kick out.)

I do miss the days when I had a LOT more energy and I did not have to alternate my lower legs every stride to get the horse to extend his walking stride and keep extending his stride until I told the horse to slow down, but it has been over 20 years since I got so exhausted all the time and the horses would look at me and figure there was no way I could get them to move out at all.

And one of the horses I ride now is SUPER high with his croup, very low set neck, downhill all the way from the point of his croup to the point of his shoulder. After a few months of working on his walk he is finally starting to stabilize at a longer striding walk, just for a few steps at first but we are improving (he is 22 yrs. old.) My riding teacher loves to see his “marching walk”, which I do not ask for until he has warmed up for 5-10 minutes.

Of course if I could trail ride him I probably would not have any problems extending his stride at a walk, he likes trail rides.