Don’t worry. Your post was well worth resurrecting this thread. Thx.
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I would start a warm up at the walk with lots of circles. One at every letter if need be. When he’s engaged, go straight, if he’s losing it, put in a circle. The size of the circle would be smaller to start, and bigger as he’s becoming more engaged with his mind and body. When that gets consistent, then some halts and maybe some rein backs. I have worked consistently with this approach as a warm up with my current trainer for last year and a half with one of my horses.
We started with this trainer with full blow outs, and now we’re consistent and he really seems to like the work. Like us humans working out, I think that nailing the warm up is important for them as it makes the whole training run more enjoyable with less discomfort.
I think about all of the aids as I’m doing my circles (inside leg to outside rein, using my outside leg and rein to trace the path I want, elbows soft in the contact, hands square, etc.). Pretty much every stride is “ridden”. Sounds like micro management, and I guess it is. I think sometimes some horses need it.
I’ll be interested in reading all of the other comments.
It sounds incredibly boring, but a good walk warmup is so important, imo. I wouldn’t skip it. The horse will learn to like it because you can make it interesting.
Oh Lord. Glad that ended well.
FWIW, scores for each competitor in the 2023 WC Freestyle can be found here.
If you click on DETAILS in the Total column, you can see the scores for each individual movement.
Jessica’s scores for the collected walk ranged from 5-6, for an average of 5.4. Nanna’s scores for collected walk ranged from 7-9, for an average of 7.8. Isabel’s scores for the collected walk ranged from 4-6.5 (including four 4’s), for an average of 4.7.
Of note is that while Isabel’s scores for collected walk were dismal (and her extended walk wasn’t stellar either), for movements with coefficients of 2 she received only three scores less than 8 (three scores of 7.5 for canter pirouette right). By contrast, although the next placed competitor (Steffan Peters) showed nicer walks (scores ranging from 7-8.5, with most being 7), for movements with coefficients of 2, he received 20 scores less than 8.
Also, Isabel’s scores for artistic components were higher in general than Steffan’s, including nine 10’s for Isabel, three 10’s for Steffan - and those components have coefficients of 4.
So in general, although Isabel’s walk movements were definitely sub-par, she outscored Steffan where it really counted - movements with coefficients and artistic components. There were also no doubt other movements where she outscored him but that’s as deep of a dive as I can do this morning. (Someone please check my math, I’ve only had one cup of tea this morning.)
Edited to add that a quick glance at all scores for all competitors indicates that Isabel’s scores for collected walk were the lowest of the bunch (5.5, 4, 4, 4, 6.5, 4, 5). Only one other competitor (Anna Buffini) had a walk score of 4 and that was only one 4 in extended walk.
I haven’t followed Isabel’s other rides very closely so don’t know if the walk is an ongoing issue for just this horse, or for all her horses. Perhaps someone else can shed some light on it.
(And oops, I just realized how far off topic we have gotten from the original post - sorry!)
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Thanks for this. It also dispels the myth that judges are rewarding, or at least ignoring poor walks for elite competitors. A 6 is a terrible score at that level, and anything below that is dismal. So the judging seems to accurately reflect the quality of the walls displayed.
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Not arguing with that premise. But look at Jessica’s scores for collected walk (range 5-6, for an average of 5.4) - and she won GOLD. Which once again proves that it isn’t about just one movement, but about the overall quality of a whole series of movements and how they are put together. 
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Absolutely. That’s one of the things I love about dressage. You can blow one movement without blowing the whole test
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Hmm I think blowing one movement and still winning is fine but having a marginal entire gait and still winning World Cup is harder to swallow. I’m not sure if or how there is any way to fix that but it’s an entire gait and it feels like the best in the world should be best at that too.
It reminds me of when halts were basically not shown and they finally added scores in for them so there was at least some penalty if they couldn’t be immobile. But it’s still just one score.
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At least TPTB feel that the walk is important enough to allocate two scores to it (collected walk and extended walk). Trot (pure trot) claims only three scores (collected trot half-pass right, collected trot half-pass left, extended trot, while canter claims SEVEN scores (collected canter half-pass right, collected canter half-pass left, extended canter, two tempi, one tempi, pirouette right, pirouette left). Passage and piaffe each claim one score (although they are arguably heavily modified trots). The canter pirouettes, passage, and piaffe are the only ones with a coefficient, so to emphasize the importance of the walk, wouldn’t they have to redesign the tests to add a coefficient for collected walk and/or extended walk? And if they do that, many folks will then want coefficients added for collected and/or extended trot movements.
As BigMama said, the beauty of dressage is that a rider can blow one movement but still redeem herself by excelling in the other movements. Dressage isn’t about ONE movement, or ONE gait but rather about the entire presentation - sort of like how we don’t rate the performance of a Super Bowl quarterback based on ONE intercepted pass, but rather on his execution of the entire game, or how a gymnast can not stick her landing but still have an overall stellar performance on the apparatus.
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By creating more engagement. Contact comes from the HAUNCHES. That’s why it’s better after you canter. The horse is naturally more engaged.
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It’s the Anky Method 
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Thank you!
