For me—it’s all about the improvement of the athleticism of the horse and it makes them more enjoyable to ride. Showing is an occasional thing—but your every day rides can be much more fun when your horse is balanced, forward, on the aids and improving their self-carriage. That being said—it probably doesn’t happen when you only ride 3 days a week (it’s kind of like us—we probably need a few more days at the gym to make more significant progress). But that could be a good “goal” for you—creating a horse that is more fun to ride. And yes, it’s also cool to play around with some of the fancier movements—but certainly not required if it doesn’t “float your boat” or anything.
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Without having read the other comments…
Even if you don’t show, you want a forward walk with clear 4 beats. That is simply developing the gait into a true walk. Modulating that gait (forward and back) is a function of your training, whether you show or not. The walk isn’t about speed at all, it is about length of stride. Lateral walks are considered bad and no trainer wants your horse to develop that. If your horse tends that way, there are things you might do to avoid that.
I don’t show my current nut-case but I train up the levels. I had a friend who took her Andalusian to FEI aiming at GP who always stuck his tongue out. She couldn’t show him but she brought in GP clinicians to help her and us up the levels. She wanted to have/train a GP horse and she was a beautiful rider. The horse’s habit wasn’t going to change.
You don’t have to show to learn how to ride well and get your horse to use it’s body well. That’s the point of dressage. Stop at whatever level feels comfy for you so you can continue enjoying your rides with your boy! HE doesn’t care what level he is trained to. Do clinics often and take lessons working at whatever level or stuff you want to.
My dressage horse works cows because I have access to a guy who can train horses to this and a guy who brings in steers he uses to train amazing dogs to work. At first, my horse couldn’t be near steer. Now he’s really good at cutting and working steer at low speeds. The dressage comes in handy so much and is a focus for him and me. Maybe consider doing other stuff to fortify partnership with your horse and show your horse a real reason why something like leg yield is important and must be immediate to your cue. My horse gets this working cattle. Yes, the smart steer run away. No, he has no “cow” in him and says “fine, run away”. But I’ve worked him to consider that they can’t just run away without him following and putting pressure on them, and with that my aids are just as important as they are in a dressage test. He really has to listen.
I never rode cows with any horses before this horse, but riding cows expanded both of our horizons (it took me DAYS to get him near them). Now, our dressage work trumps cowboys at slower speeds and the steer do what we ask them to do because they follow the body language of my dressage horse. Even better than some QHs. Faster speeds? My horse says “why are we chasing this animal” and the steer/cow says “why am I worried about you chasing me? I’ll run faster over there”. We will always pale 100% to cow-bred QHs, who are just amazingly tuned into cattle. YET, I do these kinds of clinics/outings with QHs bred for the outing just to give my non-cow WB a different experience and teach him how to work WITH ME when he’s feeling mighty uncomfortable, which he often is. These experiences help me tune into my hypervigilant gelding’s brain in the face of what he considers uncertainty to make life better for us both. If anything, it has very much built his trust in me.
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To add to this, there are different degrees of laterality. You can have a walk that is sorta almost lateral, or you can have a walk that is very lateral. So when you are working/watching the walk, it can be anywhere on the spectrum from a pure 4-beat walk to a completely 2-beat lateral walk (but that would be pretty rare - usually it’s not quite that extreme). Most of the time it will be pretty subtle, but I’ve seen some pretty lateral walks in older horses that I can only assume is related to some kind of stiffness, pain, or discomfort (just like how dogs tend to have a more lateral walk as they age).
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Can hardly wait til my lesson tomorrow. Will be quizzing-down my coach about lateral walks! There is just so much i need to know. So, people above on this thread have mentioned that holding onto your horse’s mouth causes it? What would make someone do that at a walk? A faster gait i can kinda understand, (fear), but a walk? Are people afraid their horse will, shy or bolt or something? Is that it?
when i was a child and taking saddleseat lessons, i had this one teacher (mr. dace…meanest little man in the world) and he once tied a knot on the reins to make me understand where i needed to keep my hands. Don’t remember where the knot was, in front? behind? or was i supposed to hold the knot??? Dont remember, but he was yelling at me and i cried…that part i remember.
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Some horses go a to a lateral walk because of tension also. My moms old mare was a bit lateral, she was just very stiff and had a big barrel and short legs so until she was warmed and suppled she was very slightly lateral at the walk.
My one mare off the track had a terrible lateral walk when I first started her back under saddle but once I was able to train her to relax it went away completely.
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The lateral walk comes from tension, which can happen if you push too much. Why can’t you talk to your coach about these anxieties? If these aren’t questions you can ask your coach, maybe it’s time for a new coach.
I think you need to go back and look at your motivation for riding dressage. What about a ride brings you joy? What will give you more enjoyment in your riding?
Many people “do dressage” without showing. I have only done a “virtual” show with my horse for various reasons. I may or may not do an in-person show in the future. I do find that it is eye opening to ride a test completely through. It is easy to think my horse is at a level because I have done all the movements in the level. But putting them together in a test is harder! So if you dont have the reality check of a show, I find many riders do what they do well and skim over difficult transitions. That can miss some of the difficulty progression that helps you go up the levels.
The good thing about not showing, is that you can play around with the movements without worrying about the level. Again, the caveat is that you need a reality check from your instructor that your horse is mentally and physically able and that you are dong the movement correctly. But it can be a relief for those whose horse will never have a big extension, for example, to worry less about that and enjoy other parts (though often the extension will improve from other correct work!)
As far as the walk, IME if the walk is usually fine, it is when a rider tried to collect it that tension and lateralness can creep in. But it is not a death sentence 
not every horse tends to do this, and it can be fixed if not allowed long-term.
Find out what you enjoy about riding your horse and make sure you dont get caught up in others’ agendas!
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Yes to this. Dressage is really hard, and I think many people like the idea of dressage better than the reality. I’m not saying this to slam anyone, but I do always hope that riders are being honest with themselves, and understand what they are doing and why. For example, the reason for riding extremely accurate figures is not to make pretty circles in the dirt, but to optimize the gymnastic benefit to the horse. Many lower level riders will blow this off as just something that’s needed to get a better score in a test, and not understand the purpose behind it. Another thing is lateral work. I use it a LOT and just started showing my mare 1st level this year. The lateral work has helped us a lot, but I also hear riders say things like “I don’t need to learn to do a good shoulder-in because I’m just showing 1st.” It’s OK to not enjoy working on these things, but IMO, if you’re (general you, not OP specifically) riding, but it’s not dressage. If you don’t have a burning desire to ride at a certain level, don’t let your instructor push you for it; dressage is so hard, it’s not like you’ll accidentally find yourself at 3rd level without working really dang hard and being focused on that goal. OP, as others have suggested, I wonder if you might enjoy dabbling in some other disciplines?
Yes to all of this! I thought our change of lead through trot was quite good until I started practicing it on the diagonal through X as required in First-3. We had to go back and sort out some hidden issues. But I was also going to mention that OP might consider trying one of the online shows or test feedback services as an alternative to hauling out and doing the full show thing.
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So…if Collection is the pinnacle of the training pyramid, i’m not going to encounter it for a while i suppose? I think we’re just getting into impulsion territory, (but not sure…i will ask my coach tomorrow about that too!).
Collection starts at second level, in that you’re showing early collected gaits there. Shoulder-in is a collecting exercise, so you will start to feel a touch of collection working on SI. (rein-back and transitions are also collecting, but you don’t get the same feeling for the collection within the gait so much).
Collection is not an on/off switch, it’s a gradient. Required for the first time at Second Level, a Second level horse will show much less (and probably less consistent) collection than a Grand Prix horse.
Not knowing where you and your horse are in your training, it’s hard to say when you will encounter it. But know that there are different degrees of collection as you move up in the horse’s training.
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Perhaps I shouldnt have used the term “collection”. Riders tend to start to get into issues when they start trying to ride the walk on contact. If the horse gets tense and/or the rider is too restrictive with the hand it can increase the chance of lateral movement. Still, you cant ride on a long rein forever, so something to be aware of and worked through. Kind of like a horse getting four-beaty at the canter. With the walk we often get into trouble by not always paying attention when riding on contact.
BTW, no impulsion in the walk. That requires a moment of suspension which the walk doesnt have. You can have more or less “activity”. (A Janet Foy pet peeve!)
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I’m going to throw this out there…have you considered virtual shows? This takes a lot of the stress away for you, the rider, and especially for the horse. I started doing virtual shows last year, and for me, it’s been a lot of fun and a great way to get feedback from quality judges in my area. And to top it off, the shows I do offer ribbons and high point prizes for fun. They’re not for everyone, but I think they’re a great alternative if you don’t wish to show “live”. Something to think about.
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edit: my coach just answered my query!!! :
"Yes, you are working on impulsion, which is the engaged push and lift of the core via the hind end!
Lateral walk is not a recognized gait in dressage. Only a 4 beat walk is allowed. Brenna does not have a lateral walk."
hmmmm…just sent coach a question about:
Impulsion, is that where i am at now?
and is a lateral walk bad, and does my mare do it.
Lesson tomorrow…
What i would like to know is where can i find a good comprehensive definition …hopefully with examples to view? of the training pyramid.
after a little over a year of weekly lessons, we are ONLY at TL1 test, and just barely there… (yes, i’m slow as molasses!)
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Don’t worry about the timetable. There is no set timeframe in which one needs to “complete” or attain a certain level. Enjoy the journey.
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About extending the walk (I am a Forward Seat rider so I am rather familiar with it.)
I have NEVER had my riding teacher complain about any pacey movement of the horse’s legs. But then when I ask the horse to extend his stride I lighten up on the reins FIRST and I move my hands forward a little bit before I add the leg aid. I also do not expect an extended walk the first time (depending on the horse this may last for over a year), all I want is for the horse to extend his stride a LITTLE BIT at first. We then build on that, with me usually encouraging the horse with my legs at every stride asking for a little bit more, and I reward lavishly when the horse first gets the idea.
Of course if the horse forges at the walk when it is extended, there is a natural limit for that horse combined with my riding ability. This is why now I prefer horses that do not look like a square from the side (legs included), a horse that looks like a rectangle from the side has more room to move his feet forward without interference.
My best extended walks sort of look like when a tiger is walking with a purpose, reaching the foot out from a freely moving shoulder and the hind legs swinging forward. This can be physically challenging for the horse so I do not ask for a full extended walk very often.
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i keep quizzing my coach as-to what the various walks LOOK like, cause i only know what they feel like and i wish to categorize them in my head (if it feels like this than she is coming up under herself halfway… or just barely overstepping her front foot’s fall, or merely every step is measuring the same as every other one… my problem is that my coach keeps giving me different answers. So when something feels the same to me she is calling it something different. So either i’m feeling-it wrong, or she doesn’t understand why i am asking all the time… I think she thinks i’m asking for a compliment, cause i get Pure Walk, or Good Working Walk or Pure trot etc. i want to know what i feel looks like. Even on a halt, i have to ask about the hind feet… i can tell the front but not the back.
edit: i should video my lessons, huh.
edit-edit: ok, unless i can talk her into wearing my go-pro on her head…what’s that camera deal that tracks you around the ring?
yes, you should video it.
If ‘feel’ was reliable, the SRS would not require all the riders to constantly lesson all the time.
I think though that the pacey walk is a combination of conformation and balance issues.
So when you let go of the contact too much the horse falls apart and sways about. At least I believe that was the issue with my sister’s mare. It’s been about 40 years by now (where did the time go)
She eventually worked through the issue and fixed it.
it took some time and good eyes on the ground.
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One really, really, really odd thing happened to my seat when I got the last 2 horses I succeeded with an extended walk.
My seat moved as normal during the first few stages of getting to the extended walk, like I was scooting forward on the floor by advancing one seat bone forward, then the other seat bone forward.
When the horses got into a true extended 4-beat walk my seat bones felt like they were scooting BACK on the floor, with one side going down and back then the other, instead of going forward and up. It messed my MS addled brain up totally since my body felt like I was scooting backwards while my body was going forward faster with the horse. This particular movement of my seat bones has only happened to me with a true 4-beat gait extended walk. It does not happen during the previous months while I coax the horse into extending his stride just a little bit more each time.
My riding teacher, when I asked, reported a true 4-beat walk with even strides even when my seat bones moved differently.
This is how I feel the development–first a decent 4-beat walk, extending a little into a true “flat-footed walk” once loved by hunter riders, then encouraging the horse to extend the stride a little bit more (this can take months), and finally the horse is physically developed enough to do a true extended 4-beat gait extended walk with normal feeling contact. Practicing this is best when coming home from a trail ride, the horse gets the idea better than when just puttering around the ring going nowhere.
As the horse extends he will voluntarily take a firmer hold on the bit. Just keep your contact regular as he needs this stronger hold going faster, but do not block the forward motion in any way. Keep following his mouth with your hands.
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sorry Jackie, but google didn’t answer this for me adequately. What does ‘forges’ look like?
…and now i’ll leave you guys alone…lunch is over.
