Spanisk Walk

lulubell

Hey guys just wondering do ye think it's a good/bad idea to teach this to my horse. I think it looks deadly

borrch

lulubell wrote: »

Hey guys just wondering do ye think it's a good/bad idea to teach this to my horse. I think it looks deadly

I think it's a great idea!!! I started teaching my horse the spanish walk recently. It's not fully established yet but getting there. The reason i started teaching my fella the spanish walk is because extended trot doesn't come naturally to him. So eventually he will learn the spanish trot as well, which will help him extend, give him a stronger shoulder and more expression in all his movements esp trot & canter. Already he is beginning to stretch more with his front legs in working trot.

Spanish walk doesn't really serve much purpose other then a stepping stone to spanish trot, but it looks great. Alot of the top dressage riders in Germany train their horses in spanish walk/trot before they're even backed.

lulubell

Thanks for your reply. I went ahead and started training him yesterday, I couldn't believe how quickly he caught on. He only did one or two small steps, before he started stretching the legs. i wanted to take it slowly with him but if he keeps stretching his long legs like that he'll be done in no time. It looked really brilliant i must admit. He's a Friesian btw so he already has a nice walk to him, this looks very good. Only one problem, as soon as i stopped and was finished with him, he kept wanting to do it, without me asking him too. I had to tell him No a good few times. Anything i can do about this, i don't wanna get accidentally pawed :rolleyes:

borrch

Great! Sounds like he's a fast learner. I wouldn't correct him at this early stage. It's great he's so eager but the novelty will wear off after a while. Do you mind me asking how you trained him?

I trained my fella in the stable first to pick up all four legs ( not at the same time obviously) when touched by a whip, and gave a voice command as well. Then I started walking him slowly around the arena while touching his shoulder with the whip & voice command. He has only does a fresh steps at each training but hopefully it will click with him more as time goes on. Only started a week ago, and have been doing shoulder in and travers as well so his mind is probably a bit fried 

lulubell

hiya, ok so i won't correct him yet, i'll just keep out of his way;) I just started by tapping his front lag & when he lifted it i gave him a treat or a rub. I kept doing this for few mins on each leg. Next time i didn't give him rub till he lifted leg more.....I left it at that tho. Untill tomorrow.:rolleyes: How does that sound am i doing anything wrong? It's early stages yet, hopefully in a few weeks he'll be walking in it.

lulubell

Oh forgot to say I've done Natural horsemanship with him so he backs up on command (backs into stable), lift legs by lightly touching chestnut, free lunges etc, so he's very easy to do ground work with

borrch

I don't really know much about natural horsemanship. It sounds like your doing all the right things. When you start to introduce the Spanish walk while he's moving just make sure you walk him really slowly at first cos they find it really hard to coordinate their legs esp when marching on. My guy will do a few steps but then halts for sweeties. Don't want to punish him yet for that but after awhile I'll start asking for more steps before he's rewarded. Forgot to say that it's easier if you start working towards him moving from a tap on the shoulder instead of his leg. I also find my horse has to pause in the walk for a spilt second before doing the movement. Bless him he's so busy trying to think about what leg is doing what that he can't do it in one flowing movement yet

doctor evil

Be sure not to let his back hollow as he won't be using himself properly.