A Classical View of Walk

For the final blog of this year, I’m taking a look at the much neglected pace of walk. The example I am using is from the Gothenberg World Cup, from February this year. The full video can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIB0VkqL8iA. The horse I am looking at is Florine ridden by Bianca Nowag-Aulenbrock and the section starts at 2 hours, 42 minutes and 25 seconds.

Correctly ridden, walk is an excellent pace for teaching movement and developing flexibility and strength. The walk shown in this test demonstrates some of the many problems I see with walks ridden by many riders both in competition and training.

The horse in this video shows a very common issue with the type of walk riders are expecting from their horses today. They rider has a very firm hold on the reins, and is leaning back in the saddle in a very blocked and braced position. Consequently, the horse is bracing its neck, hollow backed and disengaged in its haunches and the weight is placed into the forehand. This restricts in the horse’s shoulder movement and blocks the hind legs action, making the stride drop short.

The pictures below clearly show how blocked the horse is and you can see the rider's position moves further behind the vertical throughout the sequence, increasing the  blocking of the horse's movement.