Maat's Blog Post # 3: Make the Most of Your Walk Breaks

Last week, I wrote about how the walk is important to score well in your dressage phase. This week, let’s look at exercises to make the most of your walk breaks.

Walk breaks aren’t just time to drop the reins and let the horse relax. They’re also opportunities to work on elasticity and rhythm. My Grand Prix mare initially didn’t have the greatest walk – a 5 on a good day. She didn’t use her back well enough, and the walk wasn’t elastic. I improved it by asking for a more forward walk with both my legs and seat, and asking her to reach down towards the bit for a stretchy walk, similar to a stretchy trot. Watch videos of top riders in the walk portion of a test. They don’t just sit there, they’re asking their horses to go forward!

Another great exercise is to ask the horse to go forward using your seat, and then come back a little. When I ask for more forward using my seat, I imagine my hip bones are swinging forward; I like to think of it as the difference between going for a hike up a mountain side and going for a walk in your backyard. Going up the mountain you’re going to swing your hips more, right? To ask your horse to shorten their stride, stop moving your hips and sit a little deeper. Your horse might even stop completely. Rinse and repeat, and eventually your horse will develop a nice, swinging walk and use their back more. This is the walk you want in your test!

To help with shortening the walk, or if your horse gets a little nervous, you can use serpentines or circles to distract her. Both serpentines and circles are natural collecting movements, and if you have an energizer bunny, the bit of extra work they require will help relax your horse. Between the curves of the serpentine, you can ask for a swinging stride. If you have a nervous horse, ask for just a little bit at a time.