The Spanish walk for everyone

The Spanish walk is particularly well suited as a gymnastic exercise for the shoulder, as lifting and stretching the foreleg frees up, strengthens and loosens the muscles around the shoulder area. Horses quite often walk a little unevenly and are stiff in the forehand. Horses of this type benefit greatly from this exercise, and their stride can be improved considerably. On top of that, it does an enormous amount for coordination. When a horse is asked to lift and stretch its foreleg, it has to concentrate at the same time on lifting its hind legs too and stepping forward. At a forward-going gait this is not usually a problem, but the slower the movements, the more the horse's body control and balance are challenged.

To establish this balance, straightening the horse is very important. Many horses start to sway in the Spanish walk, shift their body or lose the rhythm. The reason for this is a lack of forwardness and balance that is not yet fully established. During the movement, too, you must pay meticulous attention to the horse keeping its four-beat rhythm and continuing to walk forward. This also means that the rider has to make sure they keep walking themselves. Often the horse only starts to falter because the rider is concentrating too hard on the lifting of the foreleg and forgets to keep walking.

When you start teaching the Spanish walk, the horse's legs should be free of bandages or boots so that the tapping can stay as light as possible. As training progresses, bandages, boots or overreach boots can be used, on the one hand to protect against knocks (some stallions do like to overdo it) or simply to look good.

We start from the ground

To begin with, a horse learns the Spanish walk from the ground. Ideally the horse is already familiar with in-hand work and accepts it, whether in a cavesson or a bridle. I do not consider a headcollar to be ideal equipment for in-hand work, as it often sits very loosely on the horse's head, and unclear signals at the head can confuse the horse. For the first exercises it is useful to use the arena wall as an outside boundary, so that it is easier to keep the horse straight. To do this, position your horse on the outside track so that no weight is resting on the foreleg you want to lift, and the rest of its weight is distributed evenly over all four legs. The handler stands level with the horse's shoulder, facing in the same direction. Now the foreleg can be tapped lightly with the whip. As a rule, I first tap the inside foreleg once just above the fetlock joint and wait for a reaction. If the horse lifts its leg, I praise it as if it had just won a Grand Prix. If it still does not react after several single taps, I tap in a vibrating way in short sequences and again wait until a reaction comes. Even the smallest movement of the tapped leg is rewarded, because motivation is only achieved through praise, and that way the horse keeps enjoying this new task. I repeat this exercise on both sides. Once the horse has understood that it should lift its leg on command, I continue tapping in the air and try to encourage it to stretch. Here I always make sure that I tap the front of the leg, so that the horse stretches towards the whip and not away from it. In no lesson should there ever be fear or even flight from the whip.

Always towards the whip

Once the horse has learnt to stretch its leg forward towards the whip held out to it, you can practise moving off. It makes sense to use your voice when moving off, so as not to confuse the horse by waving the whip around. For this I use my body language and voice, turning my body in the direction of travel, saying "Walk on" and, if necessary, lightly tapping the horse on the hindquarters with the whip. Ideally the horse is familiar with in-hand work, in particular moving off and halting, and responds with corresponding trust. If it does not, it would be advisable to work on the basic in-hand exercises before starting the Spanish walk. When the horse moves off, I again praise it generously. At first you only walk two steps, i.e. on the left rein 'left-right', and halt again. The exercise consists of halting, stretching, moving off and halting again. Bit by bit, and with a great deal of patience, the horse learns to coordinate its body so that it can lift and stretch the inside foreleg while walking as well. Only once this exercise is established can the outside foreleg be added. Here I always tap the leg that is just about to lift. This gives the horse time to prepare for lifting the leg again, and gets it well set up. If it starts to falter despite me walking along with it, and the rhythm begins to suffer, I help myself by swinging the whip backwards for a while and driving it on from behind. The Spanish walk does not have to be established yet at this stage either. I simply ask for the leg to be stretched again every two to three steps and praise every reaction that goes in the right direction, so that the shoulder lifts.

From the polka to the finished Spanish walk

The sequence now consists of halt, stretch inside foreleg, walk, walk, stretch outside foreleg, walk, walk, stretch inside foreleg, halt – and praise. This exercise is called the polka and does a great deal for coordination and concentration. As horse and rider grow more confident, you can gradually take away one normal walk step at a time until the horse lifts and stretches both forelegs evenly and in a clean rhythm. To transfer what has been learnt in hand to the saddle, it is advisable to get a second person to help. Once the horse is familiar with the movement in hand, it will normally also perform it when a rider is sitting on top. Now the task is to link the rider's aids with the in-hand aids and retrain the horse.