Q: The dressage judge described my horse’s free work as ‘lacking impulsion and stretch’. How can I work on this? My horse is slow and deliberate in the walk and prefers to look around than hang his head. Is this fixable, or is my dressage score for the free walk always going to be low?
A: Walk is usually the most challenging gait to work on as it is all too easy for the horse to drop behind the leg and lose the engagement of the hindquarter. It is, therefore, often a sticky point in the dressage test. However, with the proper preparation – particularly a focus on the medium walk first – you can get your free walk looking more respectable for the dressage judges!
Top tip
We would recommend that you work on the walk while out hacking rather than in the arena.
Relaxation for the win
Your horse needs to be relaxed to have a good walk. If your horse is not relaxed, work him in trot, or even canter, until he is ready to listen to you. Once he is relaxed and paying attention, make some walk-trot transitions, keeping the horse in front of the leg at all times. Remember that when you are making a transition from trot to walk, you need as much impulsion as you do to move from walk to trot!
Get him moving
To get your horse to march more in the walk it often helps to ride out with another horse that really walks out. If this cannot be done they you need to ask for energy with your lower leg whilst encouraging your horse to remain in an outline. Pole work can often help with this as well. Once the medium walk starts to march forward, you can then move to focusing on the free walk.
Long rein, not loose rein
The first thing to remember is that the movement is a ‘free walk on a long rein,’ not a loose rein, and therefore there must be a contact down the rein. This does make it easier to keep your horse’s concentration and maintain his outline.
When first doing this exercise, do not expect your horse to stretch too much and for too great a distance, as he will need to develop confidence and learn to maintain his concentration. Again, pole work can help – gradually increase the distance between the poles, making sure that you maintain the increased length of stride after you have walked over the poles. The poles will often encourage the horse to stretch the neck and look forwards and down.