Four walk exercises to try today
Exercise 1 CREATING SUPPLENESS
“Riding exercises in walk is a great way to develop your horse’s suppleness,” says Emma. “It also prepares him for whatever is coming next in the session.”
Emma starts by first checking her horse’s reactions.
“I’ll ask him to transition from free walk to a medium walk, then walk to halt,” she says. “Is he reacting quickly enough without snatching the bit or falling onto his forehand?”
Your horse should be even in the hand, with the same amount of bit showing on each side of his mouth. Once he’s moving forwards nicely, sit with your legs hanging loose and let your horse walk on without you nagging him until you ask him to change what he’s doing.
“When I transition to trot, I want the first stride to give me a good feel. If I’ve done the work in walk, this is usually the case,” says Emma. ‘If not, I go back to walk and work on it some more. If you don’t do this the trot can take too long to come together.”
Exercise 2 IMPROVING STIFFNESS AND HOLLOWNESS
“This exercise is ridden on a 15m or 20m circle, depending on what your horse can cope with,” explains Emma. “Use your inside rein to softly flex your horse so that his nose comes around towards your toes. It’s not a forced movement — don’t take him further than he’s capable of.”
Hold your horse in this position as you walk until you feel him melting into a soft outline and accepting the bit.
“Once this has happened, release him into a long, low stretch,” adds Emma.
This exercise creates softness and suppleness in horses of any age and all levels of training.
Exercise 3 LATERAL WORK IN WALK
“I train all lateral work in walk first to ensure my horse understands what I’m asking, and to give him time to take it all in,” says Emma. “It also develops evenness and flexibility.”
One of Emma’s favourite exercises is to ride a shoulder-in to renvers.
“The long side of the school is a good place to ride this as having the boundary of the arena fence helps your horse to stay on the right line without wobbling,” she explains.
“Ask for shoulder-in first and hold this until he feels balanced, then change the bend into renvers, without halting. It’s a soft change so there’s no need to rush him. Your legs are there to keep the sideways movement and forward momentum. Straighten up before the end of the long side and ride away.”
Exercise 4 TURNING FOR LISTENING
Turns on the forehand and haunches create suppleness and help your horse to understand and respect the leg aids.
Riding the movements randomly, as Emma does here, also encourages him to listen.
“I walk in a large square initially and ask for either a turn on the forehand or haunches in the corners to put us onto the next straight line,” explains Emma. “Sometimes I make this a 180-degree turn to change the rein.”
Keep your horse interested by mixing up the exercises — go large and make the turns in the corners, for instance, or ride on a circle.
“To add to the suppling effect I’ll sometimes ask for a bend in the turn, and then other times I’ll keep him straight. There are no rules to this,” she adds.