10/16/2026
This this this!!
I have spent so much more time at the walk this year because of this exact thing! It is something Donnan has been drilling into me since I started riding with her. I have big horses-they donโt need practice being big, they need practice being small, being straight, being balanced. They donโt need help rushing off their hocks to make their strides bigger, they do that in the field 23 hours out of the day. All of the movements become easier when the straightness and the balance are correct, and as Patrick says, if you donโt get it right in the walk, it wonโt be right in the trot or canter let alone the movements! Say yes to the walk! ๐ซก
Speed masks a lack of balance. It never creates it.
Most riders treat the walk as an intermission. It is the gait where we chat, adjust our stirrups, check our girth, and wait until we are ready to do the "real work" at the trot and canter.
Then we pick up the trot, and the horse immediately hollows the back, dumps weight onto the forehand, rushes through turns, or leans heavily against our hands. Our natural reaction is often to hold tighter, push harder, or try to manage the balance while traveling at double the speed.
Speed masks a lack of balance. It never creates it.
When a horse is out of balance at the walk, they cannot hide behind momentum. Every single stride gives you an honest, unhurried readout of how they use their body. If they are falling in through the shoulder, hollow through the ribcage, or trailing their hind legs, you feel it instantly.
More importantly, the walk is where the horseโs postural, stabilizing muscles actually learn how to work without brace.
A horse moves using two very different muscular systems: the dynamic movement muscles, which create speed and thrust, and the postural stabilizing muscles, which carry posture, lift the base of the neck, stabilize the thoracic sling, and keep the joints aligned.
When we ask for the trot or canter before those deep stabilizing muscles understand how to organize the horseโs frame, the horse has only one option left to stay upright... brace in self preservation.
They brace their neck. They tighten their jaw. They lock their lower back. They do this simply to keep from tipping forward onto their nose. That brace is not defiance. It is a survival strategy for a horse lacking postural education.
The walk provides the ideal environment to educate those stabilizing muscles because there is no suspension phase. The horse always has feet on the ground, allowing them to reorganize their balance without the impact and concussion of coming back down from the air.
The slower cadence also gives the nervous system time to register changes in posture. The brain can notice an aid, adjust the trunk, and find stability before the next stride arrives. In that calm, active rhythm, the horse can telescope the neck forward and down from the withers, lifting the back and engaging the abdominals without falling onto the shoulders.
Before you pick up the trot today, check in with three quiet questions at the walk.
Notice if your horse can walk with active, swinging hind steps without quickening their tempo.
Notice whether yielding the rein an inch forward invites your horse to stretch into that contact without tipping onto their front legs.
Notice if you can turn their shoulders through a gentle curve using your seat and chest, rather than feeling like you have to steer their head around.
If the answer to any of those is no, stay in the walk.
That is not a setback. It is the most productive training you will do all week. You are building the internal suspension system that makes every subsequent gait feel light, quiet, and effortless.
When the postural muscles learn to carry the horse at the walk, the trot and canter cease to be a tug of war. They can become an effortless release of energy from a body that already knows how to stay upright.
Slow down today. Give your horse the space to find their own balance before you ask them for speed.
๐ด. How much focused, intentional work do you usually spend in the walk during your warm-up?
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Our focus this month in the ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐พ๐ก๐๐จ๐จ๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ค๐ง๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ is "Unlocking the Walk." Be sure to look back over our recent posts and stay tuned for more on this subject all month long.
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