Any schooling tips to improve walk?

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alfielola05

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i have a lovely warmblood gelding, he is very uphill, absolutely gorgeous trot and canter, light in the hands and naturally in an outline, but when in walk he either cranes his neck to look at anything and everything or snatches the reins and streches his head down to the ground. It is almost as though he feels work is over as soon as he is back in a walk. Being a natural procastinator i spend most of my schooling sessions in trot and canter fantasizing that i am some kind of dressage supremo (which is defo not the case, clearly). I cant afford lessons at the moment so any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
 
I would try to quick the walk quite busy, lots of circles and school figures or lateral work. May help to keep his mind on the job.
Perhaps being mindful of taking short walk breaks in between some trot and canter work he will soon realise it's not the end of the session every time you walk! :)
 
For now keep the walk to just a few strides at a time, aiming for quality rather than quality, so lots of trot & halt transistions. Plus if he is up to it shoulder in & leg yield in walk then a few strides of walk before leg yield or shoulder in again. Agree re giving him something to focus on in walk, I would want to work on it out hacking too, more likely to stay forwards. And make sure you ride him forwards into walk just as much as you would ride forwards into canter. But don't spend long in walk for now, its the easiest pace to damage, once you have 3 consistent walk strides you increase it to 4 & so on. If he does rein back well already a few strides before asking for walk once or twice a ride can help.
I know you can't afford lessons, but maybe ask anyone experienced you know if they could watch & help for some yard jobs in return. And get a friend to film you, you may pick up something you do that contributes.
 
get out of the school and do loads and loads of hacking.Gets them thinking forward and off the leg.A forced walk is a poor one
 
littlelegs said:
For now keep the walk to just a few strides at a time, aiming for quality rather than quality, so lots of trot & halt transistions. Plus if he is up to it shoulder in & leg yield in walk then a few strides of walk before leg yield or shoulder in again. Agree re giving him something to focus on in walk, I would want to work on it out hacking too, more likely to stay forwards. And make sure you ride him forwards into walk just as much as you would ride forwards into canter. But don't spend long in walk for now, its the easiest pace to damage, once you have 3 consistent walk strides you increase it to 4 & so on. If he does rein back well already a few strides before asking for walk once or twice a ride can help.
I know you can't afford lessons, but maybe ask anyone experienced you know if they could watch & help for some yard jobs in return. And get a friend to film you, you may pick up something you do that contributes.
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Thank you, that is really interesting about walk being the eaiest to damage, just aswell im a lazy so n so and have kept away from it, hehe, i will try but keep it short. Unfortunately we havent been hacking, apart from around the ground and fields the yard is on, his previous owner told me he bolts when hacking, im not convinced to be honest, but id rather not brave traffic until further down the line when we have a more establisted bond so we have just been schooling and jumping in the field. I really appreciate your suggestions, i hadnt thought about rein back either
 
Lots of transitions. Pedal in your stirrups to make him walk out and to keep him focused. Play with the rein gently to encourage an outline.
 
Don't feel silly - I want to ask the same thing!
I was told to apply one leg and then the other in time with the walk to help extension. But I like the idea of hacking out, I can see how just schooling in an arena could dull the paces.
 
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