Can you increase a horses natural speed and stride length?

Spot_the_Risk

Spot_the_Risk

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Horse in question is husbands loan gelding, 15.2hh, 10 years old, chunky solid cob, think 10" of bone, clean legged type, described by owner as vanner x, the cross would have to be pretty hefty though as Finlay weighs in at over 600kgs. OH is a confident novice, happy and competent to go for a burn, pleasure rides etc but not versed in the finer arts of horsemanship, and he and Finlay rub along just fine, except Finlay is a slow walker and this drives OH nuts! Both my horses are smaller, one is five and the other 22 and they just walk away from him, I bet he loses a foot in every stride so OH is constantly push push push, trotting to catch up etc. if he goes in front my two can't deal with the slowness and I have to hold them up all the time, Finlay slows even more (which we do recognise as a form of napping) and mine walk past and we're back to square one again.

We have tried being nice, shouting at him (not constantly obviously, just trying a few voices aids!), sitting loose and pushing left right left right with the legs which has always worked for me in the past, OH now carries a schooling whip and that does galvanise him to catch up, but not to stay there once he's back in walk. He isn't fit and OH is no lightweight but through the winter we're unlikely to ride more than twice a week, quite possibly only half an hour each time. We've had him since March so in cold and warm seasons, he's up to date with saddle, teeth, back, he's shod all round, and is in good health.

So, any opinions welcome, my gut feeling is that he has the natural build of a driving horse, slow and steady is his mantra and it will take hell of a change in his workload (which we can't do, work long hours), is it possibly to improve him?
 
This reminds me of when I was much younger.
I had a Haflinger whose speed of life was backwards ;) My friend had a crazy Arab that had a super quick walk on him.
I got fed up of always having to trot to catch up and tried to work with the pony to get him abit quicker, never really worked. He became super sharp off my aids, but his stride only got so big before asking for anything more just resulted in him jogging everywhere, which..I guess meant he kept up with the Arab but wasn't exactly nice for me nor him.

Like people, every horse has a natural stride that it is comfortable in and when you try and push them bigger/hold them back it just makes it uncomfortable for everyone involved.
 
Frank walk$ $low, even though he i$ u$ually over-tracking. He walk$ fa$ter after hunting but hi$ natural walk i$ $till $lower than the re$t of the yard and no amount of fitne$$ or feeding ha$ changed that in the la$t 9 year$ $o I wouldn't hold out hope! I hack on my own a fair bit ;)
 
My sister's old horse was fully fit (ridden 4/5 days a week flatwork and hacking, and jumping up to about 1.20) and he still had what I would call a "sticky" walk. He had a walking speed, and that was his speed, and that was it! I used to hack my friend's WB out with him and the poor thing was very peed off with having to stop all the time for Tom to catch up!
 
The walk is almost impossible to change, hassle the horse and it loses balance.

I have spent all day looking for a horse with the same description as yours - few about.
 
Mine is like that - never really feels as if he is going anywhere. Really frustrating, especially as he is also not easy to maintain a trot when you ask, he will keep breaking back to walk given half a chance.
 
Thanks all, this makes me feel a bit better even if my husbands level of frustration may not decrease! Finlay will keep on going, trot and canter is fine, but I guess you're all saying just what I had thought - when I walk with my husband he is faster than me, I struggle to keep up and have to ask him to slow down, he is 8" taller than me too which only increases his stride!
 
I think it's much easier to regulate a horse's walk if it is naturally a fast walker. I own a lot of Quarter Horses and most of them are quick walkers but it's easy to slow them down if I'm riding out with slower horses. It's like they have two speeds each in both walk and trot. I suspect that your horse OP is just a slow walker and yes temporarily shimming him on will work but then the horse will go back to his natural gait and speed.
 
As part of driving trials we have a timed walk (well did, they took it out last year) , it is possible to train something that doesn't naturally make the time if you have to and we have done with a few. It might not have resulted in dressage walks but it did in 10minKMs with a pony! (The time you need to be under for under 14.2, 8 min something for a horse)
 
I have two horses who are about the same height 15.3 hh, one is an Arabian and the other is 3/4 TB, 1/4 Clydie. The Arabian has to jog/trot to keep up with the Clydie cross at walk.
 
rara007 said:
As part of driving trials we have a timed walk (well did, they took it out last year) , it is possible to train something that doesn't naturally make the time if you have to and we have done with a few. It might not have resulted in dressage walks but it did in 10minKMs with a pony! (The time you need to be under for under 14.2, 8 min something for a horse)
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I wonder if they only keep that walk for 10 min though? not an hour or $o?
 
If I have one talent it is that I can teach a horse to walk I have done it many many times .
I can't abide bad walkers you can of course only improve it within the confines of it's conformation so your stuffy cob is never going to walk as well as a TB who have the best natural walks IMO.
I have a set system for improving walks it's not 'classical ' but it does work but it takes time (months not weeks usually ).
Bad training poor riding means than many horses have a more stuffy walk than nature gifted them with so it's just a case to getting them back to the optimal walk they had before they got compromised .
It's part do the foundation of the system I put the horses in when then arrive here.
I expect them to march round the few easy hacks we do the most walking out on there own with no Input from me I don't give up until they learn this.
 
ester said:
I wonder if they only keep that walk for 10 min though? not an hour or $o?
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I can't speak for everyone but ours learn to walk out by doing timed Kms for 5.6km so 56 mins (ridden or driven). Or after a long trot on the hilliest patch once they've nailed that. None of ours we've had to teach are cobs but they are wiggly behind the contact sorts, and small ponies making big pony times.
 
rara007 said:
I can't speak for everyone but ours learn to walk out by doing timed Kms for 5.6km so 56 mins (ridden or driven). Or after a long trot on the hilliest patch once they've nailed that. None of ours we've had to teach are cobs but they are wiggly behind the contact sorts, and small ponies making big pony times.
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My first driving horse was a complete star he knew all the speeds and would go straight into the trot he thought was needed on the marathon but I was driving prenovice and he had been on the team so it took me a while to realise I should just walk more and leave him at the trots he had learnt .
He never lost his inner speedometer I loved him dearly and miss him still.
 
I had a lovely KWPN boy on loan for awhile, and he was just like your OH's cob. No amount of leg or voice could induce him to walk any faster than his slow and steady pace. It was one of the main reasons that I didn't offer to buy him when he went up for sale a couple of years later - he would have driven me nuts every time I went out hacking!
 
rara007 said:
I can't speak for everyone but ours learn to walk out by doing timed Kms for 5.6km so 56 mins (ridden or driven). Or after a long trot on the hilliest patch once they've nailed that. None of ours we've had to teach are cobs but they are wiggly behind the contact sorts, and small ponies making big pony times.
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so you're saying it isn't worth me sending Frank? :p
 
Morning all, interesting to read everyone's comments and that the thread is still alive. I have only ridden him once (OH is too heavy to ride mine) and he was the same with me and watching him being led or loose he barely tracks up. I think that if we had the time and inclination to ride him out everyday he would fitten up and possibly improve somewhat but his conformation puts him firmly in the slow category! Here he is.

imagejpg1_zps1ad74a19.jpg
 
oooo I will watch this thread with interest as my mare is exactly the same! I can't hack out with anyone at the yard because she is sooooo slow in walk! If we canter or trot she can keep up no problem but her walk is painfully slow. I end up giving up pushing her on because its so tiring!
 
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