Free walk on a long rein

EllenJay

EllenJay

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Hi - a bit of advice please.

I have just started to dip my toe into dressage, doing intros. For my free walk I keep getting a comment that he needs to "march on". I have just watched the video from my test on Sunday that had these comments, and he was moving in the same tempo/speed as he was in medium walk - stretching down (no snatching which has been hard to get!). So my question in, in FWoaLR are we looking at a more extended walk. I find if I push him faster his strides get shorter and more "joggy" than a good forward walk with stretch.

I think I am asking "what is the judge looking for"?

Thanks in advance
 
They are looking for a lengthening and lowering of the frame taking bit forwards and a good over track for the high marks. Should look like the horse is walking with purpose.
 
they dont need you to walk faster but the strides should be longer and the horse should reach forward and down and look like he is going somewhere...he also needs to be relaxed..
 
Thank you both for your answers.

I think that what is confusing me is that he is walking out and stretching (obviously still a work in progress) and if I push on he then has hurried steps rather than a relaxed steady walk. I guess, that in most things, it's a balance between being too relaxed and too hurried.

So another question, if you don't mind, what can I do to improve this. I should add,that my boy is an older horse with an unknown background. We believe that he was used as a hunt hireling so is used to having a high head carriage, so getting him to lower and stretch is a complete different mindset for him. To his credit, he really tries, and with a less Muppet rider would be great.
 
^^ what they said.
It can take some training for those not blessed with a great natural walk. I'm 4 months into schooling my latest project and he's only now ready to start working on fwlr.
Mine also naturally tends towards a high and inverted frame as an ex racer with little understanding of dressagey contact. I've been working on just teaching him to accept and seek the contact in a working frame and now when he's weary I feed him out a longer rein and ask him to keep seeking the contact.
We've gone from more or less keeping the neck horizontal to being able to push it down and out but at the moment if I push for bigger steps too soon then he loses balance and confidence. So slowly does it. We're basically not test ready yet but the foundations are now in place.
 
lots of hacking on a long rein so it isnt a thing in a test so he is used to walking out nicely. the hurried steps will show that he is not relaxed and some horses find that once the rein is loosened they have lost their support and feel a bit lost....dont put yourself down, a horse with a high head carriage isnt easy to change but IME it is caused by tension and will only improve once he is confident with you...it is not easy to suggest things without seeing the horse in action, do you have regular lessons?
 
He just needs more practice in relaxing but you maybe need an instructor on the floor to tell you when you are pushing him out of his pace rather than encouraging him to stretch.
 
splashgirl45 said:
lots of hacking on a long rein so it isnt a thing in a test so he is used to walking out nicely. the hurried steps will show that he is not relaxed and some horses find that once the rein is loosened they have lost their support and feel a bit lost....dont put yourself down, a horse with a high head carriage isnt easy to change but IME it is caused by tension and will only improve once he is confident with you...it is not easy to suggest things without seeing the horse in action, do you have regular lessons?
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Yes weekly lesson. Fab instructor who at the moment is only training in walk, with occasional short trots to get him more forward.

Thanks for your kind comments xx
 
Personally, I generally find the walk improves once the canter improves. The more your try to improve a not naturally brilliant walk, the more you end up pushing them out of their rhythm. Don’t get too hung up on the walk just yet, but continue with your training. The walk will come in time.
 
I thought the walking on a long rein was primarily to show that the horse is relaxed and wont take off if the rider lets the contact slip. As Scats says work on the canter will improve the walk.
 
Not convinced you can school the free walk much in itself, the point being that how they react in the free walk will reflect how well established the basics are ie how well they are working forward with impulsion over a rounded swinging back into a steady, consistent contact. If they are doing all this and you can lengthen the rein smoothly in both trot and canter and have them take the contact forwards and down (and then pick up again), then you will get the same in walk also and it is easier to school in the trot and canter as it is easier to get the forwards in those paces. In my view, the only education they need for a free walk is to be used enough to doing it that you don't lose their attention and can keep them on the aids (and particularly off the leg) as you give the rein away ie that they don't treat it as having finished. Otherwise, the rest comes from all round education in the basics.
 
I had a horse that had a poor free walk on a long rein as although he always stretched down well he very rarely over tracked - my trainer just said not to worry as you didn't need to do FWLR once you got to elementary! The judge will be looking for a walk with purpose.
 
Pole and canter work will improve the walk, walking out on hacks on different surfaces, hills up and down also improve the walk in my experience, taking a break during a schooling session and letting the horse take the rein long and low but keeping them walking on and out without rushing, a bit of thinking and stretching time.
It's important and difficult not to make the steps faster if you push too much, I have found it best to allow the walk to improve as the horse gains strength in their frame and learns to relax over the back, I don't think you can school for it as such but give opportunities for the horse to practice improving the walk.
If I am trying to improve the walk I will warm up in trot, the do walk work over poles, I would do less walk on a horse that has a weak walk otherwise it becomes to easy to nag with the leg, push them out of rhythm and get frustrated whilst the horse gets rushy.
Stretches on the ground can also help, when the horse comes in from the field or after work so the muscles are loose and warm are the best time to do some stretches-look up carrot stretches if you need some pointers.
 
Leandy said:
Not convinced you can school the free walk much in itself, the point being that how they react in the free walk will reflect how well established the basics are ie how well they are working forward with impulsion over a rounded swinging back into a steady, consistent contact. If they are doing all this and you can lengthen the rein smoothly in both trot and canter and have them take the contact forwards and down (and then pick up again), then you will get the same in walk also and it is easier to school in the trot and canter as it is easier to get the forwards in those paces. In my view, the only education they need for a free walk is to be used enough to doing it that you don't lose their attention and can keep them on the aids (and particularly off the leg) as you give the rein away ie that they don't treat it as having finished. Otherwise, the rest comes from all round education in the basics.
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i agree with some of this but I do think that you can school the free walk, I know this because I'm doing it now.
Basics are getting installed, my horse has learned to follow the contact and he also has a good basic walk, but to learn to do it all at once needs practice and guidance and I think that is essentially the definition of schooling :p
Left to reach his own conclusions about free walk, based on what he knows already, he will offer a long neck but not reach down necessarily, and he will take good steps but dawdle. He needs schooling to learn to reach down, and to keep marching. And he needs practice at doing those things and staying confident, finding the balance he needs so that we don't end up either tight or running.
 
This is interesting. My boy actually has a good walk, good paces and even tempo. His issue is the high head carriage, and until I can get him to drop and follow my contact going up to faster paces will not help, which is why most of my schooling (in the school) is at walk. We obviously trot and canter whilst hacking, where we have long straight stretches which gives me time to encourage the lowering of his head. In the school the corners come up to fast and adds to the tension. Looking at his neck, the muscles on the underside of his neck are far more developed than on the top. So this is a real work in progress, and now I understand a bit more I can start getting the FWOaLR more forward.
Thanks for all the comments - it's been really helpful
 
Getting them relaxed and stretching forward out hacking is great and will help him understand what you want as well as improve the topline but I find many will find it easier in the school in trot or even in canter than to really get in the walk where they tend to be distracted, possibly a bit bored and it can be harder to generate the extra energy required without them thinking of moving on into trot.
We work ours on a long rein in warm up/ cool down in all paces, pick up to do some varying work with regular breaks to get them stretching, corners are not an issue if you use circles, pole work can be useful and interesting in many ways, I would not get too bogged down with perfecting the walk in isolation as you will probably find the issue of not taking the contact forward is still there when you do start doing more trot and canter work.
 
it comes with time, the walk i find gets better with fitness, as long as you dont hang onto the front end, as you school the horse more and it works harder the free walk will improve, its natural because after a period of work the horse should naturally want to stretch forwards and take the contact down as a relax

so i find walking out and taking the contact forwards and down may seem simple, but for me its part of the proof of
advancement of the training and cant be expected to always be there instantly, its a subtle thing that looks easy but is deceptively not so easy to achieve, just give it time
 
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