Has anyone ever taught a ‘Spanish’ walk ?

[canteron]

My last 2 horses loved learning ‘tricks’ and it really was great fun for all of us.

My current one has a completely different outlook and just gets super annoyed if she doesn’t get something. (Not the brightest horse). I thought I might try and teach her a sort of Spanish Walk. I think it would help her deportment and be a fun thing to show off.

There are a couple of methods online I have looked at (TRT and David Lichman). But I am guessing it takes ages to teach? And lots of little sessions?

Has anyone actually taught there horse this and any hints?

 

[TheMule]

Teaching the leg lift is quick and easy, getting them to extend the shoulder takes a bit longer, getting them to sequence it together so they actually walk left-right-left can be quite tricky, and not all 'get' it

 

[Skib]

At a big dressage demo day years ago, I watched it being taught to a Spanish type grey horse, from the ground and using a schooling whip. It wasnt something I would have wanted to do myself.
But at the same demo, two leading dressage winners showed two very different ways of teaching flying changes. So there are probably several methods of teaching this.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I have no idea, but I imagine @Cortez could probably offer a few pointers in the right direction.

 

[I'm Dun]

I taught my little HW cob to do it. He lacked grace and finesse and always wanted to slam his feet back down, but he did get quite good at it. I trained it with clicker training and a schooling whip. Just a really annoying tickling of the back of the knee till the leg moves, click reward, and then from there its just shaping and improving it. His cue was always the schooling whip and I just pointed it at the leg I wanted lifting

 

[Snowfilly]

I taught a dog to do it as a kid, if that counts? I used a packet of dog treats and a feather duster to tickle the back of his knees!

 

[canteron]

I taught my little HW cob to do it. He lacked grace and finesse and always wanted to slam his feet back down, but he did get quite good at it. I trained it with clicker training and a schooling whip. Just a really annoying tickling of the back of the knee till the leg moves, click reward, and then from there its just shaping and improving it. His cue was always the schooling whip and I just pointed it at the leg I wanted lifting

Oh hopeful! This is more the TRT method, I just couldn’t quite work out how to switch the cue from behind the leg to in front of the leg.
How long did it take - and was getting the moving forward the difficult bit as TheMule said?
More research needed!
Thank you

 

[canteron]

I taught a dog to do it as a kid, if that counts? I used a packet of dog treats and a feather duster to tickle the back of his knees!

Love this ….. and maybe I should practice on the dogs first

 

[Sail_away]

I taught it to my gelding during lockdown - I did vocal and visual cue, so click and point. The click was mostly because he’d lift his legs for hoof picking off a click anyway so he understood the cue. Started with a click and tickling the back of the knee as a previous poster has said. And then to shape it just reward the efforts where they bring the leg further out. Then to add the movement I just started with one side at a time - so he’d do left side Spanish step, right side normal, left side Spanish. Then consolidate on the other side and try both together. That’s the difficult part as they need to be pretty independent of the touch cue by then as you can’t do it fast enough on each side. He picked it up pretty quickly, start to finish was probably a few weeks to a month? It is still his party trick. My mare I haven’t been brave enough to try it with as I don’t trust her not to take my shins out in the process!

 

[meleeka]

I taught my pony when I was a teenager. She was ace

 

[Surbie]

I've got the leg lift on command, but not managed to get the shoulder extension at all so might take a bit of time this almost-end-of-winter(please!) to see if we can crack it. My horse likes learning new tricks. The trouble can be stopping him offering each one in rotation if he thinks I have a carrot stashed somewhere.

 

[Barklands]

Yes I did but not in the traditional way with a schooling whip and was more by accident I taught a horse of mine to pick up a front leg then was rewarded with a treat (initially just tapped my finger on the front of the leg which he learnt within about 5 mins) then would just point to which leg I wanted him to pick up. It was really important to only reward when lifted the correct leg and not reward any pawing.

Did this every day as a fun little game for a month or so, then started to ask to lift and take a step forward with the same leg, would just do one leg lift and step at a time with the reward of a bit of carrot when he got it right. Very quickly he learnt to Spanish walk with me walking beside and just pointing at each leg! He loved doing it that he would start to grunt and get excited I haven't tried it with any others though so no idea how foolproof the method is!

 

[FestiveG]

Our first appy did of her own accord, with me on board, as "payback" for not allowing her to put her head down to wipe her mouth, she simply picked up each leg in turn and wiped it that way

 

[canteron]

Just in case this thread ever gets resurrected by someone interested in Spanish Walk. I have now watched lots of videos with so many different methods.
I have decided to teach high leg lifts, rather than a pure Spanish Walk (this is what TRT teaches) - Spanish Walk in its pure form essentially teaches the horse to strike out with its legs, which brings its own (potentially dangerous) problems, I just want something that makes the horse (who being a cob is naturally quite on her forehand) walk in a prouder manner, apparently it makes them feel good!
This is my base video for teaching, as it goes through the stages and how to transfer to ridden work if you want, though I am going to refer to David Lichman if I have problems getting the horse to life its legs properly.

A couple of sessions in, I can already feel my horse, a cob, who is very much a 'no I Can't that's too difficult' engaging in the process. Apart from teaching her a fun trick, I also want to teach her learning is fun with lots of reward!

Finally, if you decide to do it, there are so many videos on teaching it on You Tube, all with something to offer, so I would watch lots, while remembering consistency and timing is the key when you start teaching it!!