Ministry of silly walks

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BBP

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The pony's spanish walk has progressed so that he will do it with me walking alongside rather than in front of him now. Thought you might appreciate the pictures! (I realise it isn't a 'true' spanish walk, but we are just doing it for fun)
spanishwalk2.jpg

spanishwalk3.jpg

spanishwalk4.jpg

spanishwalk1.jpg

Love my pony!!!
 
Lovely pics :)

How are you teaching it? My instructor wants my horse to learn Spanish Walk to help free up his shoulders as he gets a bit stiff. I can now get him to pick up each leg by pointing with the whip, and it's improved from just a little pick up to picking up so high he's nearly knocking himself on the nose :w: but am struggling to get him to make the extra effort when walking. We'll do some work on it in my next lesson I'm sure but it would be nice to move it on a bit more first.

How do you get him to take a bigger step in front?
 
Hmm, not sure if I can help you there - mine is very extravagent with his front legs and loves waving them about! So I gave him a job to do with it. I did start by rewarding every time he tried to take a step, but now he understands better I only reward him for really nice quality steps and an active walk forwards, I ask for a bit more effort each time. It just took time and not over doing it so he doesn't get bored or frustrated with it. I'm sure your instructor will know a lot more than i do!
 
Did you reward every step, or just the more pronounced steps (ie, the steps that were more than a normal walk step)?

I'm getting there, just can't quite translate it into actually walking forwards. I started with rewarding when he picked his feet up, then when I touched with whip, then moved to when I pointed, and now he only gets a reward for picking them up when I point with the whip. He is now only getting a reward for more "extravagant" pick ups, if that makes sense? So he won't get one for a rubbish effort, just when he really picks his leg up and throws it out in front. He just can't do it when moving yet!

Thanks, will keep practising. Love your pics though. Has he learnt to mirror your movements? I think that might be a way to go as mine always mirrors me on the lunge (walks when I walk, trots when I trot, canters when I "canter"...that has to be seen to be believed LOL!!).
 
I started much like you. When he have me a nice extravagant step I then asked him to take a couple of steps forwards (normal ones), then I asked for a spanish step again, then normal walk for a couple of steps, so he learned that he could move his back legs! As his reactions got quicker and assuming his steps were still good, I then reduced the number of normal walk steps, until eventually he did it every step. If he got confused or frustrated I just took the pressure off and did something else that he found easy for a bit, then tried again.

He does mirror my movements a bit (like yours he canters when i canter), but we are only just learning.

My problem is that he can be a greedy monkey, so rushes a bit...its more of a spanish stamp sometimes!
 
We trained my bf's Andalusian and my ArabxWelsh at the same time, and did pretty much the same as you, started with a lift, then a few steps walk, then another lift, and a few more etc and it seemed to come very quickly and naturally to the Andi, but with mine we just got a Welsh stomp! He would do a step, then paw furiously, another step, another furious paw..... I had to stop in the end!! Even now, if I ask him something and he's a bit confused, he'll throw a random leg up, can be a bit tricky of you happen to be standing in front!! :D
 
Crazydancer said:
He would do a step, then paw furiously, another step, another furious paw..... I had to stop in the end!! Even now, if I ask him something and he's a bit confused, he'll throw a random leg up, can be a bit tricky of you happen to be standing in front!! :D
Click to expand...

This describes mine exactly! He can do one sensible lift but then gets over excited and paws the ground, digging big holes! He loves the idea of getting a reward for doing something but can't work out how to walk forwards and do a step. The other problem is that he's now throwing his legs up so high (clearly his shoulders are feeling more free!) that I have to be careful how close to him I stand in front in case I get knee-ed!
 
My boy does 'Spanish walk' (not sure how correct) when not allowed to 'bomb off' on pleasure rides. He also stamps his feet and does sideways canter at all speeds! Lovely to see your horse behaving and doing as he is asked.


Jane
 
Those pictures are fabulous :)
My old boy, when on the lunge, will walk/trot/canter and match me & will also do extended trot if I high step trot so I think I will try this in walk. Should be amusing anyway :)
 
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