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Teaching the Spanish Walk

4K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Equilove 
#1 ·
I took Savanna to a trainer yesterday for a lesson (for the both of us) and once it was over, the trainer told me she thinks it would be fairly easy to teach Sav how to bow and do the Spanish walk, just by evaluating her during the lesson (we did some groundwork).

I am not so much interested in the bowing thing, but the Spanish walk would be great because Savanna has somewhat of a Spanish look to her. From my understanding, you're supposed to tap your horse's leg with a dressage whip and reward it once it moves or picks up the leg. Eventually you teach it to associate a certain cue with moving each front leg independently and walking forward, yada yada. When I mentioned it to the trainer she said that was correct. My problem lies with not knowing what cue to give from the saddle... I am a tall rider, and Savanna is fairly small, so I considered tapping her shoulder in front of her elbow with my toe ... ? If I know the proper cue to give, I think I could transition from ground-to-saddle without a problem.

Also, I'm afraid I've desensitized Savanna to whips and ropes so much that she may just ignore me tapping her with the whip. How else would I get her to pick her foot up, besides bending down and grabbing it? :think:

Any suggestions? Anyone experienced with teaching the Spanish walk?
 
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#2 ·
For the Spanish Walk you don't need a rope with all horses. Most horses (mine atleast) do it off the whip, so I wouldn't worry about using a rope!

When you are on her back after she starts lifting it to the whip when to tap her let you push her shoulder area (near the girth) with your foot. Do this everytime you tap her and she will know that,that is the cue for it! :) Hope this helps!
 
#5 ·
Yes I was concerned she may start pawing, but I doubt I'll have trouble getting her to trot... lol :P

Also Kaylee, I didn't say anything about using a rope … ? I don't even know how to use a rope to teach it. Unless you mean looping a rope around her fetlock and pulling? That's the only context I can see a rope being used.

I'll be posting our progress. I'm hopeful! Perhaps passage and piaffe are next.... lol.
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