03/20/2024
The WALK - mother of all gaits
Most riders spend little time at the walk outside of "cooling out" or "warming up".
Not realizing it is the gait that BIRTHS everything you do, and REVEALS everything you may need.
"The FEI rule book once stated that it was at the pace of the walk that imperfections of dressage are most evident"
Every issue can be felt and seen through the magnifying lens of the walk.
"François de Lubersac, a master from the legendary School of Versailles in the 18th century, recognized that in dressage training, the first gait in which to train is always the walk.
Remarkably, de Lubersac, trained his horses only at the walk, and when he decided that they were ready, his horses were able to do everything at all gaits."
The walk is an anchoring gate. To teach and refine the horses balance, collectabilty, lightness, refinement, propreoception, suppleness, relaxation, lateral gymnastics, and understanding of aids... just to name a few.
There is no better gait to school these concepts then the walk. Testing things up the ladder of movement; trot and canter, and then anchoring back to the walk to fix, progress, or prepare.
The walk is the gait you "polish the stone" of all these qualities, more than any other gait.
It is the gait you come back to again and again, where the root of it all lives.
And remember, as with any gait, there is more than "just ONE walk".
Tempo, balance, stride, and frame can change in so many ways within any single gait that it lends itself to many "changes of gait within a gait", based on what that horse needs at any given moment.
In my opinion, a classical rider can easily spend an entire ride at the walk, and the higher up they ride, the more time they may spend at the walk...polishing the stone.
Mindful footfalls live in the walk.
What is your walk telling you?
