06/20/2025
This! š A lot of people just want to go go go, they think if your horse can walk trot and canter theyāre broke. I do a ton of work at the walk and tell everyone you train/teach at the walk and then progress into the other gaits!
Horses can use momentum to fake their way through a movement, especially at faster gaits.
The neck swings, the legs land more or less in order, and to a lot of riders, it looks āfine.ā
But under the surface, the dysfunction is there whether it be stiffness in the ribcage, a stuck pelvis, a paddle at the knee from high shoulder tension ā the list goes on.
Youāve heard me say before ā just because they arenāt leg lame doesnāt mean they are sound.
Horses are experts at body compensation. Theyāll shift, brace, lean, hollowā¦ anything to give riders the right answer and take the pressure off.
And once the pressure is off, being rewarded for doing the āright thingā - they will just keep compensating into further dysfunction until eventual breakdown.
At the trot and lope itās easy to miss, but the walk shows everything. Thereās no momentum to mask imbalance. No speed to cover up confusion. Just the truth of how the body is organized (or disorganized).
How do you know if your horse is compensating at higher gaits? The biggest tell is in the quality of their walk.
If you have a ālazyā horse or one that needs encouragement for every walk stride ā they are surely compensating at a higher gait.
A quality walk should have multiple different cadences, stride lengths and feel free flowing like a panther walking with confident freedom. š
When we slow down and teach movement through awareness instead of pressure, we create a new baseline.
If you need a better walk for a better athlete, sign up to be the first to know when my new course drops!
www.primeequineperformance.com/workthewalk
