For many years, many a rider has asked: "Why teach the Spanish walk?" The Spanish walk has many advantages and a few disadvantages. For me, however, the advantages overshadow the disadvantages, both physically and mentally in all types of horses. In this article I discuss both, as well as the method and mindset of how to go about the Spanish walk.

Historical roots
The Spanish walk, one of the almost "-forgotten" airs on the ground taught as far back as the -Roman era, is a slow yet deliberate -elevated extension of the forelegs in the walk, -although, when in perfect timing and rhythm, almost -becomes a -diagonal step.

This movement, thought of as being arti-ficial, is done naturally by almost every horse in the paddock when playing with their -siblings or friends. Some can be seen standing and pawing at each other, some chopping at each other. I have seen many a stallion or colt doing two or three steps of Spanish walk when playing with their friends in the paddock. But whether it is natural or not, will be debated until the end of time.

Mental benefits
Let's have a look at the mental benefits of the Spanish walk and when it should be taught and when not. The first question you must ask yourself, is why you want to teach your horse this movement. Is it just for fun or will it benefit the horse? I would not advise teaching a naturally aggressive horse this movement, as it brings focus to the aggression and could make it worse.

The Spanish walk can be very beneficial to the timid or nervous horse for two reasons. Firstly, it teaches the horse that the whip is not a form of punishment, but an extension of your body, thus building his/her confidence concerning the use of the whip.

Secondly, by learning the Spanish walk, the horse taps into the challenging side of his brain and personality, as we are teaching the horse to chop on command, something he might only do when arguing with another horse in the paddock. In doing this, we build the horse's self-confidence.

Physical benefits
Physically, the horse can benefit enormously from this movement or exercise. Horses that have a tight elbow or that naturally have -difficulty using the shoulder, learn not only to mobilise the shoulder and elbow, but also to come off the forehand and lighten the whole front end of his body. Thus the "downhill"-built horse learns to shift his weight onto the back legs to free up the front.

In shifting the weight back via the Spanish walk, the horse makes the decision himself, which is far easier and quicker than the more difficult exercises used to teach the horse to collect. So the horse is teaching himself to -collect with virtually no resistance, something that almost always creeps in at some time in the progressive training towards collection.

Of course, I am not saying that one should not attempt or avoid other exercises to collect the horse. What I am suggesting is that the -Spanish walk is an alternative path to collection, if you are having difficulty with other methods and finding that the horse resists a lot.

Be consistent
Starting on the ground, slightly in front of the horse but out of the path of the forelegs, we ask the horse to either paw or chop with one front leg by tapping the horse with the long whip on the reactive point of the leg. This is found by gently tapping from the fetlock up to the elbow, to find the exact reaction spot.

This chopping movement must progress to a slow, elevated, fully extended step. The more it is practised, the more the shoulder will loosen and the bigger the extension will -become. Once the whip aid is established and the horse is comfortably doing a couple of steps off the whip, the aid is transferred to the bit, and later the leg.

Most dressage trainers will not advocate training the Spanish walk if you compete in dressage, as the completed aid is virtually a half halt at a collected walk. Thus, when asked to move from collected walk to piaffe or passage, you could at the same time be asking your horse for the Spanish walk, confusing the horse and destroying your dressage test. The same goes for the walk pirouette.

As a dressage trainer, I very seldom move the aid to the hand. Mostly I keep it to the whip and ask for the steps under saddle by -either pointing the whip or touching the horse lightly on the shoulder. In doing this, the horse never gets confused by conflicting aids.

Through this exercise I have managed to train breeds that are not seen to be "bred" for this type of work, like, for example, the Percheron, to not only lighten the forehand, but to -progress to the point of being able to perform passage, piaffe and tempi changes.

By making the decision to lighten the forehand in doing the Spanish walk, the horse also lightens off the bit to the point of looped reins and complete self-carriage. Further movements such as the passage are natural progressions out of the Spanish walk, as the horse understands the collection, elevation as well as the slower rhythm.

One only has to move off into a trot, ask for a slower tempo and begin asking for the Spanish walk while in the trot, and the horse will almost immediately begin to elevate into the passage.