Cantering horse © Benkert

Spanish walk

The name "Spanish walk" comes from the fact that horses in the Spanish bullrings should perform this movement to provoke the bulls and make them aggressive.
The Spanish Walk is a lesson in classical horsemanship and baroque riding. The horse moves with regard to the beat and the foot sequence analogous to the walk. However, in the Spanish walk the forefoot of the front leg is led far forward and up and slowly lowered to the front. How high the horse lifts the front leg depends on the horse's exterior.

The Spanish walk is an easy to collect exercise. Many experts of the historical horsemanship, such as Richard Hinrichs and Philippe Karl, agree that a well executed Spanish walk promotes forehand and hind leg coordination as well as knee action, and is useful for the development of the passage. The lesson also improves shoulder freedom. Because the Spanish walk stretches and relaxes the shoulder muscles. This provides for mobility. In addition, the Spanish walk gives insecure or anxious horses more self-confidence. The Spanish walk also trains the horse's coordination and balance. The leaning should always be steady with the neck as the highest point. Usually this lesson is learned from the ground before it can be performed in the saddle. The Spanish walk can be assigned especially to the field of ground work and circus. The Spanish walk belongs to the artistic gaits (artistic ornamentation of the natural gaits).

It represents the decoration of the gait step. The other artistic gaits are Piaffe and Passage, as refinement of the trot and Terre à Terre, Mezair and Courbette as refinement of the canter.
The lifting of the forehand in standing position as well as the Spanish walk is also called Spanish salute (span. "saludo"). The Spanish walk should not be confused with the Spanish passage, which in the Spanish Riding School (Vienna) is the term for the passage.
Lipizzaners, Andalusians, Lusitanos, PRE and Frisians (baroque horse breeds) are particularly predisposed to the Spanish walk, but also thoroughbreds and warmbloods can learn a correct Spanish walk.

At the beginning it is very useful to lead the horse by the hand to the Spanish walk.
However, the basic requirement for this lesson is that the horse can be guided correctly from both sides.
Before you teach the horse the Spanish walk in movement, you should start with the Spanish greeting. This is so to speak the Spanish walk in standing. Here you can teach the horse that it stretches its front leg horizontally forward when you touch it with the crop.

The position of horse and rider

To ensure that the horse is in balance and does not lose its equilibrium when it lifts its front leg, it should initially stand as closed as possible. In order to ensure as much shoulder freedom as possible and to relieve the strain on the front leg that is to be stretched, the horse should place his head slightly in the direction in which he does not lift his front leg. This means: If you want the horse to lift his right leg, he should look slightly to the left.
You yourself should stand as close to the horse as possible. It is essential that you do not stand too close to the front leg, because if the horse has quickly understood what it is supposed to do, it is easy for the hoof to kick the handler.

Option 1: Touching the front leg

If you touch the horse with the crop, then it should be as fine as possible. Under no circumstances should you hit your horse with the crop. It is more about tickling. If the horse does not react, the solution should not be to touch more and more. Instead you should try to change the speed and the way of touching. For some horses, however, a light stroke with the crop is sufficient.
The place where you touch your horse depends on how the horse reacts. This has to be found by simply trying it out. In any case it should be between the front root joint and the chest. It is important that you always use the same spot so that you don't confuse your horse if you want to teach him more exercises. You should not touch below the front root joint. This place is usually used to teach the horse to bend the leg, a preliminary exercise of the compliment.
A suitable touching point is the shoulder. This can also be reached very well from the saddle, so that the lesson can be recalled while riding.

Option 2: Body target

Tip: Use signal word!
A second possibility would be to use a signal word or any other character that you always associate with this lesson. Thus, at some time, the voice command is sufficient to call the Spanish Step or the Spanish Greeting. The signal word or sign should make sure that the horse shows the lesson only if you ask for it explicitly. Otherwise it can be quite dangerous if you get a horse's hoof against your leg!
A further step is to say nothing more. Instead, stand next to the horse and lift your legs as a sign.
In the beginning you should make sure that the horse only shows one leg movement. Many horses tend to scratch. One should ignore this behaviour. In this case you should let the horse go a few steps and start again after a break.
Some horses, especially stallions, perceive the touching of the leg as an invitation to fight or play and react accordingly wild and stressed. Depending on the training approach, this is intentional (intrigues) or not. In any case, however, one should convey so much calmness and relaxation that the horse recognizes that one has no intention to fight. Over time, one should not only start the exercise by touching the leg, but also consciously end it and thus signal to the horse when it is time to put the leg down again. This can be achieved, for example, by not touching the crop but by placing it against the leg. As long as the crop is on the leg, the horse should keep his leg up.
Praise, praise and praise again!
As soon as the horse shows the slightest reaction, you have to stop touching and praise. In this way you show him what you expect him to do.
One should not expect too much at the beginning. It may well be that the horse only stamps with his hoof at first. It simply takes a little time and many small training sessions before it lifts and stretches its leg permanently.

From Spanish greeting to Spanish walk

Once the horse has mastered the Spanish greeting and has understood that it should lift its leg when you say the signal word and/or touch the leg with the crop, you can take the movement with it and practice the correct Spanish walk. You do not have to wait until the horse stretches its leg perfectly. Often horses tend to shift their weight more towards the standing front leg. But the aim is that the hindquarters take more weight - this is achieved by the movement. The horse has to use his hindquarters more, he walks more collected, shortens his frame and arches his back.
The best way to practise the Spanish walk at the beginning is to let your horse walk a few steps, stop, ask for the leg extension and praise him. Then you let your horse start again. As soon as this works well, you can start again by letting the horse start immediately after the leg extension or by demanding the leg extension from the movement. Only when this is successful, one should start with the actual Spanish walk, i.e. with the reciprocal movement of the front legs.