Try this human exercise:
Go for a walk. Just a normal walk. As you stroll along, think about your back muscles.
Are they static or moving? Are they tense or relaxed? Think about your legs. How are
they moving? At the “normal” walk, you will notice that your heel contacts the ground,
followed by your toe. At that point, the muscles in your foot engage followed closely by
your calf – which propel you forward. Then your thigh muscles bring your leg up and
forward to start the cycle again.
Take bigger steps. Take smaller steps. Is one easier than the other? How does the size
of your step affect the movement in your back and legs?
Next, hollow your back. Stick your butt out, pull your shoulders back and chest forward.
Go for a walk. What about your back now? Static or in motion? Tense or relaxed?
What about your legs? Do they move differently? Take bigger and smaller steps. Is one
easier than the other? What do you feel that is different? Is it more or less comfortable
than the “normal” walk?
Finally, round your back. Bring your belly button up toward your nose. Your pelvis will
come slightly forward. Once again, go for a walk. What about your back now? Static or
in motion? Tense or relaxed? What about your legs? Do they move differently? Take
bigger and smaller steps. Is one easier than the other? What do you feel that is different?
Is it more or less comfortable than the “normal” walk?
As you work through the exercise, you will notice that how you hold your back has a great
impact on how you move your legs. As it is with the horse.
The most-used philosophy of the day – the “dressage training pyramid” shows us that collection
is all the way at the top. So, while collection may be an important part of upper-level dressage, it
is not something that one should try to achieve before mastering the base qualities
What do we want our horses to do? We want them to carry us. We want them to be in balance.
With the walking horse, we place high value on length of stride. The trick, then, is to use
dressage to enhance the walking horse’s movement without losing the signature gait.
I believe that Relaxation is the key to both dressage and a good flatwalk. I might argue that one
cannot really get a clear and consistent rhythm without it, and I might put it at the bottom of the
pyramid (but that’s an argument for another day). A relaxed back is one that moves and allows
energy to come from the back legs and into the bridle, while a tense back does not allow for
energy movement (Impulsion). Horses that go in a tense, hollow “frame” exhibit an altered, stiff
gait, including the pace. Only when we have relaxation should we begin to move up the
pyramid.
While most gaited horses benefit from learning relaxation, connection, impulsion, and
straightness, as we move toward collection and further engage core muscles, we also start to alter
gait. Even in the trotting horse, the horse who is taught to use the hind quarter moves differently
from one who is not. In the gaited world, as the horse learns to relax his back and engage his
hind quarters, he moves away from lateral. Soon, he begins to use his hocks to push. If we ask
for more core engagement, we encourage more hock action as the horse tries to reach and spring.
The resulting gait has a shorter stride. In walking horses, this hock action is not desirable.
At the lowest dressage levels, we expect to see Obedience, Rhythm and Relaxation. As one
progresses further, we begin to look for connection, where the horse’s back is relaxed and
moving and he is using himself well, and, as we move up through the levels, collection. One
begins to see “collected” gaits on the USEF tests at second level.
Because we value length of stride so greatly with our walking horses, and because we don’t
desire a trotty gait, we might want to consider limiting “colle ction” in our walking horses to the
collected walk (which has strengthening benefit) and possibly the canter. Why not teach a horse
ORBITS and go to the second-to-top stage of the pyramid. What we obtain then is a horse who
is light, willing, and forward with a more “neutral” back and less hock action. Perhaps second
level work with emphasis on a more correct flatwalk as the intermediate gait is as far as gaited
dressage should go.
Respectfully submitted,
Sue Fanelli
NWHA National News 40
NWHA National News 41