How to Teach Your Horse the Spanish Walk - Kali & Ilo

The PonyPros give you ideas for teaching your horse the Spanish Walk. Kali plays with Ilo, a BLM Mustang.

Ilo is a 6 year old BLM Mustang from Wyoming. Virtually all her training has been done at liberty or with a cordeo. I taught her the Spanish Walk to help her learn to play and show off her beauty.

Ilo is a conservative, timid horse by nature, but has become more exuberant and personable through clicker training. She likes the Spanish Walk in particular and offers it when she is confused. This video shows her in the initial stages of learning to do it with forward motion. It was a hard transition from a standstill, but now, she even does it 12 steps at a trot.

The way I taught it was to pick up her foot like I was going to clean it out, saying "foot." I would then clicker her and feed her while I was holding the foot. Soon, when I reached for the foot, she picked it up before I'd even gotten to it. Then, I had to change my body position to facing forward instead of backward like I would for hoof picking. Because she remembered the word, "foot," it wasn't that big a change to have me reach for her foot facing forward. Soon, I could just bob my head toward her leg a little, saying foot, and she'd pick it up. Sometimes I would touch her on the elbow, and that would help her get the confidence to lift her leg. I then decided I wanted to try lifting my foot as a cue, so I just start lifting my foot, then saying foot and touching her elbow. She's very auditory so it worked it about three clicks.

I practiced on both the left and right, cuing both the near leg and the far leg. Eventually she learned it mattered which leg she lifted and that she was supposed to mirror me.

Walking forward was a new challenge. It worked really well to cue one leg at a time, so she was walking normally with one leg, and taking a Spanish step on the other leg. First it worked on the near leg, then I worked on the far leg. By the time I could cue the far leg on either side, she was offering a perfect Spanish Walk.

To build duration, I counted out loud. She quickly understood that my counting meant, "Try to keep it up for longer!"

The trot was almost easier than the walk, and under saddle was easier than either gait on the ground. Under saddle, she could just watch my legs swing with her natural rhythm. She can do it all day long it seems.

When I was doing the Spanish Walk, I would keep my hand on her withers so I could stay close to her. Now, lifting my hand to wither level, even from a distance, is cue for her to go all out. She does her best Spanish Walking when I'm about 6 feet away.

There are tons of way to teach the Spanish Walk. Just use whatever way your horse likes best.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• mustang
• blm
• wild+horse
• spanish+walk
• clicker+training
• clicker
• natural+horsemanship
• cordeo
• neck+rope
• neckrope
• free+dressage
• circus
• zirkus
• how+to
• teach
• learn
• pas espangol
• paso espanol paso español

[TwinkleAndOlivia]

Love It !!! 

[ThePonyPros]

@TwinkleAndOlivia Thank you :))

[TakeTheLatte]

Thank you! Was it easy to train your horse to work and lead with it? Thanks again!!

[ThePonyPros]

@TakeTheLatte Yes, there was pretty much no transition at all. I think some horses might be a little disobedient with it, but you just swing your rope to get them moving again and they learn.

[TakeTheLatte]

Hello. Such a cute video with great advice! I was wondering if there is a specific name for the rope/collar around the horses neck. I have been looking everywhere and cant find it. I'm pretty sure they're easy to make I just wanted some tips as far as training. Anyways. Thanks!

[ThePonyPros]

@TakeTheLatte The rope is called a cordeo or a neck rope. Good question :)

[gcoxalaska]

You're Good!

[myhorses4ever]

Wow!:) Have to try and get my horse to do this:) Thankss beautiful horse!!Xx

[arabianlova72]

She is absolutely beautiful!

[MsFrenchIndian]

Wow! I have to try this! You explained it so well and your horse is adorable!! :)