Examine Rider Balance in Walk, Trot and Canter

These pictures show Marie-Joelle Cote competing her 7-year-old Friesian-Canadian gelding, Cortado, at First Level. They are now working toward Second Level. In addition to their dressage work, they both love working out on trails and enjoying the snow.

All three of these pictures show how serious Marie-Joelle is about her riding. She and Cortado appear to have trust in each other and are concentrating. When I work with riders at clinics, I often point out the different challenges that walk, trot and canter pose for the balance between horse and rider. This series of images of Marie-Joelle and Cortado is a good example of this. In this article, I’d like to take a closer look at the different gaits of the horse and how the rider can best follow the movement in each unique gait.

Photo 1: Walk

The walk is a four-beat gait with eight phases (see illustration below). In dressage, the walk is often worth double the score of other movements, and riding a straight and regular walk is considered an art. Because it is the gait with no suspension but eight phases, any unwanted tension typically presents in an irregularity of the horse’s strides.

Any balance issue of the rider will be mirrored in the horse’s walk. The