09/05/2026
WHY SPANISH WALK???
1.) it’s quite easy to teach. And if you’ve never done any “trick training” or shaping behaviors through positive reinforcement, this is a fabulous place to start!
2.) It really teaches the human good timing. Once you start putting this into forward movement (whether on the ground or under saddle) you really have to be able to predict the horse’s movement, and time accordingly. 
3.) Holy s**t does it open up the shoulders!! And not just flexibility but actual range to motion.
4.) it’s biomechanically fabulous for the horse, and strengthens and stretches them in many ways while also being totally safe for horses that have quite an array of injuries
5.) DIAGONAL BALANCE! A finished Spanish Walk is a diagonal movement, and the horses really learned to utilize their core muscles to achieve this balance. 
6.) If you are constantly fighting to mentally deconstruct after years of exposure to modern dressage(🙋♀️🥴), and being taught that lowering the neck lifts the back (it doesn’t) the Spanish Walk is a fast track to seeing and believing that lifting the front IS GOOD and directly helps the horse to squat behind and LIFT the thoracic sling.
BTW- Equus Salutis is running a 2 week Spanish Walk Course STARTING TODAY (I know, I know- I should have posted this a week ago!)
