The Underrated Power of Walking Your Horse

As riders, it’s easy to fall into the mindset that “real work” only happens at the trot or canter. Many equestrians see walking as a warm-up or cool-down rather than a fundamental component of training. But here’s the truth: the value of the walk cannot be overstated.

Whether you’re riding or doing groundwork, the walk is the foundation of everything you do with your horse. It plays a crucial role in soundness, strength, and overall well-being. Let’s take a closer look at why walking should be a key part of your horse’s fitness routine.

Why Walking is Essential for Your Horse

1. Walk is a Low-Impact but Effective Workout

Compared to the trot and canter, the walk produces much lower forces on your horse’s body. This makes it one of the safest and most sustainable gaits for building strength without excessive strain. While high-impact work is necessary for cardiovascular fitness, the walk provides a solid foundation for long-term soundness.

2. Walk Encourages Back Mobility

The walk is a four-beat gait that allows for subtle spinal rotation, which helps develop topline strength and postural muscles. In contrast, the trot stiffens the spine to allow for diagonal force transfer, and the canter, while allowing spinal movement, generates the highest forces.

At the walk, your horse's back can move and engage freely, making it one of the best ways to improve flexibility and strength in the core and topline.

3. Walk Helps Develop Symmetry

Many horses have natural asymmetries, often favoring one side of their body. Because the walk is slow and controlled, it provides the perfect opportunity to focus on even weight distribution and straightness. You can influence each footfall and help your horse engage their weaker side more effectively.

4. Walk Engages the Core & Thoracic Sling Muscles

To develop topline and collection, your horse needs to engage their core and lift their shoulders. This starts with softening the base of their neck and using the thoracic sling muscles properly. At the walk, it’s much easier to help your horse find balance, relax, and activate the right muscles without the stress of higher speeds.

5. Walk Promotes Relaxation and Mental Focus

A calm horse is a teachable horse. Many horses relax best at the walk, making it the ideal gait to set a positive mental state for learning. Encouraging your horse to breathe deeply and move rhythmically at the walk keeps them in a parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) state, which enhances their ability to absorb training.

6. Walk Supports Proper Breathing

Breathing efficiency is critical for performance. At faster gaits, your horse’s diaphragm has to work harder to stabilize their organs while maintaining respiration. But at the walk, the diaphragm can focus more on breathing deeply and naturally, helping your horse develop better oxygen flow for all types of work.

7. Walk Strengthens Bones, Tendons & Ligaments

Sustained walking helps build bone density and strengthen connective tissues. While high-impact work also plays a role in developing strong tissues, horses actually spend the majority of their time walking in the wild. The repetitive, controlled movement of walking is perfect for aligning collagen fibers in tendons and ligaments, reducing injury risk over time.

8. Walk Aids in Weight Management

Just like in people, low-intensity, long-duration exercise is one of the best ways to burn fat. Walking at a steady pace for an extended period puts the body into a fat-burning state without triggering stress hormones that can actually make it harder to lose weight. For horses prone to obesity or metabolic issues, regular, long walks are a game-changer.

How Much Walking Should You Do?

🔹 Please note, this is for a fit horse. If your horse is recovering from an injury and not yet fit, you’ll need to build up the walk and actually spend far more time walking than this.

🔹 Daily Rides: Always include at least 10-15 minutes of walking at the beginning of your ride. This allows your horse’s joints to lubricate properly, their muscles to warm up, and their breathing to adjust.

🔹 Long Walk Sessions: Ideally, you should include a dedicated 45+ minute walk once or twice per week. This session should be the primary focus of the ride, not just a warm-up or cool-down.

🔹 Varied Terrain: Walking on different surfaces (hills, trails, roads, grass, sand) improves proprioception, strengthens hooves, and enhances overall fitness.

Try This Challenge

If you don’t already incorporate long walking sessions into your horse’s training, give it a try! Add one or two 45-minute walking rides per week for a month and see what changes in your horse’s:

✅ Fitness
✅ Relaxation & focus
✅ Topline & posture
✅ Straightness & symmetry

You’ll likely notice huge improvements in their movement, attitude, and overall health.

This is very similar for people. Assuming you are able to walk, the foundation of your fitness program is walking. Nothing fancy, just getting your steps in, is where fitness and strength starts. 

Walking isn’t just filler work—it’s a powerful tool for creating a sound, strong, and happy horse. Give it the attention it deserves, and let me know how it goes!

Need help or want to talk about this more? You can reach Shelley at info@shelleythomasphysio.com with questions and comments. Thank you!