How to Transition a Horse from Halt to Walk Western Style

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Kelli on behalf of Expert Village I'm going to show you some tips and techniques that I use when using transitions in the western style riding. So the first transition we are going to do is we are going to move from the halt to the walk. So we are going to make sure that we are sitting with our posture. We are going to make sure that we are sitting on our sit bone or square in the saddle. We have our shoulder, hip and heel all in a line. Our heels are down. We are holding our rein in one hand and so we are just going to pick up a little bit on her to get her to cluck a little bit. I'm going to apply a little bit of leg pressure, I'm going to give her a little cluck and she is going to walk forward. Looking where we are going. So again if we are stopped and we want her to go into a walk so we are going to sit, balance in our saddle. We would pick up a little bit, give a little squeeze with our leg, a little cluck and have her move forward. Making sure where you are going, your posture is good. Just give a little squeeze, a little cluck, and your horse should move very easily, very softly to the walk. You don't want to kick you horse to hard and have your horse lurch in the walk or have your horse to take off in a trot. You just want to be really calm, really soft about it just give a little squeeze, a little cluck. Just let them know that you just want them to walk nice and calmly. You don't want to give them a kick or a jolt that they might think that you might want them to go a little faster. So just a little squeeze and they should walk off very calmly. So that is how you should walk off to a transition to a halt to a walk."