TEACHING THE WALK PIROUETTE

A canter pirouette is a very advanced movement only performed later on in your dressage training.

You won’t even meet walk pirouettes in a dressage test until Elementary level, but they’re a fun movement to practice and great for suppling up your pony’s body.

To begin teaching the walk pirouette, you need to start by riding really small circles in the walk. You should be able to bend your pony through his whole body and turn him with your outside leg on this circle. After all, a pirouette is just a really small circle, so this is the best place to start.

If your pony is stiff and struggles with these small circles, practice them over a few training sessions and only when your pony feels more supple, move onto the next steps.

Once you’ve mastered very small circles, you can refine things further:

1. Ride an active walk around the arena, bending your pony very slightly to the inside.

2. As you ride out of the corner onto the long side, bend your pony a bit more to the inside and ride a square turn towards the centre line. Remember to use your outside leg firmly to turn him. Do not just ‘pull on the reins’ to turn as this will dump your pony onto their inside shoulder and lead to them collapsing, not turning.

3. After the quarter turn, straighten him up and do the same once you’ve reached the track on the other long side, but turning in the opposite direction this time.

4. Aim to make these turns as square as possible, using your outside leg and inside bend to push your pony’s shoulders around a 90 degree turn.

5. Once you’ve got the hang of the quarter-turn you can try a half pirouette by pushing your pony’s shoulders around 180 degrees instead. Ride your turn off the track on the long side, but instead move your pony all the way around until you are back on the track on the same long side, but facing in the opposite direction.

6. You can gradually progress the movement, turning further and further until you can get up to the full 360 degrees. Just remember that you’ll need to move away from the track once you’ve mastered the 180-degree turn, though, to ensure that you have enough space to complete the turn!

Note: This exercise sounds very simple, but (surprise, surprise!) it isn’t! Give your pony plenty of time to understand what you are asking. By taking the time your pony needs, you will end up with a much better walk-pirouette in the long run!

Remember: Your most important aids in the pirouette are your outside leg and rein. Do not be tempted to pull on the inside rein! Some inside bend is required, but you want to be moving your horse’s shoulders using your outside leg, and outside rein, not your inside aids. Your inside leg will just be used to support your horse and avoid them falling in and your inside rein creates a small amount of bend to the inside. The rest of the action lies in the use of your outside rein and leg!