Pedaling (following the horse’s rib cage).

 

Improving Your Horse’s Walk
How pedaling can help your horse develop rhythmic suppleness in his back.

The walk has no suspension and, therefore, no momentum to help your horse keep the rhythm as in the jog or the lope.
In the walk, your horse’s rib cage swings once left and once right every time your horse takes a stride. To pedal, you want to let a bit of your energy bounce from your hip down to your stirrup on the side on which the rib cage is swinging away. For example, when the left hind is pushing off the rib cage is swinging right at the same time. So when the rib cage is swinging away from your leg, you want to feel a little pulse of energy bounce down to your leg on that side.
When you first try pedaling, it might feel a little forced. Maybe you didn’t notice that side-to-side movement of the walk, but once you’ve learned to pedal, your muscle memory will take over and your leg will naturally fall down. Then it’s hard not to do it because your legs are just following the horse’s barrel the same way your seat follow the movement of your horse’s back.
Pedaling allows your horse to get his whole body involved in the walk. Your seat does not shove forward and back or shift left and right. While pedaling, the seat moves very little, but the energy bounces through your legs in the same way that it bounces through your horse’s legs in the walk. Pedaling is the best way to keep the rhythm, whether is a free walk or a working walk.
The free walk, in addition to being judged on the rhythm, are judged on the over stride, or the amount that the hind foot steps over the print of the front foot. Some horses are not so supple in this respect, and you can improve the over tracking by influencing the moment of reach—which is the pedaling moment.