How to ride a better walk pirouette – with advice from Becky Moody

The instinct, when a walk pirouette isn’t working, is to use more outside leg. Most riders learn the movement through travers, where the outside leg asks the quarters to step in, so it feels like the obvious fix. But push the quarters in too far, and the horse either gets stuck or the pirouette gets bigger and bigger.

“One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that pirouettes and half-passes are all about the outside leg,” says Becky Moody. “Actually, it’s an awful lot about the horse being upright in front of that inside leg.”

A useful image is a compass drawing a circle. The hindlegs are the point, stepping almost on the spot, while the front legs walk round them. To do that, the horse has to stay upright – it can’t drop its inside hip as it turns.

Expert advice from

Expert advice from

Becky Moody

Becky is the 2026 FEI World Cup dressage champion and one of Britain’s leading dressage riders, with more than 30 national titles, an Olympic team bronze and a European team silver medal to her name.

What is a walk pirouette?

A walk pirouette is a turn on two tracks, in which the horse’s forehand moves around their haunches. The forefeet and outside hind foot travel around the inside hind foot, which marks a circle as small as possible. A half-pirouette is a 180° turn, and a full pirouette is 360°. Full walk pirouettes aren’t included in British Dressage (BD) tests.

The horse should stay slightly bent in the direction they’re turning, and keep a clear four-beat walk throughout. The inside hindleg shouldn’t plant, swivel or step sideways.

Sounds simple, but it’s a movement a lot of riders hate.

“It requires a really good understanding of what you’re trying to do, which is quite often the first thing that’s missing,” Becky says. “Then it requires really good control of the walk, of the horse’s balance, of the positioning, of how they are off your leg. They are actually quite telling.”

But Becky would rather riders stopped seeing them as a horrible test movement and started using them. She rides working walk pirouettes – not necessarily test-sized ones – with her own horses as a training tool for control, suppleness and reactivity.

“And if you want to be able to ride good canter pirouettes, you have to understand how to ride a good walk pirouette,” she adds.

What the judges are looking for

The walk should be collected, not slow, with active, even steps. According to FEI judging guidelines, the common faults are all ways the horse avoids taking the weight:

• the hindlegs stepping out
• the inside hindleg crossing in front of the outside one
• the horse stepping sideways
• the horse stepping back

There’s a catch, too. A pirouette can be in a perfect four-beat rhythm while the collected walk before it is irregular, and the judges will mark that down separately. The walk either side of the turn matters as much as the turn itself.

The basics come first

Before you think about the pirouette, look at the walk.

“As with anything, it’s about attention to the basics,” Becky says. “Do you have a good walk that is adjustable – can you organise it a little bit but keep the activity? Is the horse easy over the back and through to the contact? And do you have suppleness with alignment?

“Unless you have all of those things, you’re not going to be able to turn a good walk pirouette.”

Turn the shoulders, not the quarters

“You are not bringing the quarters in – you are turning the shoulders around the quarters,” says Becky. “The hardest thing is getting people to grasp how the travers helps, but that it is not your end goal.”

She sees two common faults. Either the quarters step out as the rider turns the shoulders, or – the one most riders fall into – they’re brought in too far.

Both come back to the inside leg. The outside leg still has a job, which is to stop the quarters stepping out, but it isn’t the whole answer.

Your position also plays a part. Too much hand can make your horse resist and lose their rhythm, and leaning in or out unbalances them. Instead, sit centrally with a very slightly weighted inside seatbone. The horse also needs to respond to your legs by moving away from them, not leaning into them.

Becky looks for a very slight shoulder-fore before the turn, some flexion and a horse that keeps walking, with activity and rhythm as she turns.

“It’s a little bit like the canter pirouette – I think about a really neat first step, then making sure the horse stays in front of my inside leg,” she says.

Think about the finish, too. Ride the horse forward and straight out of the turn, so the last step is as good as the first.

Exercises to improve walk pirouettes

From travers to shoulder-fore

Becky teaches inexperienced horses the pirouette through travers. She starts on the long side in walk, then moves on to a circle.

“Travers around the circle helps the horse understand being upright in front of the inside leg, while you have control of the outside with the outside leg,” she says.

From there, she alternates travers and shoulder-fore around a 10m circle.

“You’re really working on your ability to position the horse and place them where you want to,” she says.

Quarter-turns on a square

Before moving on to a half-pirouette, break the movement down into quarter-turns

Ride a square between R, S, V and P in a 20x60m arena, or between B, E, K and F in a 20x40m. Ride each side in a slight shoulder-fore, then make a quarter-turn (90°) at each corner, bringing the shoulders round.

Your horse only has to hold their balance for a few steps at a time, which makes it easier to catch the problems before they become habits: the shoulders falling out, the quarters swinging, or the walk losing its rhythm.

Mix up quarter-turns and half-pirouettes, too. That way, your horse keeps listening to you rather than guessing what’s coming.

But don’t make the turns too small too soon. While you’re teaching your horse, a useful guide is for the hindlegs to step around a circle about the size of a dinner plate. Ask for a tighter turn than your horse has the strength and balance for, and they will get stuck – just as a horse will fall out of canter if you spiral into too small a circle too soon.

Walk pirouette tips

Let the wall do the work

A pirouette that’s too big is one of the most common faults, and when you’re off the track, it’s hard to tell.

“Once riders are a little further on, I make them ride them on the wall,” says Becky. “That makes them really aware of the size, and of how much they’re stepping to the inside. If the horse has a tendency to step to the outside, it can help them feel that more, too.”

To prepare for a test, she sometimes lays poles across the arena on the line the pirouettes are ridden on.

“Just having the poles there really makes them think about the line they’re walking in on, and where they start and finish the pirouette,” she says.

Watch and learn

There’s no point riding a bad pirouette over and over and hoping the next one will be better. Get the picture in your head first.

“Something I say to riders a lot is to go online and watch good people riding them,” Becky says. “That can really help you understand what you are trying to do.”

Then ask yourself:

• Is the walk collected enough?
• Is the horse upright in front of your inside leg?
• Are you pushing the quarters in, when you should be turning the shoulders?

Fix the walk. Then ride the inside leg. The pirouette will follow.

Walk pirouette troubleshooter

• Your horse sticks: The turn may be too small for their level of training, or you’re using too much hand. Make it bigger and keep the walk active.
• The pirouette gets too big: You’re probably pushing the quarters in with too much outside leg. Think inside leg and shoulders.
• The quarters step out: Your outside leg needs to guard the quarters, and check that you aren’t turning the shoulders too quickly.
• Your horse loses its rhythm: Go back to the walk before the turn – is it active, adjustable and through?
• Your horse anticipates: Mix quarter-turns and half-pirouettes, and don’t always ride them in the same place.

Walk pirouettes: your questions answered

Here are some common questions riders have about riding walk pirouettes.

Walk pirouette vs turn on the haunches?

Both turn the forehand around the haunches. A turn on the haunches is the more basic version, ridden at a lower level, usually from a less collected walk. A walk pirouette is ridden from a true collected walk.

How big should a walk pirouette be?

As small as possible. The inside hindleg should lift and land almost in their own footprint. When you’re first teaching it, a slightly larger turn – with the hindlegs stepping round a circle about the size of a dinner plate – is fine.

What’s the most common mistake in walk pirouettes?

Relying too much on the outside leg. The quarters are either pushed in too far, so the horse sticks or the pirouette gets too big, or they step out as the rider turns. Keep the horse upright in front of your inside leg, and turn the shoulders round.

Should the inside hindleg stop moving?

No. It should keep stepping in a clear four-beat rhythm. If it plants, the horse is pivoting rather than walking round.

What if my horse only sticks in one direction?

All horses favour one side, but if your horse regularly sticks or resists in one direction, it can be a sign of discomfort, so it’s worth asking your vet to check.

At what level do walk pirouettes appear in tests?

In BD tests, walk half-pirouettes appear from medium level. At FEI level, they feature in pony, junior and small tour tests.

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