Think back to when you first started riding… how hard it was to just post at the trot. Now you do that without even thinking. As long as you are actively working on your riding, you are always improving. Usually improvement is so gradual that you don't see
The key to success with any movement in the Dressage ring lies in how you ride the corner preceding the movement.
In a good, productive stretch - active energy travels over the horse's topline and into the rider's hands. If you don't feel at least a little power coming from behind up into your connection, your stretch is not correct!
“You need to produce a walk. So work at the walk as well as the trot and canter. Get a good feeling of the body working in the walk. The walk is a mirror of the training of the horse.” ~ Christoph Hess