When we first start talking about straightness, the concept sounds really simple – the goal is for your horse to be able to walk, trot, and canter on a straight line. However, straightness is far more complex as we begin taking a deeper look into it. Today, let’s get into detail about how straightness fits in to the dressage training scale, why it’s important, the two different types of straightness, and most importantly, how to achieve it!
Straightness and the Scale of Training
If you’re familiar with the dressage training scale, you’ll know in order to introduce straightness, you need 4 ingredients:
- Rhythm
- Suppleness
- Contact
- Impulsion
Without these other bases covered, we’re skipping over what makes the most sense for your horse as she works up the levels. It’s fascinating how straightness doesn’t come into the picture until second to last, right? Well, here’s why. Though straightness is an integral part of the earlier phases of training, the horse must be able to stay in rhythm, move over a supple topline into an elastic contact with active hindquarters in order for this step to be refined. True straightness takes months – sometimes even years – of consistent work. Horses are all born with a degree of natural crookedness. If you’re left-handed like me, sometimes you have to find ways to adapt to the right-handed world! This is a human example of what horses need to be able to do in order to achieve straightness.
The Importance of Straightness
When your horse is left to his own devices, he’ll always move in a way that’s easiest and most convenient for him. This in turn contributes to and emphasizes his own asymmetry. His strongest muscles will continue to strengthen while his weaker muscles continue to get left out of the picture. You want your horse to be as ambidextrous as possible. With even weight distribution throughout the horse’s body, there’s equal use of muscles, joints, and ligaments on both sides. In turn, your horse is less likely to have issues with lameness and will be able to have a longer career.
If you’re a dressage rider, straightness is vital in order to achieve collection. Straightness allows your horse to engage her hindquarters correctly and sit deeper onto her hind legs. A light forehand is the vital indicator of true collection.
Factors Relating to Asymmetry
It’s important to understand that there are many factors that contribute to issues with straightness. It isn’t all about what’s happening under saddle. If your horse eats from a hay net, It’s possible she’s pulling hay from it in the same direction. A horse stalled a lot can start stall-walking in the same direction for many hours at a time. Past injuries and conformation faults are also big contributing factors to asymmetry. Poor hoof care is a human-influenced factor, and it’s important to have a good farrier who takes the time to examine your horse’s hoof angles and have a strong understanding of the biomechanical function of your horse’s hooves. Do you lead, tack up, and mount from the same side of your horse every ride? This is a habit many of us have. Don’t be afraid of the “off” side of your horse. Mounting from the left is a tradition from ancient warfare, when cavalry riders had a sword on their left side making it impossible for them to mount from the right. Incorporating more daily activities that focus on both sides of the horse can contribute a lot to developing better straightness. Uneven flocking, crooked stirrup lengths, crooked riders, and working the horse more to one side than the other are all riding related factors we can work to improve.
How is Straightness Defined?
The FEI defines straightness as follows:
“The horse is straight when its forehand is in line with its hindquarters, that is, when the longitudinal axis is in line with the straight or curved track it is following.”
Let’s break this down a little bit more. The forehand must be in line with the hindquarters. This part of the definition is important to understand, as I often get asked how horses can stay straight on a circle. Think of this more as alignment instead of straightness. The hind legs should land in the hoof prints left by the front legs. In reference to the longitudinal axis staying in line with the straight or curved track, think of the topline of your horse matching the line you’re following. For example, a 20 meter circle requires far less bend than a 10 meter circle. When we break this down into further detail, it becomes clear how suppleness directly effects straightness. Supple horses are able to move their neck, shoulders, and hindquarters in both directions without resistance while keeping the body flexible. This element of suppleness allows the longitudinal axis to stay in line with the track she’s following.
Absolute vs Functional Straightness
As we examine straightness in further depth, there are two areas of straightness – absolute and functional. Absolute straightness is what we just discussed. It’s the type of straightness you’re trying to get as you come down the centerline in a dressage test. The spine is completely aligned to the straight line you’re riding and no part of his body falls off the line. This basic level of straightness is what you’re looking for from a young or novice horse as you work together to establish rhythm, suppleness, contact, and impulsion. Absolute straightness is far easier said than done!
Functional straightness is a more advanced topic, and it relates to understanding the fact that your horse’s hips are wider than her shoulders. Riding a horse with the shoulder slightly to the inside so that the inside hind leg tracks in line with the hoofprint left by the inside foreleg, or riding shoulder fore both encourage the hind legs to track slightly narrower, allowing him to step the hind legs even further underneath his center of gravity with his inside hind. This would make him functionally straight.
Achieving Straightness
Remember – straightness is gradual. It develops over time by use of circles and laterals. However, the following aspects are important as we aim to improve straightness.
- Rider Alignment – in order for our horse to be straight, we must be straight. A straight rider carries even weight through their seatbones into the stirrups. They’re able to shift their weight slightly to the inside of bends and turns without collapsing through the hip and leaning to the inside. A straight rider’s jacket zipper should line up with their horse’s mane.
- Your Horse’s Front End – A straight horse’s neck is aligned to the rest of his spine. Even if the line you’re riding is curved, the neck should conform to the track without too much, or too little bend. If there’s too much bend, the back will become tight, in turn shutting off the energy from the hindquarters.
- Your Horse’s Back – At a foundational level, the hind feet should land where the front feet were. The horse moves forward into an even connection with the reins, and he doesn’t lean through turns, or fall in or out on a circle. As you and your horse become more advanced, we start to look at making the hind leg path become narrower. This is a focus that primarily lies with the inside hind, as you’re looking for it to step within the tracks of the front feet. If the hind legs continue to step wide, the center of gravity will tilt the horse into his forehand. Think of trying to get the inside hind leg stepping just below where you’re sitting. Keeping the shoulders slightly to the inside helps to narrow the hind leg angle. It’s important to remember that you always ask for the shoulders to come in to meet the hind leg, and not the hind legs out to come out meet the shoulder.
It’s important to note that in the canter, the leading side moves ahead of the legs on the outside of the body, which naturally encourages the horse’s spine to curl up towards the leading leg. For my more advanced readers, try riding the canter with a slight feeling of shoulder-fore, keeping the nose positioned over the inside knee. This is a fun way to introduce and feel the difference when the focus turns to functional straightness.
Remember the Following:
Don’t lose your patience! Straightness is a complex concept, and many riders find it the most difficult module in the training scale. As your training progresses, the straightness is refined. Your horse was born crooked. Without observation, this natural element of crookedness will continue to surface. Remember that straightness is an essential concept for you and your horse to understand before moving up to collection. And finally, even if you’re not a dressage rider with collection as your goal, straightness is vital for proper weight distribution and helps keep your horse’s joints sound and healthy.
Thank you for reading!! Enjoy your next ride and make it a confident, connected, and harmonious one.