Straightness in the horse is
vital no matter what the sport.
In dressage, you might
think that a slightly crooked horse is only a 'slight problem'.
However, over years and years of repetitive training, a crooked horse
will develop unequal muscles.
In a dressage test you will
only loose marks, but for a performance horse such as a jumper, or a
reining horse coming into a sliding stop, the horse can actually be
injured.
What is
straight?
One of the easiest ways to
judge if your horse is straight is in the mirror, or be videoed, or ride
straight towards a friend and assess:
-
Are the horse's ears
level. Is one in front of the other? Is one
higher than the other?
-
Again, in the mirror...are
the horse's nostrils 'in between' the horse's knees? Or are
they out over the left knee, or over the right knee, or shifting
constantly left and right.
-
Can you see the back legs?
The horse's hocks should be directly behind the horse's knees when
you are riding towards the mirror (bearing in mind that some horses
are a little wide or narrow behind).
-
Does the tail swish
evenly? In trot the tail should softly flow left and right,
however a sign of problems is if the horse's tail is always held to
one side.
Quick tips & remedies:
As soon as you discover the
cause...you've instantly discovered the remedy!
-
Test it out! Ride
directly toward the mirror and tilt your head off to one side....and
see what happens!
Ride into the mirror, or
down a center line, or towards a safe small jump and look to the
right or left directly over your shoulder...and see what happens!
Then, finally....look down
and the horse nearly always goes crooked as well (riders very
rarely look DOWN...they look down and to the right or left as well)
-
Advanced
Dressage
The real crooked things in advanced movements are tempi
changes, the advanced rein-back series and piaffe.
Everything above applies
to the advanced rider as much as it does the absolute beginner, if
not MORE because your horse is more highly trained and
sensitive...and it's an easy fix...get a mirror!
-
Advanced jumping
The top jumping coaches in the world bring it down to two
basics...rhythm and line. In other words, how many beats per
minute, and how straight is the horse
A
combination fence is where things start to fall apart with
straightness. All over the world I have encouraged my top
level jumpers to get mirrors and jump at 95-99bmp (to music)
straight towards a mirror. It's the world's best
exercise to get straight in your jumping action, and keep rhythm at
the same time. The rewards for your horse are remarkable!
Copyright © 2005
[Colleen Kelly. Improve Your Riding ABN 76799531257].
