Written by Sue Morris

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Straightness and /or Crookedness in Horse and Rider Part I A  Crooked Rider Cannot Straighten A Crooked Horse Although I've done my best to keep this article down to a manageable length, I feel it  is one of those subjects that gets glossed over with a couple of paragraphs, when it is one of the Prime Directives in classical  riding: Calm, Forward, STRAIGHT What do we mean by  straight? This is generally  defined as a horse that 'tracks true' - hind leg following in the track of the fore leg on the same side. Each hind leg bears  equal weight.  A young horse will not be showing engagement at this stage, merely getting each leg to bear equal responsibility.  When a horse is straight he allows the aids to come through and is  equally responsive to the aids on either rein. Riders and horse are, by nature, one-sided. We must both work diligently to become  ambidextrous in the equestrian sense. A horse moving at liberty,  without a rider, is moving in 'natural balance'. He is not necessarily moving in the 'functional straightness' we require for dressage. Although the Training Scales places Straightness at position 5 it is not a list of strict linear progression. They are all interconnected.  Straightness should be worked on from an early stage for crookedness  is an imbalance. A crooked horse is an unbalanced horse. An unbalanced horse becomes tense and shows resistance. A tense and unbalanced horse will not be able to achieve relaxation: the second element on the training scale. A horse lacking in balance, relaxation and straightness, will not give the rider a light, even, elastic / living rein contact, which is the third element on the training scales. Some of the terms  used to describe the different qualities we perceive on each rein when asking for a turn, for example: Stiff  vs. Hollow Hard vs. Soft Convex vs. Concave Strong vs. Weak Elongated vs. Contracted Long vs. Short Banana-shaped Toffee vs. Chocolate - this was my first German teachers attempt to explain the differences in broken English --------------------------------------- The usual theory put forward as to why horses are one-sided like this is that it is the way the foetus lay in the womb. However, it is now considered  more likely due to the fact that the horse has - as do all  mammals - a split brain, with the two hemispheres responsible for controlling different functions. Lets say our hypothetical horse is Stiff Left / Hollow Right. The obvious signs of this to the rider will be a heaviness in the left rein, difficulties in turning/bending - the horse will fall in on the left rein and out on the right rein and problems in canter depart.   The horse is crooked. What are the Biomechanics of the Crookedness? The hind legs are  not working with equal phases of thrust and carry. The left hind  steps forward, but it doesn't do so far enough because he is  carrying his pelvis at an angle. This means that the left hind doesn't reach as far forward as it should. It stays behind the vertical for too long and it thrusts more than it carries. It isn't supporting the left shoulder so the horse places to much weight on the left front leg and with it leans into the left rein.