In today’s video I’m talking about straightness. During the week I asked all of my students, as we’re going through the training scale, which level of the scale is the hardest for them. It was really interesting because the great majority of people said straightness.
As I’ve been riding this week, I was thinking and asking myself, why is straightness so hard for so many people? To me, there are two main reasons that straightness is so hard. The first reason is that every rider and every horse is innately crooked. We all have asymmetries in our body, we’re all left-handed or right-handed. You may have an old injury or just some asymmetry that you were born with, and the horses are the same. They all are left-handed or right-handed, they all bend easier left or right, and they too may have had an injury that causes them to be crooked in one direction or the other.
The second reason that straightness is so hard is that sometimes, when you let your horse and yourself be a little crooked, it actually feels more comfortable. I was riding around on my horse and wondering why straightness is so hard, and I felt like, “Okay, my horse feels really nice and supple, and he’s going forward, and everything feels good,” right? Then you look in the mirror and say, “Okay, but he’s not straight enough.”
When you try to straighten your horse, then suddenly things don’t feel so good for a moment, your horse gets a little stiff, and they don’t want to jump through as much in the gait, and all of that happens. I think that sometimes we let our horses and ourselves be a little crooked because it’s more comfortable.
You have to break through that hurdle and say, “Okay, I know it’s going to be a little uncomfortable for a stride or two, or maybe the whole time, but I’m going to work a little bit on the straightness.”
I hope these tips help you. Watch the video and think about what is the hardest for you.
Happy Riding!
Amelia
