The concept of straightness in horses is sometimes hard to grasp. Most people are aware that a horse that is travelling on a circle while flexed to the outside is crooked or when a horse is trotting on a straight line with the hindquarters off-centre it is crooked.

But it becomes not so easy to spot crookedness when a horse is performing a shoulder-in on a circle or a haunches-in on a straight line where all the obvious indicators of crookedness that most people can see are meant to happen.

I raise this subject because it is my experience that too many people do not take the concept of straightness seriously enough. People who compete in events where a horse’s straightness is part of the judging process tend to take the issue of straightness seriously (eg dressage and plowing). But other than that there is an entire world of horse people who don’t give straightness more than a passing thought, if at all. I watched a World Cup show jumping event on TV on the weekend and every horse had major problems with straightness. Racehorses, harness horses, campdrafters, endurance horses, cutting horses, polo, pleasure horses, ranch horses, blah, blah, blah …... – the list of disciplines where training for straightness is NOT an integral part of the sport is very, very long.

What is straightness?

There are some technical explanations of straightness that are derived from understanding the musculoskeletal system of a horse and how it works. In my opinion, Deb Bennett explains it very well and I recommend her writings on the subject to you. But in a nutshell, straightness is when a horse is working both sides of its body equally. For example, this is easy to see at a standstill where a horse can only be straight when it has its weight equally distributed on the left side as the right side ie the left fore carries as much weight as the right fore, and the left hind bears the same amount of weight as the right hind.

When a horse is moving it can be harder to see when one side of a horse is working harder than the other. But let's look at the circle again. A horse that is straight when executing a circle will be balanced and use both sides of its body equally by being able to flex to the inside. However, a horse that is crooked when performing a circle may flex to the outside and drop its shoulder to the inside. This causes more weight-bearing on the inside shoulder. In addition, the outside hind is driving more than the inside hind. Therefore, there is an unequal distribution of work between the inside joints and muscles and the outside joints and muscles of the horse.

What if the horse is performing a lateral movement on a circle, like a shoulder-in? A shoulder-in on a circle can look a bit like a crooked circle (as described above) to the novice. It can look like a horse is just doing a circle crookedly. But when a horse is straight and performing a shoulder-in it does not put more weight on the inside shoulder than on the outside shoulder, as it does when a horse drops its inside shoulder. Also, the outside hind is not doing more work than the inside hind. Both sides of the horse are working equally hard. The horse is in balance.

Now that you understand that straightness means both sides of a horse are working equally, it is a small step to see the importance of straightness training.

Firstly, straightness enables a horse to exert maximum effort because both sides of the horse are sharing the load. One side is not getting a free ride while the other is putting in double the effort.

Secondly, without straightness, one side of a horse is getting stronger at the expense of the other side getting weaker. This exposes the horse to a greater risk of physical injury – both acute and chronic. Chronically crooked horses are prone to breaking down more easily and much earlier than straight horses.

Straightness is an acquired phenomenon and crookedness is a natural phenomenon. Virtually every horse is born one-sided and remains one-sided all its life unless taught not to be (humans too). If you examine the physical build of a hundred horses you’d be doing well to find one that was equally developed on its left side as its right side. Usually the more physically demanding the work they do the more unilateral their physique.

But straightness is not just a physical concept. It is a mental one too.

In my experience, the biggest obstacle to teaching a horse to be straight is a mental block. Only a minor proportion of horses are hindered by physical problems in an effort to become straighter. Remember, a horse is always trying to accomplish what its mind is telling it to do. So when we try to have a horse do one thing, but they are thinking of doing another, they are guaranteed to have straightness problems. When I am looking at why a horse is crooked, I first try to see if their thoughts are getting in the way.

A horse can only be straight when the mind and the body are travelling in the same direction. If the mind is going straight, but the body isn’t, then the problem is either physical weakness or a rider issue. But if the mind is not straight, the body can never be straight.

Straightness problems are exacerbated by emotional tension. It’s a challenge for a mentally tight and troubled horse to exhibit straightness. The ability to evoke feelings of ‘okay-ness’ in a horse goes a long way to correcting issues of straightness. At the very least, when a horse feels troubled inside coaxing its mind to get in the middle of the reins and the rider’s legs becomes far more problematic.

Straightness is an essential part of all riding, irrespective of the discipline. It benefits the welfare of the horse and improves performance. If a horse is not straight it can’t perform at its best. If a horse is not straight the risk of physical problems, increases. If a horse is not straight the basic training is shaky. This is true no matter what you want to do with your horse.

Photo: Depicts shoulder-in performed by Nuno Oliveira and drawn by Jean Louis Sauvat. I have a collection of copies of these drawings and they never fail to impress me.