I was recently discussing the concept of straightness and balance at a clinic. In particular, I talked about horses that have chronic crookedness and they work one side of their body harder than the other The subject of a horse’s chronic posture also came into the discussion. Why are these things so hard to change? Surely, when we can show a horse how much easier it is to move with straightness and a relaxed posture they would seek it for themselves.
If all that were true, then it begs the question why are most people chronically crooked? Surely, when we discover how much easier it is when we adjust towards balance and straightness we would see it for ourselves.
I know from experience that when I see a rider leaning to the left and I adjust their posture to sit straight and balanced they almost always complain it feels like they are falling to the right. Leaning to the left feels straight and balanced and normal to them. That’s why they do it. Riding with straightness feels out of balance, which is why they don’t do it. The same is true when a rider defaults to leaning behind the centre of gravity or in front of it. Ask a rider to stop leaning back and they whine it feels like they are falling forward.
It takes a lot of conscientious work and vigilance for a rider to overcome chronic crookedness to the point that it feels normal and comfortable and now crookedness feels weird.
So it is with horses.
During training, there are many reasons why a horse learns to move out of balance and crooked. It can range from the physical to the emotional. From the physical perspective causes of straightness problems may arise from poor riding, saddle fit issues, hoof imbalance, pain, etc. In the emotion/behaviour basket of causes, it may be emotional tension, poor focus, inability to follow a rider’s feel, etc. Often it is a mix of both physical and emotional issues.
And we can’t dismiss that for many horses (if not all) crookedness begins even before a person comes into the picture. If you watch closely you’ll see foals running in the field and using their bodies in a way that puts uneven strain on them simply because they are crooked. They will carry this into adulthood where it becomes our problem to fix.
When we correct a horse for falling to the inside of a circle and being slightly bent to the outside, we need to appreciate that this crookedness probably feels perfectly comfortable to the horse. We see how the crookedness puts undue strain on its body and is detrimental to the work and the horse’s long-term physical well-being. But the horse does not. It feels more comfortable for the horse to be crooked than it does to be balanced because crooked feels normal. It has been moving this way for a long time and adapted its body to feel more comfortable than it we made adjustments to the way it moved on a circle.
The next time you get frustrated because your horse keeps falling in on a circle or insists on moving with its head up or hops into the trot, ask yourself what will it take to make the new way of moving feel more comfortable than the old way? If you get frustrated with your horse think how much it would take for you to change the habits you have developed for moving or riding.
Working on straightness on a circle. Not quite there yet, but working on it.