Straightness is one of the fundamental parts to get right when training a horse of any age. We asked British event rider Caroline Harris to demonstrate a few exercises to improve both horse and rider straightness while training at home.
The Exercises
- Walk and Trot Exercise
For straightness, focus on trotting on a straight line down the long side of the arena and then come back to walk before the corner. When riding the bend, walk a square and have the horse bent around your inside leg so they are not falling in, or out. Then move the horse back up to trot on the short side and then walk again and repeat the exercise in each corner.
Keep working on improving every upwards and downward transition so they are soft and over the back; and you should find the transitions improve as you repeat the exercise.
Repeat the exercise as many times as necessary until the horse is really listening to every transition and staying balanced in the corners.
- Horse straightness – trotting poles
To improve your horse’s straightness place some raised trot poles about a metre out. Here I have used old dressage marker rails instead of trot poles. Asking the horse to ride away from the outside track can help prevent both horse and rider from leaning against the side, and therefore gain a true feel for straightness. Drifting can be noticed at this point. By taking you and your horse away the boards of the arena you both have to focus on balance, and where you’re going!
Repeat roughly 3 times on each rein (more on an older stronger horse)
Allow horses to work it out for themselves. They may make mistakes to begin with, so just be patient. Make sure you straighten your own shoulders, hands, seat and legs, and note how the horse reacts to your own corrections.
- Horse straightness – Canter
A good exercise to improve the horse’s straightness in canter is to set out 2 canter poles a random distance apart and then canter each one and count the strides you get in between and make sure you stay dead straight in the middle. Before you start, identify a point at the end of the arena to focus on.
With more experienced horses, you can deliberately vary the strides you do between each pole. See below.
Note images 2 and 3 above, the poles are closer together.
Repeat until you can constantly get the stride pattern you want.
Stay tall in your position making sure you go over the centre of the poles. Make sure you are effective with your aids, either strong in your seat to hold them together for a collected stride pattern or effective in sending the horse forward for a more open stride pattern.
- Horse straightness – Jumping
For this exercise, position 2 skinny fillers with V rails on each side, 4 strides apart.
Once you have mastered that, you can then take V rails down and see how the straightness has improved.
Remember to stay tall and strong in your core.
- Rider straightness – no stirrups
For this, take your stirrups away and first of all look at yourself in an arena mirror in halt with no stirrups to make sure you are sat straight.
If you don’t have a mirror, just try and focus straight ahead at a fixed point ahead of you and think of where your seat and hips are. If you have someone on the ground ask them to stand behind you and check your seat position.
Start out in sitting trot with no stirrups and have a neck strap to hold onto.
- Rider straightness – One hand
Another really good exercise which you can do with or without stirrups, is to ride with one hand. Canter round just with one hand on the reins and then swap. This is a really good way to check that you are riding from your body and seat rather than from your hands.
With thanks to Caroline Harris and her rides, Miss Pepperpot and D-Day (pictured throughout)
@CHeventing cheventing,
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.