Why is Straightness so Difficult?

Straightness is one of the most difficult things in dressage training. Every horse and every rider are crooked, so getting them both to be straight and symmetrical is an ongoing process. As you train a dressage horse up the levels, they also must get straighter.
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[@oneegyptianpharaoh2798]

Very useful video. Yes, I have a problem on straightness and I'm working on it :)

[@mmchapman5419]

Hi Amelia: I revisited this video and found it rather helpful. I rode an intro B & C lesson in a proper ring today and my trainer (who is fabulous) shared that I’ll really want to work on straightness and riding my corners. I’m excited to have a specific goal to work towards and your videos help me to look at these improvements from a few different angles. Appreciate you and your commitment to your learning community! Thank you!!!

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

Glad it was helpful!

[@patriciabures3844]

I'm dealing with crooked hips and collapsing right. Thanks for all your very informative videos!!

[@Lietjesmarket]

Very good video! Love the practical tips and yes after a fall from the horse i do rider fit training makes a big difference

[@sonie1045]

Brilliant video as always. Love your riding tips😉😍

[@pariahmouse7794]

Haha... I am still trying to establish rhythm. I am definitely a newbie! I haven't even really cantered (properly- thanks for that marvelous experience, Barbara and Stevie!🐎😝) yet! One year anniversary of lessons at the end of July, though- cantering is on the horizon, I CANNOT wait! 😁🐎💞

[@libbylynett1923]

I am absolutely thrilled when I am having trouble with straightness, because in order to have problems with straightness, you have to have a contact. And that contact business is driving me mad !!! But in those glorious moments when I have (correct) contact with my legs and reins, then I can work on having control of those darn shoulders and getting my boy straight.

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

Love this!!! Thank you for sharing and it is so true!!

[@tamekaellard8171]

Connection and straightness and the straightness is impacting my ability to get connection and vice versa!

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

So true and amazing how much connection and straightened are related!

[@lindawalker3373]

Also find straightness the hardest! Pretty well in all exercises in the ring, and in all horses I've ridden. Super helpful to know that a lot of other people find this difficult. I think that if I could get my horse to go straight more often/easily, a lot of other aspects of training would fall into place. Thanks Amelia for shining some light on this aspect of riding :)

[@pennyallen7637]

Great straightness tips, thanks Amelia, especially the shoulder fore idea to allow the wider hips of the horse down the long side...ingenious! My test comments are commonly too much right bend so I will practise the straightness exercises and also make sure I am using enough outside rein to bend. Great work. Penny Allen ( UK)

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

Sounds good! Glad this helped!

[@silky2204]

These are great videos.

[@shirleybroady1844]

I think connection is the hardest part of training and connection is dependent on straightness.......in addition to all the other elements of the training scale. It's hard to feel when the horse is a little crooked because, as you point out, it feels normal. It's like trying to convince a rider that she's leaning back or sitting to the right. She swears she's straight because she's used to the feeling. Straightness feels awkward until she breaks the habit of leaning. Actually, when crookedness feels normal it's because we haven't felt, or don't remember, a higher standard we should be feeling. There's a feeling when the horse is connected....... because he's straight (legs are aligned) moving forward thru that channel of straightness with thrust and no negative tension (looseness) and in a balance that frees the forehand and softens the contact, that we feel a blissful sense of harmony which is the "high" that keeps us addicted to dressage. Amelia and Joseph know how to capture this feeling and are generous to share their knowledge. When we feel "something" is missing, maybe we're not sure where the problem(s) is, or worse, we have a fixed notion that we base on a "recipe" limited to a set of principles that is actually making the problem worse. We ride with a closed mind "repeating the same (wrong) thing over and over expecting a different result." As Amelia points out, when we try to straighten the horse, things get complicated. He slows down or speeds up, gets strong, hollows his back and raises his head, etc....... and now we have 4 or 5 more problems and he's still crooked. And this leads to using more and stronger aids, with no rewards, which makes the horse dead to the aids. Enter the third mind. The instructor. She or he puts out the fire, sorts out the priorities and tries to change our mental and physical habits. Then, when we ride alone, we have to remember everything! Joseph and Amelia are generating a new interactive chapter that should help us if we pay attention.

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

Thank you for this explanation! It is all so true. You try to fix one thing and create a whole new set of problems! Riding is so hard! And so fun!

[@shirleybroady1844]

@@AmeliaNewcombDressage Love you guys!

[@shirleybroady1844]

I need to add that I didn't mean my comment to sound like a complaint, LOL. Not that I haven't complained a lot over the years. Dressage IS fun. Horses and riding and the lifestyle that go with them are fun and keep us fit and healthy. Talk about horse training long enough and I can talk myself into a corner and wonder what I was really trying to say in the first place. LOL But I guess that's better than not talking at all because I think we benefit from preserving the "dialog" and it's in that spirit that I join in the discussion that you and Joseph so generously provide. Cheers.

[@dorothyleeuw8774]

Rarely do I ride the wall unless I am going to do lateral work. I spend a lot of time on the quarter line. I will work on the circle but find it very difficult to feel if my horse is straight on a bent line. After a few circles I go back to the quarter line. I ride a lot of inside leg to outside rein and counterflex or renver. So hard. I try to be happy with small improvements.

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

Yes, riding on the quarter line is a great tool to check for straightness.

[@irenecoermann2439]

I guess I am lower down on the training scale. I struggle with suppleness and I also feel that once I have suppleness, I have a better connection in the outside rein and then straightness comes.

[@leealexander3507]

I've barely started my horse under saddle and my biggest problem at this point is he most definitely has a mind of his own. With so few rides on him he may be very cooperative...or not at all. Beautiful movement and exceptionally athletic though, so I'm very happy with him. I put in a lot of time on in hand work so he has a good foundation but an unusually independent nature.

[@gottasay4766]

I am at a place where I need help with impulsion, what is it really, how to achieve it, etc.

[@maryannwettstein-stoothoff1154]

Due to several accidents I have some issues with straitness and now have to put one of my leathers a notch higher than the other. I'm not sure what I can do about this. I 've started using my teeter inversion table to try to align my body more but so far it's still an issue. My big boy 17.3, is frequently stiff in the neck.

[@danw6014]

I have a couple of thoughts. First I think most horses are mentally out of balance from left to right. Well schooled horses may be hardly notable where a lot of the horses I am around it is like a neon sign. Which brings me to my second thought. My mentor used to say that you wouldn't understand what I am talking about..... until you feel it. I have never ridden a horse that was right on. I'm betting most riders have not had that experience either. Until the opportunity to ride such a horse presents itself I may never understand. So like you said when the horse feels good I start to ask where do I go from here. Make no mistake, I'm crooked, I'm not smooth enough, my horse has a lot of braces. Every thing in the pyramid is important no matter what your riding discipline.

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

It’s a journey for sure. Getting straight is an ongoing process!!

[@BC-bd5zb]

Connection, but that's improving, and Impulsion. We've worked on straightness for years and I think that's much improved. The Impulsion for the extended paces is taking a loooong time though. My guy has the build for dressage and athleticism but he just doesn't like to sit and push. A strength issue at 13 years old and 4th level I guess.

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

Thanks for sharing this! I think a lot of us also struggle with impulsion!

[@danielthomas3333]

Straightening the horse is easy. You just have to know how. It’s just a question of equalizing the hind quarters. If I can find this site again I will give you a reference

[@sannifoster]

Straightness is so hard. I'm crooked, my right hip and shoulder are slightly more forward than the left ones, my right hand isn't in my control all the time and my left leg is a bit slower than my right leg. I tend to look down. Also, sometimes I collapse a little to my left so that my left side gets a bit shorter than the right. I also have a bit more weight in the left stirrup. Fixing all this feels like a never ending task! Any suggestions or advice on excercises I can do to improve my asymmetry? I'm thinking I'll go see a physiotherapist too. :)

[@danielthomas3333]

Her remarks regarding the hind legs tracking wider than the front are true but she gets confused after that

[@Pferdecoach]

So now I have a question...is there a difference in the meaning of Rythm ( the beginning word of the training scale ) and balance ??....smile

[@kmiklaszewski]

Yes, use the training scale to problem solve throughout your riding.

[@aLtee]

anyone knows if I should ask a 4 year old to go straight? Its the penultimate step in the scale of training, and I already know that I shouldnt ask for collection yet

[@spaziocasainterioare1656]

Very nice tips!! Thank you!! I would add counter canter for straightness? I saw a video on youtube done from Emile Faurie who insists a lot on it for straightness. Can you confirm it? Thank you so much!!!

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

CC can help with straightness but you want to make sure it's done from a place of balance on the hindlegs rather than rushing!

[@N12S10S]

So I know this sounds weird but my horse never liked the reins so I thought him how to move according to my weight and legs, when I then had to show direction I would need to have him more straight even though that was higher in the trainingscale 😂 but now he got more suppleness from me working on straightness as you said we aren't straight, so it's a suppleness exercise that too in a way😂 and from that connection and everything followed he isn't completely straight yet but he follow me after what day I have so If I'm more on one side that will be the bend that day or the other day I will be more on my good side 😂 but I'm trying to find places where I can tell myself where the middle is and how my legs should be around the horse considering the situation 😂❤❤❤

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

Keep up the good work.

[@Pferdecoach]

interesting headline !!! my push button headline, smile....- for me personally the "word" connection is the most difficult thing in this "by humans invented training scale ", but this whole training scale couldnt be looked or trained separated (..but many students try ...smile ) ; its a totally depending on each other thing ..smile..... when I start on a green horse I try with my playing balance to get the horse straight from first moment even if the horse hasnt connection and looking around , so I only want to say without playful weight aid - the natural physically communication with horses, the natural language with horses - one will never get a horse straight !...straight doesnt mean a horse has to be straight like a linear piece of wood it has the meaning like a train on rails , that horses hind legs follow front legs in the track first even in the serpentines; only then the bending through "whole" (= bending stops physically at the place of riders outside leg ) body to left and right will have evolve from that and not by only bending necks with reins ....smjle ....so then one should ask why do we want a bending ? in free nature horses need to be quick and look to the outside while turning quick to vanish being frightened, but we in dressage - doing canter pirouettes with horses looking to the inside - want to have the gracefully movements, which have to do with bending , in collection in the hind legs like a shock absorber in a car, and this doesnt work if the horse isnt straight, like a weight lifter at olympics if not straight balanced he wouldnt get the most weight high enough .....smile .....so the word "straightness" is a complex feeling of opening the door for the ability of true bending through horses body in connection with "connection" ....ha ha....what a creating day ....inspiring headline....thanks Amelia.....Charlotte Dujardin was asked how she got her olympic success with Valegro and she answered " I rode/made him straight ".....smile...and so it is without riders tiny weight aids no straightness !!! Think why !......its simple physics ...smile

[@abbaspromisefarm4936]

I'd say it is all darn hard. ha ha. Breaking past 2nd level is hard. Then you get something really right and the magic happens and there is your High. You can NOT stop. :-)

[@kristinemcclain9028]

If your horse is working over it's back,then straightness isn't a problem. Get your horse working over it's back..... Nuno Olivera

[@AmeliaNewcombDressage]

Love this! Thanks for sharing!