If your horse is not supple it cannot be truly straight.
A stiff horse is not a straight horse.
Only if your horse is supple it can be straight.
So, to understand this, one needs to
1.) Understand what is a not-straight ie crooked horse
2.) Have at least a basic idea on how to make this crooked horse straight and supple
First of all, all horses, and people to that matter are naturally crooked / one handed. Most horses are what Marijke De Jong (Academic Art of Riding) calls "right bended". An image of a banana on a table with the bulging side on the right and a hollow side on the left, gives you and idea what this means. What happens in a horse like this is some of the following
- Right Fore (RF) has a much better coordination and leads the movement. This shoulder often appears, a bit bigger and more muscled. When on a right bended circle horse often "falls" inside on this shoulder. Left Fore (LF) will then be the opposite, worse coordination, appear smaller and weaker. When on a left bended circle, the horse prefers to make the circle bigger.
- Left Hind (LH) Is the stronger and more pushing of the hind legs. It is often stiffer in the musculature and less bendy. As in the front, the opposite is true for the Right hind (RH)
- Saddle sometimes falls to the "inside of the banana" ie to the left in this case, and causes a rub on the right side of the back.
- As a whole the muscles on the left side are shorter and weaker and the opposite on the right.
- Horse will find working on the right rein a bit harder.
This video explains the above very clearly
What I see as a massage therapist, is a picture that is not often quite this clear, but will always have elements of it in the horses body, and I can normally tell which rein the horse is much stiffer and more willing. The whole picture is obviously complicated by many things such as the riders own balance and crookedness, how well or badly the tack fits the horse, previous or current injuries, shoeing etc.
It is obviously up to the rider to educate themselves to ride the horse better. But massage can be used as a great help in making the horse more comfortable during this process and as a tool in relieving all those tight areas that have resulted from the crooked way of going. It can give really good result when carefully used hand in hand with the correct schooling methods.
Again, Marijke de Jong talks about what are the building blocks of straighter horse.
- The horse needs to be able to stretch laterally on circle on both sides, starting with in hand work and building up to lunging and finally riding.
- The horse must have relaxed back muscles in order to get forward and down movement.
These two points are interconnected to each other and cannot exist without one another. This really highlights the importance of keeping your horses back muscles supple!
- Thirdly, the horses must be able to step under on a circle. This is needed to shift weight from the naturally heavier front end, to the stronger back end. The both hind legs need to be equally strong and balanced to be able to carry the weight of the rider in a straight line.
See the video above for a very clear explanation!
As I mentioned above, the picture is never this clear in the horses body and hence I think it is important to always massage the whole horse very thoroughly. It is also a very well known fact that pain or an injury can show up in a very different way in each horses body. So it is not always very clear where the problem lies, even the horses, say, left shoulder is very tight or he is unable to pick the left canter. Very often when horses have soreness on say on the right fore, they prefer to take the weight off that leg and hence make the left shoulder/neck/leg area very tight and sore, with the actual right side having little or no muscle stiffness.
For anyone wanting to know more, below are some great resources you can read. the Equinestudies website has a great forum where anyone can ask questions and read about problems other people have encountered!
I look forward to hearing your comments and I hope to be able to meet some of you on day in person!
Susanna
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