Straight To The Next Level?
By Alison Short
I have often thought that the word straightness is absent from the collective marks on a dressage sheet, had it been present would more emphasis be placed on its importance in training?
Understanding straightness is vital in achieving “inside leg to outside rein”, which is so often lacking consistency at the lower levels. The complexity of its training can wrap you up in, in depth debate for hours, with frustration levels running high. The result of such sessions either ending in a tense rigid rider struggling to “feel”, or a trainer leaving at the end of a session, considering what would have been, had they chosen their parents suggested career path!
“By taking away the rocket science, and observing what's there in front of you, the goals slip into a gradual incline instead of the Derby Bank!”
Straightness is half way to left and half way to right, the observation of equality and an equalness to react to either request is vital. The easiest way to understand and assess this is to take away the element of time, which can often rush us to make decisions through the rein when a corner is approaching.
Stand still on your horse judging your straightness by being parallel to the long side, but not on the track, wait until an equalness to your contact is felt and your horse begins to feel submissive to straightness in the contact. At this point it is not vital to have his round, but a degree of submission where he is not fighting to move forwards or sideways is required, be sure to move him forward to re establish halt should he move backwards. If he becomes strong against the hand in halt then practice moving forward off of a gentle leg aid, to a soft but consistent contact until he carries this feel to the halt, making sure the finality of the halt is in a seat aid, rather than a strong resistance in your hand.
The next part to this exercise is as much about observation, as it is feel and reaction to change. In front of you now is a straight neck to the point of his ears, feeling that you have his attention and a comfortable equal pressure in both reins. (It can help to imagine you are supporting a jumbo car sponge between your wrists, to judge your contact locality.) Using your right hand and fingers think of asking for just one degree of flexion to the right, this does not involve pulling back, just supple and subtle squeezes.
YOU should change nothing in the left hand, but depending on the degree of angle that is achieved, the weight will be greater in this rein as your horse has turned his head away from it.
Observation
When you ask your horse to flex to the right you will notice that the right rein will no longer make a contact with his neck, but run clearly from your hand to the bit as he flexes gently to that direction. You will then also see that the left rein now runs from your left hand, making contact with the bend in his neck on the left side, and to the bit, this will obviously become more prominent depending on the degree of bend you are achieving. Should this not be achieved then the chances are you have dropped your sponge, as you are parting your hands in order to achieve the bend.
Feel
Make a mental note of what reaction you get to your request, if the left rein weight increases significantly, then it is possible you were requesting too much bend with the right rein, if this is to happen you can gently squeeze the left rein, to lessen the angle. It is important to note that we are not working one hand against the other, but feeling what reaction one hand requesting bend has on the other.
Repeat this exercise using left flexion, being sure of the stability of straightness before asking, too much flexion to start with may result in a lack of communication and your horse turning round, if this happens then walk forward and start again. The bend should never exceed the point of the shoulder, as this will affect his balance and therefore rhythm.
The desired result should be a suppleness and steady flowing control from right to straight, then left to straight, with the smallest of aids and a fluency through the rein. Once this has been achieved try walking forward with straightness to start, then keeping your horse connected to the track with an inside leg, work through the same exercise. Starting with a very gentle degree of bend, be sure to run through your observation and feel check list. This exercise can also be practiced in trot, with outside bend on the long sides and inside bend through the corners.
As you advance with this, when riding through the corners and the inside rein is creating the new bend, try riding him more round the inside leg, imagining pushing the quarters slightly out. This will hugely improve your connection, “inside leg to outside rein”, and so encourage more weight on the inside hind.
Riding this exercise and creating better control of straightness to balanced flexion, will achieve engagement and lightening of the forehand, easing your gradient to the next level!
By Alison Short listed British Dressage judge and Freelance Trainer 07719 900275 email alisonshort@btopenworld.com
