This article is the fifth in a
series of articles that will serve to discuss in depth the various tiers of the
USDF Training Pyramid. Every dressage rider should be very familiar with this
Pyramid. The tiers are as follows: Rhythm, with Energy and Tempo; Relaxation,
with Elasticity and Suppleness; Connection-Acceptance of the Bit through
Acceptance of the Aids; Impulsion-Increased Energy and Thrust; Straightness
with Improved Alignment and Balance; and Collection-Increased Engagement,
Lightness of the Forehand, Self-Carriage. A pamphlet discussing it in depth may
be found here: https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf
Since everything we do every day
with our horses is interrelated, I will demonstrate with these articles
specific connections between the various tiers, and how they can be used to
facilitate the training of the horse at every level. The vast majority of
riders and horses are at Training Level, but what the reader must understand is
that this is the MOST IMPORTANT level, for horse and rider. A good education in
the beginning secures the future of every dressage horse and every aspiring
dressage rider. ~Stacy C. Williams
The USDF Training Pyramid defines
Straightness(Improved Alignment and Balance) as follows: “A horse is said to be straight when the footfalls of the forehand and
the hindquarters are appropriately aligned on straight and curved lines and
when his longitudinal axis is in line with the straight or curved track on
which he is ridden. By nature every horse is crooked, hollow on one side and
stiff on his other side, thereby using one side of his body somewhat
differently from the other. This also causes uneven contact in the reins.
Appropriate gymnastic exercises develop the horse’s symmetry. This allows him
to engage both hind legs evenly and prepares him for collection. This process
improves the lateral as well as the longitudinal balance of the horse.” Notice the term “longitudinal axis”-this means
from poll to tail along the horse’s spine. Also notice the term “alignment”-it
is exactly like the alignment in your vehicle. If the left front tire turns out
and the left rear tire turns in, your tires are going to wear unevenly and your
ride will be less than smooth. It is exactly the same for the horse’s
alignment. All four legs must travel along the same axis, not deviating
sideways. Now read the Purpose as stated at the top of all Second level tests:
“To confirm that the horse demonstrates
correct basics, and having achieved the thrust required in First Level, now
accepts more weight on the hindquarters (collection); moves with an uphill
tendency, especially in the medium gaits; and is reliably on the bit. A greater
degree of straightness, bending, suppleness, throughness, balance and
self-carriage is required than at First Level.”
It is important for the reader to
realize that just because straightness is not mentioned in the Purpose of the
tests at Training level and First level, does not mean that we should not already
be looking for a degree of straightness right from the beginning. Read through
the Directive Ideas for the movements in Training level test 1. Over the course
of thirteen movements, “straightness” is mentioned seven times. Straightness is
furthermore mentioned under the Submission section of the Collective marks at
the end of each test. At its most basic level, straightness simply means that
when travelling on a straight line, your horse must actually travel on a straight line. This is
easier said than done! To further complicate matters, not only must your horse
walk, trot, or canter on a straight line, but, his shoulders and hind legs must
track straight. There should not be a bulge in the shoulder or a drift of the
haunches. Now add to the equation the demand for turns onto and off of the
centerline, twenty meter circles, transitions…all the while the horse has to
stay exactly on the prescribed line of travel, and keep all his body parts on
that track. This is very hard to do, mostly because horses are born crooked.
But, here is where the rider comes into play as well. Humans are born crooked
too. If the rider is unaware of her own crookedness, it is very likely she will
be equally unaware of her horse’s crookedness.
As a horse proceeds up the levels,
his capacity for straightness must improve. But straightness begins at the
beginning, from the first time he is lunged and the first time he is ridden. If
the horse is unable to describe reasonably symmetrical circles around his
lunger without a rider on his back, it is a sure bet that once mounted, the
added weight and crookedness of the rider will only compound that lack of
symmetry and alignment. As the horse progresses in his training, the rider has
to assess from the first ride, and from the first minutes of every ride
thereafter, whether the horse takes a symmetrical amount of contact on each
side of the bit. This high degree of attentiveness to the early training rarely
happens, and so we are frequently faced with having to address it once the horse
has been under saddle for a period of time. This is the boat most of us are in.
There aren’t that many Charlotte DuJardin’s out there, so even accomplished
riders make mistakes or take shortcuts in the early training. Even at Training
level, we have to start assessing whether or not we can ride our horses calmly
forward with a level-appropriate degree of straightness.
I promised to link the layers of
the Pyramid. While Straightness is near the top of the Pyramid, just before Collection,
it can easily be assessed at the previous layers. If a horse is not travelling
in a reasonable state of alignment right from the beginning, it will reveal
itself in a variety of ways. The rhythm may be slightly marred, often
noticeable at the canter when the stiff, crooked horse lands too soon with the
leading front leg, causing the canter to appear lateral. The tempo will often
vary, particularly from one track to the other. Some horses “run away” on their
stiffer side, while others get “sticky” on their stiff side. The connection
will be too strong on one rein and not secure enough on the other rein.
Impulsion will suffer if one hind leg is habitually stepping to the outside of
the center of mass, as will uphill balance-a hallmark of Collection. These
issues can easily be categorized under the Relaxation with Elasticity and
Suppleness portion of the Pyramid due to the fact that they are addressed by
means of various suppling exercises, but think of Suppleness and Straightness
as being two sides of the same coin. No part of the Pyramid can really be
separated from the others or worked in exclusion of the others. It is just a
matter of degrees. I personally feel that ALL layers of the Pyramid should be
present in every horse at every level and that the only thing that changes is
the degree of expectations for the quality that will be exhibited. This mindset
plays homage to the often-heard debate of whether Straightness should in fact
be placed ahead of Relaxation/Suppleness on the Pyramid. It isn’t, in my mind,
a matter of one before the other, but rather, a matter of both developing
together. Anyone with experience in Natural Horsemanship will tell you that if
the horse’s body is comfortably aligned and able to move in a balanced way,
that will go a long way toward improving his mental relaxation. I cannot tell
you how many horses I have taken in as reschool projects who were so completely
crooked within their bodies and in their way of going that they had become very
nervous and difficult under saddle. Simply addressing the extreme lack of symmetry,
balance and alignment did wonders for the Relaxation of these horses. Horses do
not like to feel out of balance as it impedes their ability to protect
themselves.
With all the above in mind, how
do we set about developing straightness in our horses? I will remind the reader
of the definition of Straightness, and reference the second half of it directly
here: Appropriate gymnastic exercises
develop the horse’s symmetry. This allows him to engage both hind legs evenly
and prepares him for collection. This process improves the lateral as well as
the longitudinal balance of the horse.” Key to this is the word “appropriate”,
meaning, appropriate to the horse’s level of training and the rider’s level of
experience. It all starts with the lowly
twenty meter circle. Can you ride a perfectly round circle? The old masters
would hand rake the ménage before riding in order to determine if their circles
were accurate. I recommend doing this sometime. Riding a correctly shaped
circle, versus an oval, an egg, or even a potato chip as one former student
described her attempts at a circle, is not easy. There will be many potato
chips on the road to the perfect circle. I teach students how to do it by first
teaching them the geometry of the arena, and then, setting up guide cones.
Cones are a rider’s best friend. I use them when training young horses too, not
just for the new riders. They are not expensive, and are incredibly useful all
the way up the levels. I have used them for developing turns on the haunches,
turns on the forehand, and even the pirouette canter. Besides the twenty meter
circle, the other critical figures for developing a horse’s straightness at
Training level are changing rein across the diagonal, riding the centerline,
and staying the same distance from the rail the entire length of the rail. If a
horse is not reasonably straight, staying the same distance from the rail for a
full sixty meters is nearly impossible. As riders become more skilled and
horses more educated to the aids, the leg yield becomes a very valuable tool.
While a leg yield technically falls under the heading of a suppling exercise, I
would like to point out a critical piece of the straightness equation here. How
many leg yields have you witnessed that drift sideways with the horse’s
shoulders dragging the rest of the train lazily behind? When riders get back
their score sheets and they read “haunches trail” with the commensurate low
score, they generally then proceed to use more leg in a vain attempt to get the
hind legs to cross, and then wonder why their horses just run faster instead of
crossing more. Been there, done that. But think about the leg yield this way.
Your horse’s body might be two or three feet wide in total. If you start
your leg yield with the shoulders
already bulging a foot in distance to the outside, now suddenly the diagonal
hind leg has to go a third to twice the distance as the front leg in order for
your horse’s body to remain parallel to the long side. If the rider instead
pays attention to where the shoulders are before starting the leg yield, the
hind leg will not have to travel nearly as far in order to connect to the
outside rein, which is the whole purpose of a leg yield: to develop inside leg
to outside rein connection. This one small attention to the detail of
Straightness appropriate to the level on the part of the rider will make the
horse’s job infinitely easier and leg yields will require little to no leg. A
simple shift in the rider’s weight will make it happen. To continue with the
concept of level-appropriate gymnastic exercises, shoulder in becomes the
mother of gymnastic exercises. It’s younger cousin, shoulder fore, should be a
state of daily ridden existence for horses as soon as they are able to
understand the concept of inside leg to outside rein. Ultimately the haunches
have to be controlled as well, and this is where the more difficult gymnastic
exercises of travers, renvers, turns on the haunches and half pass come into
play. The more correctly the rider can bend her horse and connect her horse,
the easier it becomes to straighten her horse in the truest sense of the
concept. Once the shoulders can be correctly placed in front of the inside hind
leg, a horse is well on its way to being sufficiently strengthened, engaged,
and balanced for more advanced collected work.
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| Straight Rider, Straight Horse, Photo Credit Blesk Photography |
