Mary Allen
Every horse has inherent natural crookedness. There is a “chocolate side” and a hand that makes it harder for the horse to exercise and bend. For the health of the animal, however, it is important to straighten your four-legged friend with specific exercises.
A horse that is crooked to the right is easy to spot. The right hind hoof does not step into the track of the right front hoof but to the right of it. It prefers a left canter in a straight line, tends to lunge over its left shoulder when turning to the right, and keeps its right leg under its body when grazing.
Sometimes even when standing, you can see that the muscles on the right side of the body are shortened compared to the left. If the horse is askew on the left side, which is less common, the reverse applies. In the wild, natural crookedness is not a problem, but as soon as the horse comes under the saddle, it should be straightened, regardless of the discipline. This means that it should be trained to such an extent that its longitudinal axis can adapt to the straight or curved hoofbeat.
Unilateral Exercises Can Lead to Arthrosis
“If the horse is not straightened, the muscles develop differently,” explains Franziska Seidl, who trains horses and riders up to category S and Grand Prix riding facilities. “The horse is loaded on one side, and initially there is muscle tension. This puts too much strain on the entire musculoskeletal system, which can result in signs of wear and tear such as arthrosis.”
Straight work is the prerequisite for the horse to be able to turn to the right and left equally well, to be permeable and supple. Only a straight horse can move forward with momentum, develop drive and carrying power, and be collected in the advanced stage of training. The straightening work already begins when the young horse can be ridden and controlled in all basic gaits as a matter of course. All exercises are suitable that allow the horse to become more permeable for the sideways driving or guarding thighs, for example riding on the second hoofbeat, shoulder forward, shoulder-in, wavy lines.
«To avoid tension and frustration, you should always go from the easier to the more difficult, adapt the requirements to the individual learning speed of the horse and never grunt on the bad side for too long, but rather switch to the good side again. Over time, the relationship will be evened out,” says Seidl, who works as a national Grand Prix dressage judge and rides in the dressage elite squad.
Rider Must Also Work on Himself
Often there is an interaction between the crookedness of the rider and the crookedness of the horse. “A crooked horse also puts the rider aside and vice versa,” says Seidl. If the flow of movement is blocked, for example, by a twisted pelvis or a shoulder crooked position on the part of the rider, the horse inevitably reacts with tension, it walks worse and stiffer on one side, which in turn increases the rider’s sitting problems.
Bodywork and sitting training for the rider, for example in the form of balance exercises, aqua training, yoga to train body awareness, sitting exercises on the lunge line, and, in extreme cases, osteopathy and physiotherapy are also part of straightening the horse.