All about horses

In order for your horse to be balanced while you’re riding you must ride your horse straight.

The definition of straight is that the hind legs of the horse track directly behind the front legs this should happen on a straight line or a bending line.

Part of training a horse is to be able to make school figures keeping the horse straight .

Try to realize whether your horse is crooked i.e. shoulders a little too far inside of the line of the hind legs or hind legs a little on the outside and not in alignment with the front legs .

Someone on the ground watching you is helpful too so that you can get the feel of it .

A useful school exercise to do is to ride a 20 m circle accurately then if your horse gets crooked on the slightly bending line and falls in imagine that the 20 meter circle school figure is a square with the corners cut off (stop sign shape).

If your horse falls out making the circle too big , ride a diamond shape .

A horse may sometimes fall in or out on one part of the circle consistently so you may need to break up your circle into quarters and ride each quarter separately.

When you keep your horse consistently straight you will notice that you control the energy and the horse will power along on its own without too much driving leg aid.

It is always good to have a ground person that can watch you and make sure that your horse is also tracking up which means that the hind feet step into the hoof print of the front feet in the walk and trot .

Some horses are very stiff or uneven so you may have to work on tracking up gradually.

If stiffness or uneven gaits persist you could have a Veterinarian help you to aid in making your horse more comfortable .

The Vet may suggest supplements and other treatments to benefit your riding horse.