Straighten Your Horse for a Safer Ride over Fences

According to Equine Canada Level 3 Eventing Coach Sarah Bradley Straightness refers to how the horse positions his body and his ability to use both sides of his body evenly providing even propulsion from both hind legs and carrying even weight on both front legs. Its about the riders ability to place the horses body on the line the rider wishes to travel. A horse is straight when the birds eye view shows the horses spine as being directly on the line of travel. Thus a horse on a circle is straight when it compresses the inside of its body and lengthens the outside so that its spine follows the circle.

This becomes especially important in cross country jumping in terms of the safety of both the horse and the rider.
A horse which jumps crookedly or pushes off the ground unevenly will often land unevenly Sarah says. Taking off and landing crooked puts more stress on one leg and will often lead to acute lameness problems. Also a crooked horse will often not get both front legs up square putting him at increased risk of hitting the jump and possibly having a fall.
Riding technical lines in cross country requires that the horse hold the line or track that the rider chooses which will be based on the riders decision about what is the optimal track for that horse she continues. One exercise that Sarah frequently uses to teach horses and riders to hold a line is the Offset Line.
The most common issue is for riders to drop their eyes then their shoulders and get ahead of the horses motion in the last strides before takeoff. This will result in the horse moving off the intended line or jumping off to one side says Sarah. Riders must find a line that extends beyond the jump they are coming to and keep their eyes on a focal point well beyond the jump.
Set a jump in the centre of the ring. Place one ground pole on each of the diagonal lines passing through the jump at a distance of nine feet from the jump. Proceed by riding across the diagonal and over the ground pole approaching the jump on an angle green solid line.
Sit a little deeper in the saddle and keep your hands low maintaining steady contact with the horses mouth while keeping the neck straight Sarah advises. Channel the power from the