Improve your balance and stability by choosing a line of travel between your horse’s ears, aligned with the horse’s line of travel to have it in front of the leg.
Use your seat to encourage going forward and with the flow. The rider’s weight should move with the horse, transferring relaxed energy to achieve connection and a light, harmonious outline.
Many times we use the word straightness opposite to bending. However, it is very important to note that these two come hand in hand rather than opposite to each other. A horse that is crooked is a horse that can be neither straight nor bent.
A horse that is supple and through the back is a straight horse, which in turn is a horse that can bend correctly to both directions without losing the contact and connection.
As shown in the diagram, just as the water can not run smoothly through a twisted hose, energy cannot move from the hind end of the horse through his body and into the bit without straightness. It is imperative that we teach our horses to move forward, straight on the outside rein, especially when we ask for bending.
This is the only way in which we will achieve real impulsion and pushing power which will lead later on to true collection.