Quiet Riding

"...you will have to work on making your horse straight every single day in training. This holds true regardless of whether you're just starting out or whether your horse has reached the highest levels of dressage schooling."

"To maintain straightness, you need to ride with both legs and both hands."

"Make a corridor with your legs and reins, and let your horse bounce against the aids like a ping-pong ball until he finally stays straight."

"If the horse isn't lined up well from tail to ears, it is not using both sides of its body equally well."

"To use the horse's power efficiently, the horse's entire spine should adopt the same line as the line the horse is traveling."

"Incorrect, mechanical means of fixing natural crookedness lead to strengthening it instead."

"Classical Riding theory maintains that a horse can only be straightened when he can move in horizontal balance."

"Alleviating natural crookedness is critical in order to achieve Straightness."

"...horizontal balance is the most critical prerequisite for straightening, which forms the foundation for the development of vertical balance."

"I believe the rider's incorrect response to natural crookedness is one of the main sources of errors in horse training."

"A horse is straight when his hind feet go forward on the same lines as their respective front feet."

"...he will never learn to go straight if you try to do it with the reins."

"...the horse is straight going around a corner — or on a circle — when his spine is bent full length to the arc."

"...a straight horse steps the hind foot into the track of the corresponding font foot."

"Basic straightness means that a horse steps forward with his hind feet on exactly the same lines as their respective front feet, keeping his spine in line with the track he is traveling whether it is straight or curved."

"Do not try to straighten him by pulling the bit back to him."