Straightness
Horses, like all other
mammals, are crooked to one side. Most often this crookedness goes front right
to hind right with front lift to hand left more the exception. This crookedness
has to do with the way the horse was curled up in the womb and can be compared
in people to right-handedness or left-handedness. Impulsion and self-carriage
in a crooked horse are not directed at his center of balance and therefore
ineffective. The horse is straight when his longitudinal axis (his spine)
follows the track on straight and bent lines. In other words, when the inside
hind legs follow the inside front leg. Since horses are naturally wider in
their hips than their shoulders, and we aim to have the inside hind leg follow
the inside front leg, we call this ‘relative straightness’.
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