{"id":38828,"date":"2017-05-26T11:35:13","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T10:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horseandcountry.tv\/hayley-watson-greaves-keep-your-horse-straight\/"},"modified":"2023-06-07T17:38:31","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T16:38:31","slug":"hayley-watson-greaves-keep-your-horse-straight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/press.horseandcountry.tv\/en-us\/hayley-watson-greaves-keep-your-horse-straight\/","title":{"rendered":"How to keep your horse straight with Hayley Watson-Greaves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you find it hard to keep your horse straight during\u00a0a dressage test? International dressage rider Hayley Watson-Greaves has an exercise to help.<\/em><\/p>\n

Straightness and balance<\/h2>\n

Riders often wonder why their horse wobbles in a test, when he is fine at home. Nine times out of 10 it\u2019s because he can\u2019t balance himself. Most horses are used to hugging the fence line, but in a dressage arena you don\u2019t have walls or a fence to rely on, there are just little boards around the edge.<\/p>\n

By doing exercises off the wall, your\u00a0horse will learn to balance himself, which will\u00a0help him\u00a0gain straightness.<\/p>\n

Start with basic leg yield. It\u2019s important to be very black and white at first, so when you put your right leg on, they move away from it to the left and when you put your left leg on, they move to the right.<\/p>\n

Always use your leg first, but if they don\u2019t respond you can back it up by slapping your boot with your whip to make a noise, so it comes from the leg area.<\/p>\n

Inside\u00a0flexion<\/h2>\n

Once you\u2019ve got him\u00a0off each leg you can start adding rein aids, and ask him to flex to the inside. You\u2019re not asking for anything else, just little bit of flexion to the inside, so be really basic with the aids.<\/p>\n

I start on the outside track, almost pushing the horse into the wall or fence of the arena with my inside leg, while asking for flexion with my inside hand.<\/p>\n

Through to both reins<\/h2>\n

Then do\u00a0the same exercise, working away from the fence to encourage him to find his own balance. When you touch the rein it doesn’t mean he has to turn left or right, you want him to stay on that line, keeping straight through his body, with a little bit of flexion to the inside.<\/p>\n

I’m\u00a0a great believer a\u00a0horse can’t be straight unless he is through to both reins. A horse is normally\u00a0crooked because he is\u00a0hanging on one rein or\u00a0loose on the other. By\u00a0doing these exercises\u00a0off the wall they learn to balance themselves, which helps them gain carriage and straightness.<\/p>\n

For more great advice from Hayley don’t miss her Masterclass Xtra<\/a>, which premieres on H&C Play<\/a> on Friday 26 May at 9pm.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you find it hard to keep your horse straight when you do a dressage test? International dressage rider Hayley Watson-Greaves has an exercise to help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40,84,1635],"tags":[37,338,798,5538,107,2240],"yoast_head":"\nHow to keep your horse straight with Hayley Watson-Greaves | Horse & Country<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you find it hard to keep your horse straight when you do a dressage test? 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