Straightness becomes much easier to understand when we compare muscle-based movement with Tendon-Based Movement. In muscle-based movement, the muscles are the main structures creating the forces that move the horse’s body. This means that any difference between the muscles on the left and right side can be reflected very clearly in the movement. If one

Riding Straight Lines — The Big Egg: Half-Circle to Straight Line When your horse is already warmed up in walk, trot, and canter, and both sides of his body are equally lengthened and elasticized, we can begin to ride on straight lines. This does not mean that we suddenly leave all the circle work behind

Canter Practice for Straightness, Length, and Connected Relaxation In this part of the Anna’s Riding Method Course we are going to practice the same straightness work in canter. Canter is functionally asymmetrical gait, so we are not looking for the same diagonal symmetry that we could feel in trot. In trot, we can clearly feel

As riders begin working on straightness, it is very easy to fall into ideas that seem logical on the surface, but actually make the horse more tense, more resistant, and more crooked. This happens because straightness is often misunderstood as a problem of positioning. Riders try to keep the horse “between the reins” and “between

In this module, we begin practicing the same body-to-body connection that we established in walk, but now in trot. The goal is not simply to make the horse trot forward, nor to place the head in a certain position. The goal is to teach the horse how to move in trot with a long neck,