All riders know WHAT they do.
A number of riders know HOW they do it.
Fewer riders know WHY they do what they do.
Why does an exercise like shoulder-in exists? What is the purpose of this exercise? What is the cause of this exercise? Do you belief in this exercise?
Most riders communicate with their horse from the outside in, from the clearest thing (what) to the fuzziest thing (why).
But the inspired riders all act and communicate with the horse from the inside out and they start with WHY*.
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Claudia Wolters is the first Straightness Training Instructor 5th Degree.
Congratulations Claudia!
The mission of an instructor 5th Degree is to spread Straightness Training around the world and to help as many riders and horses as possible.
This is done by supporting Marijke de Jong in the education of new and existing Straightness Training Instructors.
An Instructor 5th Degree is a competent and honest ambassador for Straightness Training!
The first three keys of Straightness Training are:
These keys are closely connected and in this case we can talk about “what came first, the chicken or the egg?”.
The lateral bending relaxes the long back muscle, making the head of the horse stretch forward-down. On the other hand, a horse with a high head and neck cannot bend laterally because of the stiffness in his back.
The lateral bending brings the inside hip of the horse forward, making the hind leg step under the point of mass. And the forward-down tendency of the horse activates the hind leg to swing further forward towards the point of mass so the hind leg makes a bigger step forward. Activating the stepping under of the inside hind leg will on the other hand improve the lateral bending.
So the three keys are closely connected. One cannot exist without the others and the three keys must be trained in harmony.
That’s why I use the term ‘LFS’ to focus on these three keys as a unit during training.
If we would like to ride a horse we should be aware of his natural asymmetry. The natural imbalance is one of the dimensions of natural asymmetry:
In a state of rest, due to the significant excess of weight of head and neck, the fragile front legs carry a much heavier load the the hind legs. This is called the natural balance of the horse.
Nature has equipped the hind quarters not only with greater strength in the skeleton, but also with very powerful muscles. It’s therefore healthier for a horse to carry his own body and the rider’s weight mostly with the flexible hind legs rather than with the fragile front legs. This is called the riding balance of the horse.
So when we would like to ride a horse it’s important:
To do this we use a system of stages of ever-increasing exercises.
To train a horse properly we should take a number of areas in consideration:
1. The body of the horse
2. The mind of the horse
3. The body of the rider
4. The mind of the rider
5. The relationship between both horse and rider
We all know that a horse in physical, mental and emotional balance is a pleasure to work with! And for the horse the following applies: A rider in physical, mental and emotional balance is a pleasure to work with 
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So we have to make sure we eat healthy, do Pilates, Yoga, Tai Chi, meditation or other exercises and do some self improvement and personal development to balance our body and mind.
And straightness training helps to balance our horse’s body and mind, because a relaxed and straightened body will positively affect the mind.
But to have a perfect balanced “inner” horse we have to work on our relationship with our horse and develop our trainer qualities:
We have to make sure that we are able to calm down our horse when he is upset, that we can restore his confidence when he looses it, and that our horse looks forward to doing things with us and not runs away if he sees us.
If you can help your horse to become more supple and stronger in his body and if you can help your horse to get in a calm, relaxed, confident, trusting, respectful and willing state, then you can conquer the world with your horse!
In straightness training we strive for a balanced body and mind of the horse, a balanced body and mind of the rider and a balanced relationship!
If something is out of balance, see it as a challenge!
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