Keeping a horse straight or changing his mind

25 years ago I was discussing with another what we really needed in a horse and I remember saying something to the effect that I really valued straightness when moving forward....I needed a horse to move out on a fast walk or trot going forward and straight. These days I'd answer differently. I value softness and response and tend to think more about straightness as balance. Anyway, that memory popped up when a gent asked me about keeping a horse going in a straight line when walking. He said that half the time his horse is looking left or right at anything or nothing and end up moving in a serpentine all the time. Of course, if a horse turns his head and neck so much to one side it can have the tendency for that horse to short stride the side he is looking to as he ends up tightening his neck and shoulder. In fact, some riders when asking for a lead departure or doing lead changes will tip the horse's head to the side opposite the front foot they want to extend. Anyway, I said I would address what I thought about this and for what it is worth, here it is, but this is really not about straightness,...it's about  changing a thought in your horse.

It can be really annoying when riding a horse at a walk and the horse bends his head and neck either left or right so both eyes are looking in that direction. We all know the vision horse's have, around 340 degrees if I remember correctly, but anyway they have a wide range of vision with one eye. Much like when a horse raises his head at something, to determine if it's a threat or not, so they can get elevation and look straight out the middle of the eye, so they will also turn their heads left or right so they can put two eyes on something. If they turn their heads too much left or right they bend their necks enough that affects their shoulders, balance and foot falls. Rider's end up pulling on the reins opposite the horse's head turning to get their heads back straight. That seems to be the 'go to' tool a lot of rider's have. But it can worry a horse, all this nit picking. 

I try not to make a felony if my horse's look left or right for a second or two then brings their heads back straight - they are naturally more comfortable with their heads straight and will usually get there on their own, but again there is the balance aspect, and the rider should be able to keep the horse between his legs and reins. But if they don't get their head back straight quickly, instead of pulling their head straight with the opposite reins (I used to do a lot of that) I do two other things which are not physically or manually putting them back into position, but rather trying to get his mind back to thinking straight. I kind of think of it as the age old human trick or sneaking up on someone's right side then tapping their left shoulder to get them to look left.

If the rider is in contact with the bit or hackamore, or riding in a loose reins (preferably), the rider can simply put a feel, meaning a light bump or vibration in the opposite rein to get the horse thinking opposite of where he is looking. One way to do this is to slightly cant the wrists outside or down, or briefly close the last two fingers of the rein hand opposite of where the horse is looking. Not too long ago, I wrote a response to a reader who was asking how to correct a horse who was always looking to spook,....just waiting for something to jump out at him. And I replied much to the same thing, to get the horse's mind on something else such as asking for softness or vertical flexion. All the same idea, just change his mind, change what he is thinking about for a brief second or two. Then you'll likely have to repeat and repeat.  But this is subtle and doesn't wear you or your horse out.

Another thing to try, and you can try this just sitting on your horse, is to apply just as small amount of leg pressure as you can get away with to get the horse's opposite ear tipping to that side to correct. I am going to try and illustrate that in the series of photos below. Again, you need to use as little pressure as possible to get his ear to tip to show he is thinking about that side and good timing to release any pressure as he is thinking about or beginning to tip his ear, or he may even move his nose to that side.

photo below: As I am applying just a bit of pressure to my horse's barrel on the right side his ear begins to tip to the right. As soon as I see him begin to think about tipping his ear or beginning to tip (or turn it if you prefer) I'll release my light touch on his barrel. I tend to use my calf, but you could use the inside of the heel of your boot or touching them with your spur (and I mean just touching them). You may get a bigger response of using your spur though.

photo below: You can see my horse follow his ear with his head, but by the time he is actually beginning to move his head I have already released the pressure, but he continues to follow through with his thought.

photos below: Same deal on my horse, just to the left side.  So the next time you ride your horse, try this out and see just how light of pressure you can use to get your horse to change his mind.