How do you teach a horse to walk straight?

[Gail&Merlin]

Sounds daft i know, but how can something that sounds so simple actually be really quite difficult lol..
I am refering to TJ, he had his first solo hack today with rider and a foot person, he was a star but seems to wander all over the place, janine said she loved the ride but seems to spend the whole time trying to stop him either go on verge or up the middle of road lol..and now has very sore legs lol, This walking straight obviously isnt natural lol, we done lots of following lines up the field etc and he is pretty straight, but this all changes when he goes out. Any Tips? The last thing we want is for hacks to be nag nag nag..

[horsey123]

longlining out in lines with some one leading for the first few time then just out alone still being long lined

i also had two very long dressage whips and taught jimmy to move aways from them on his shoulder and quarters and just put pressure on the side his was falling out on

also if my saddle had sliped he will drift to the side there is more weight

also if i have more weight in one stirrup than i have in the outher this also causes him to drift

and little things like if i carrie one hand is a little lower than the outher he willl also drift

[emi]

It comes with time and practice, when we started dressage Conn was all over the place with his centre lines but after doing them many times, he got it in the end! We used poles to guide him, as well as doing lots of halts and making sure they were straight. Also, coming off the track on the long sides so there were no walls to cheat with helped too.

If that was his first hack out, I'm sure he had much more to think about than going straight, it will definitely come with time! He'll be very sensitive to weight like horsey 123 said, so make sure rider is sitting very central and saddle fits etc. Try him in the school first though, can he do a straight line down the centre line? If not, teach him this using definite aids to guide him and apply these when he's out.

[pinkpony]

Yes agree about him having loads to think about out on first hack. So plenty of work at home should then make staightness become alot easier to do when out.

Long lines are good for this...

Ive wondered before about the camber on roads effecting where horses would "naturally" place themselves, some cambers can be quite large...

[Gail&Merlin]

Yes there was alot to think about for him, ive just not experienced a horse struggle with straigtness so much lol.. Thanks for the tips guys.

[marianne]

I'm pretty sure the vast majority of horses know how to walk straight :-) The question is, what are YOU doing to slow him down/distract him .... and how do you lessen the impact of your actions?

(not meant to be flippant, Gail, just what I thought as soon as I saw the title :-) )

[thelwall78]

Florrie did this when she was a baby too but it didn't last long once I'd sussed it. First off the on-foot person has to walk far enough ahead or behind that he's not hanging/drifting onto them for moral support. Second thing I did which was really helpful was to ride "point to point". Ie I picked a point on the road, hedge, path whatever and rode to it, to begin with about 20m at a time, riding from that funny tree, straight on to the different splodge of tarmac, straight on past the manhole cover etc so that I was focussing on something and so she was too, so we went straight - gradually making the points you focus on farther apart.

Its like in the school - if you try and ride a straight line from C to A but you're looking at K or the horses in the field next door or something, you won't ride it straight. But if you stare straight at A, you can't help but ride fairly straight - or at least give yourself a good chance.

Chances are as well as him wandering about looking at things (wherever his vision will go his body will follow!) she's looking around and inadvertantly moving her weight around, and babies are very sensitive to weight aids so he's probably moving around under her accordingly. But focussing on small "milestones" to ride to and to and to along the will will help.

[KoLaTo]

LOL - i have one of those Gail, Tomee the baby does exactly the same, meanders all over the place, even with a lead pony he can't do straight lines and it doesn't help that he doesn't seem to have a clue what the aids are so i am going back to basics with him on the ground first. He's only been out for a few wanders since i've had him, i'll start work in Spring when i have more time with him. If i get just a couple of steps of straightness then thats enough for me at the moment.