Apple Creek Stables

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Most riders believe their horse is straight because they can ride down the rail without drifting. But straightness is not about staying between two fences. It’s about alignment through the body, from poll to hind foot. That alignment directly affects performance, confidence, and long-term soundness.

Carleton Brooks returns again and again to fundamentals. In discussing conformation, he reminds readers plainly: “Form is function, so a horse is going to hold up better if their body is more correct.” If the body is not aligned correctly, whether due to build or training, the function suffers. “The way their legs line up underneath their body is very important.”

Straightness means the hind feet follow the line of the front feet. The shoulders and hips stay aligned with the direction of travel. The horse pushes evenly into both reins. There is no drifting shoulder, no escaping haunch, no neck bent one way while the ribcage falls the other.

Almost every horse is naturally crooked. That’s normal. What matters is whether we address it or allow it to become habitual compensation. When crookedness becomes a pattern, one hind leg works harder. One shoulder carries more weight. Over time, uneven loading affects muscle development, jump technique, and durability.

Brooks illustrates structural imbalance with a simple analogy: “If your table has one leg that’s not straight, it is not going to be sturdy.” The same principle applies under saddle. A body that is not aligned cannot remain sturdy under athletic demand.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/03/10/straightness-is-not-just-a-line-why-crooked-horses-cant-jump-their-best/
📸 © Heather N. Photography

When trainer Geoff Case watches riders flatting their horses, he sees a lot of the same thing: people lapping the ring, zoning out, and missing a huge opportunity. “It’s one of my biggest pet peeves,” Case said. “People just go around the outside, staring off into space. That’s not riding. That’s exercise.”

In Case’s eyes, flatwork isn’t just something to do when you’re not jumping—it’s where you actually become a better rider.

To Case, a good flat session should feel like a jumping round. “You should be riding lines, bending, adjusting your rhythm,” he said. “Every step is a chance to make something better.”

He encourages riders to ride patterns and turns with purpose. “Don’t just stay on the rail,” he said. “Use the whole ring. Make a circle, ride across the diagonal, do transitions in different places. Ride like you’re setting up for a jump.”

That kind of thinking builds skills that directly transfer to the show ring. “When you ride with that much attention, the horse gets sharper, you get straighter, and suddenly your distances show up easier,” he said.

The flat, he added, is where you learn timing, balance, and control without the distraction of fences. “If you can’t organize yourself between the jumps, you won’t do it over them either.”

For Case, good riding starts with details: straightness, rhythm, transitions, and connection. The riders who stand out to him in the warm-up ring are the ones who treat flatwork like an art form, not an afterthought.

“You can tell the difference between someone who’s just getting around and someone who’s actually training,” he said. “It’s in the way they ride their corners, how they prepare for a transition, how the horse looks in the bridle.”

That difference shows up in competition. “When you’re in the ring, it’s too late to be figuring those things out,” he said. “If you’ve already practiced being precise on the flat, it’s automatic when you’re showing.”

Case also pointed out that judges can spot the riders who do their homework. “Even in a jumping round, you can tell who spends time on the flat,” he said. “Their horses are balanced and adjustable. It’s obvious.”

Many riders, especially less experienced ones, rely on the rail for security or spacing. Case urges them to break that habit. “The rail becomes a crutch,” he said. “You stop steering, you stop thinking. You let the wall do the work for you.”

Instead, he suggests riding off the track, staying a few feet inside the rail to keep both you and your horse accountable. “When you come off the wall, suddenly you have to ride,” he said. “You’ve got to keep your line straight, keep the horse between your leg and hand, and make the turns yourself.”

At first, this can feel uncomfortable, but that’s exactly the point. “It’s supposed to feel different,” Case explained. “That’s how you know you’re actually doing something.”

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/11/15/get-off-the-rail-creativity-and-focus-in-flatwork/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

Moving the body parts in the aisle

Professional Amateurs, Amateur Professionals.

Over the last 10 years, I’ve been lucky to spend a lot of time shadowing some of the best coaches in the world, and watching how the best riders in the world train and work with their horses.
Officially, the difference between an amateur rider and a professional rider is that one rides for pleasure and one rides for payment - but I’m a massive believer in that amateur riders can ride like professionals.

The key differences:

1️⃣ Stay in the moment.. Amateurs are led by emotion vs Professionals are led by logic.

2️⃣ Choose your hard.. Amateurs want it to feel good/easy now, which can make for hard later down the line vs Professionals will work hard now with the hope it’ll make the next ride easier.

3️⃣ Setting yourself up for success.. Amateur riders usually wait for an opportunity vs Professionals create opportunities, they make things happen.

4️⃣ Pilot/passenger.. Amateurs are usually led by the horse vs Professionals lead the way.

5️⃣ Forward thinking.. Amateurs are usually 1 step behind the horse, or the course, vs Professionals are usually 2 steps ahead.

6️⃣ Ready4Trouble.. Amateur riders start to anticipate an issue vs Professionals acknowledge there may be an issue, are ready for it, but stick to the plan until it happens.

7️⃣ A good dressage judge.. Amateur riders tend to sit on a 6.5 pressure scale (not enough when needed, too much when not needed) vs Professionals will go up to a 9 and down to a 3.

8️⃣ Subtlety.. Amateurs will often use 1 big aid, wait, then apply 1 big aid vs Professionals will continuously be working the power, balance and softness every stride.

9️⃣ Expectation.. Amateurs will often settle for ‘good enough’ vs Professionals will always strive for 1 better.

🔟 Balance.. Amateur riders will be dependant on the horses balance vs Professionals will be completely independent.

1️⃣1️⃣ Stick to the plan. Especially XC and with young horses, Amateurs will try to put the horse on the line and go with them vs Professionals put themselves on the line, and bring the horses with them.

1️⃣2️⃣ Reaction time. Timing of an aid is critical, by the time an Amateur has applied an aid or corrected a mistake, Professionals will have already moved onto the next thing.

1️⃣3️⃣ World Class Basics. Horses learn by repetition, often we think as you go up the levels it’s all about fancy movements and jumping big jumps, but 90% of the time Professionals will continuously be chipping away at the basics.

I asked Chris Bartle last year what makes the guys at the top so good, and he said ‘in the moment, they are willing to do what is necessary, not what they would like to do’.

A BE90/100 rider that has a full time office job outside of horses can ride like a professional, whilst still riding for pleasure (and I’m lucky to work with lots of them).
Having 20 horses in your yard does not make you a professional.

👊🏽
‘That makes you look like an amateur’
‘You rode that like an absolute pro’

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I forgot to post this last month as we were in the north pole for like 3 weeks and I was crabby. We had a great show, and it was cold that is it:)