You ask for a circle to the left and it flows.

You ask for the same circle to the right and suddenly everything changes.

They brace through the neck. The bend feels like you're pushing through concrete. They fall out through the outside shoulder. Or they just feel… stuck.

Sound familiar? 🦄

You're not imagining it. And your horse isn't being awkward.

They're just stiffer on one rein than the other.

And here's the thing — that's completely normal.

Just like humans have a dominant hand, horses have a dominant side. It's natural, it's physical, and every single horse I've worked with in 15 years has it to some degree.

The problem isn't that it exists.

The problem is what happens when it goes unaddressed. ✨

Here's what I see happen most often.

The stiffness starts subtle. You notice it on a circle, maybe when you ask for a transition. You do a bit more work on that rein. You try to push through it.

But because the horse is carrying a rider — your weight, your position, your balance — it's almost impossible to isolate what's actually happening underneath.

The horse compensates. The stronger side takes over. The weaker side gets weaker. The pattern gets more established.

And over time, you start to see it everywhere. 💚

Uneven muscle development — bigger through one shoulder, less through the other. Resistance on that same rein, every single session. A feeling that no matter how much you work on it, it doesn't really change.

That's not a training problem.

That's a whole body problem — and it needs a whole body solution.

This is exactly what I talked about in last week's live training.

And it's exactly why Azuro's crookedness became such a focus for me after his surgery.

His kissing spine had affected how he used his back — and once we got through the surgery and the initial rehab, his crookedness became much more obvious. His body had learned to compensate, to avoid, to protect. One side stronger, one side less willing to engage.

And trying to address it under saddle alone — with my weight on his back, with all the complexity of ridden work — just wasn't giving us what we needed.

So I added in-hand work alongside everything else we were doing. 🐎

In-hand work changed everything for us.

And here's why it works so well for crookedness specifically.

When you remove the weight of a rider, you remove one of the biggest complicating factors. The horse can move more freely. You can see exactly what's happening — which shoulder is drifting, which hindleg is stepping under less, where the stiffness is actually coming from.

And from there, you can start to work it. Directly. Specifically. Without the noise of ridden work getting in the way.

You're not just pushing them around a circle hoping something changes.

You're actually targeting the asymmetry at its source. 💪

And one of my favourite things about in-hand work?

Sometimes you get to witness a genuine penny drop moment. 🦄

The horse suddenly realises they can move in a way they've been avoiding — whether that was because of tension, habit, or simply because nobody had ever shown them it was possible. You can see it happen in real time. A shift through the body. A softening. A new way of going that wasn't there before.

Those moments are why I love this work so much.

From the ground you can:

Work the stiffer side in a slow, focussed way without overloading it. Build the weaker muscles gradually and consistently. See progress in real time — and feel it the next time you ride.

And when you combine in-hand work with core activation exercises beforehand — switching on those deep postural muscles before you ask anything — the whole thing works even faster.

Core activation first. In-hand work second.

The two together are one of the most effective combinations I know for addressing crookedness properly. 🦄

My In-Hand Exercises Course takes you through exactly how to do this — step by step, with video demonstrations for every exercise, specifically designed to help you work with your horse's natural asymmetry rather than fight it.

Currently half price at just £49.50 / $68 with lifetime access.

👉 Click HERE for In Hand Course details

And if you're not yet doing core activation with your horse before your sessions — that's the foundation everything else is built on.

Core Exercises Course — just £9 / $12 with lifetime access.

👉 Click HERE for Core Exercises course details 

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