Balance in the Horse

Balance is a frequently discussed topic in dressage (and even much of riding in general), but a lot of people struggle with what it actually means for everyday riding. After all, a horse has four legs; they should be naturally better balanced than humans, right?

However, horses can struggle with their balance and develop a number of compensation patterns as a result as well as undesirable habits, such as rushing or leaning in the bridle if their balance is out of whack. Sometimes, it can have psychological effects, kicking the nervous system into “fight or flight” because they feel unbalanced and thus creating a horse that is more likely to be reactive.

So what does balance actually entail? We usually focus on an “uphill” balance in dressage, but is that always realistic? Or are there times we use other levels of balance?

Longitudinal Balance

Longitudinal balance is the long axis of balance, or the balance between the front end and the back end. There are three basic types of longitudinal balance: forward, neutral, and collected

Horses are generally balanced a bit more forward by nature. Their forequarters are heavier than their hindquarters, and their center of gravity is very close to their elbow. If you add a rider, the horse ends up putting even more weight on the front end. Too much weight, and the horse falls out of balance. When you look at the mechanics of the front end, all of this pressure is being placed on soft tissue structures (the thoracic sling), and these can get tired and cause the front end to start working in a compensation pattern instead of efficiently. This looks like a horse that pulls itself forward with its front legs while the hind legs seem disconnected.

However, there are times that we can use a forward balance to our advantage. The key is that the hind leg can reach the center of gravity. What movement shows this the most? The extended trot! Even though a horse can appear more uphill in an extended trot with training, the weight is still shifted into a more forward balance. However, this is a reason that many (not all) young horses do better ridden forward. Ridden more forward, their hind legs have a chance to reach up and under the center of gravity, allowing them to gradually shift it back later. However, if they’re too far out of balance, no amount of forward riding is going to get the hind end to reach the center of gravity. These are cases that require more delicacy. Nonetheless, we will return to shifting the balance forward and back through the course of training to help develop reach and elasticity of the hind leg as well as general throughness. We can know that the horse is in proper forward balance if it is easy to bring it out of forward balance and back into neutral or collected. If it isn’t easy, then we know that the horse is out of balance.

Neutral balance is more what we want for a basic “working” balance. We can imagine that in this balance, the weight is evenly distributed between the front and hind legs. This is a great balance for the low level horse, the eventer, and for the more advanced horse’s warmup. When the hind leg reaches under the center of gravity, it ends up tracking into the print of the front leg at the trot if not slightly ahead. In this balance, you can feel that the horse is easily adjusted either into a more extended pace or a more collected pace, the extent of which depends on the level of training.

Collected balance is the aim, and there are even levels of collected balance. Generally, collected balance takes more weight onto the hind legs than the fronts. For most dressage, that may not be a lot but may be enough to shift the center of gravity back so that the hind legs don’t quite track up but the withers are lifted by the thoracic sling and the back along with it. For higher demands like haute ecole, Rossfechten, and even some doma vaquera and working equitation (like cantering in a full-pass), the weight shift is even more dramatic. With proper strength training, this kind of balance relieves pressure on the soft tissue structures of the thoracic sling and allows for more efficient carriage of the rider. This is why it has been so emphasized in the past; it is much easier to make the quick maneuvers for battle in intense collection. However, this changed as battlefield tactics changed and more endurance was demanded instead of quick maneuvers in tight quarters. This is one reason modern competitive dressage does not use the range of “low airs” that were described in vivid detail (albeit sometimes contradictory detail, depending on where or when the horsemaster was writing) in Renaissance literature. As we ride, we don’t want to stay in any one balance for long periods of time, even collected; while collection is healthy, it is never healthy to stick with one balance or one posture for too long, as muscles fatigue and paradoxically become tense.

Lateral Balance

Lateral balance is the other axis of balance we have to pay attention to as we ride. This is the side-to-side balance. It’s easy to focus on just the longitudinal balance and forget about the lateral balance. Frequently, a horse will be heavy on one specific shoulder and too light on the opposite hind. This can appear in specific movements or in general, and fixing this imbalance is the purpose of curved lines, turns, and lateral movements.

It’s important to note that they do this in a couple of ways. The first is taking the weight from the heavy side and moving it to the light side, such as leg-yielding from the heavy side to the light side. However, sometimes a horse is not strong or supple enough to make that happen. We try and try to correct it, but we end up just fighting with the horse. Another option is to bring the too-light side closer to where the center of gravity is, like leg-yielding or even turn on the forehand to have the weaker hind leg cross over toward the heavier direction. This is often easier for the weaker or more severely unbalanced horse. It’s also why it’s important to try to work both sides evenly; it allows the horse to develop their balance and proprioception in more dynamic ways for more effective neural training and throughness.

However, different movements will have slightly uneven lateral balance, particularly the lateral movements and curved lines. Each leg bears weight a little differently on these lines, and that’s not a bad thing. The inside hind leg becomes the “carrying” leg, and the outside hind leg the “pushing.” The front legs, too, take on different roles, though not quite as dramatically different as the hind legs.

Conclusion

Proper balance is important both for the physical longevity of the horse and for the neurological or mental wellness of the horse. As we work on balance, however, it’s important to realize that there is no one “correct” balance. Balance is correct according to the requirements of the movement and level of strength and throughness; what is correct for one movement or even level of training may not be for another. We can know it is correct if it is easy to shift the horse from one balance to another with minimal influence. When you find that sweet spot where your horse becomes more cat-like and able to do the work, the feeling will be unlike anything you’d dreamed.

-Emily Wright

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