WHAT DOES THE racehorse who runs better around left-handed tracks have in common with the showjumper who consistently jumps to the right? It is likely that they both carry asymmetry in their bodies, which means that they find some things biomechanically more challenging one way than the other.
There are many factors that can cause asymmetry in horses, from conformational issues, previous injuries and poor farriery to a crooked rider, uneven saddle flocking and certain stable habits. Horses will often carry these with them throughout their lives with no significant illeffects — problems only arise when thresholds are exceeded and the balance of these forces tips.
Russell Mackechnie-Guire of Centaur Biomechanics has developed sophisticated gait analysis software to measure horse and rider asymmetry (Your Horse, November 2022), but he says that there are easy ways to assess your horse's asymmetries simply by observing him from the ground.
“Ideally, we want to train our horses to be ambidextrous and use both sides of their bodies equally so that the strongest muscles don't get stronger while the weakest muscles get weaker,” he explains. “To be able to do this we
