The ST Evaluation Program is an online coaching experience.

The structured ST Evaluation Program is designed to evaluate and measure your level of skill and that of your horse through video coaching.

It’s about comparing yourself to a standard and measuring your own progress.

The program gives you a pathway for making structured and consistent progress in all five training pillars - Groundwork, Longeing, Work in Hand, Riding, and Liberty.

Through the assessment of a set of predefined exercises in a video - called a Touchstone - you can demonstrate your ability to perform the ST exercises that are outlined in the ST Mastery Program, aka the STclopedia.

The ST Evaluation Program is not intended to be used to compare yourself to others. It's also not meant as an instrument to compete with others.

The ST Evaluation Program is positioned as a Coaching and Learning environment, NOT as a Competition or Examination environment.

Therefore, submitting a video with the intention to only “pass the test” is not the point. 

Remember the saying:

"If the purpose of learning is to score well on a test, you’ve lost the real reason for learning."

Mastery Students can submit:

• Touchstone evaluation requests
• In all training pillars
• In all grades

Entry Course Students can submit:

• Touchstone evaluation requests
• In Groundwork
• In Grade 1 and 2

Scholars can submit:

• Hot Seat coaching requests
• Breakthrough coaching requests
• Touchstone evaluation requests
• In all training pillars
• In all grades

ST enthusiasts who are not part of one of our programs cannot submit online coaching requests as they do not have access to the ST Evaluation Program.

1. Go to straightnesstrainingevaluation.com

2. Login

3. Go to the Support section 

4. Check out 7 Steps To Set You And Your Horse Up For Success!

The ST Mastery Program gives you everything you need to progress through the entire ST Evaluation Program.

It contains all concepts you need and the exact "how-to" information on all essential Training Pillars of Straightness Training:

1. Groundwork
2. Longeing
3. Work in hand
4. Riding
5. ST at Liberty.

The Mastery Program is the “Encyclopaedia of Straightness Training”.

This "STclopedia" consists of an extensive library of videos and manuals which covers every aspect, essence, and concept of Straightness Training.

With the Mastery Program, you can prepare yourself for all 5 Grades in all 5 Training Pillars.

Touchstone Examples: Yes/No?

We deliberately have chosen not to publish example videos for each Touchstone.

This is because we do not want our Scholars to put an effort in ‘imitating’ exercises or ‘copying’ a certain style of execution of a Touchstone, ending up with 'look-a-likes'.

We don't want our Scholars to seek to follow in the footsteps of the masters; instead, we want them to seek what they sought.

In other words, we want our Scholars to search for and work with the true essence of each exercise, and to become an original by developing a personal signature style of doing the Touchstones, according to the general guidelines.

The ST Lab Cycle is key

It’s our experience that the best way to study and to develop is:

• To think first, act later, and dive deeply into the ST Mastery Program.
• To put things into practice in your laboratory.
• To explore and gain experience from the inside-out by doing trial-and-error.
• To go through a learning curve with ups and downs while striving for constant and never-ending improvement with the help of an ST Academy Coach and ST Evaluator.

This way you grow your knowledge and skills and create a personal style while developing towards the level of a true Master and authentic artist.

Tips

• A display of diversity in the style of execution of the Touchstones can be obtained by studying the library of Completed Touchstones submitted by other Scholars.
• Watch the sequence videos in the ST Mastery Modules.
• Study the script illustration videos in the ST Evaluation Portal. Combined with the script, you’ll know what is to be expected in the Touchstone you're about to submit.

A team of ST Academy Coaches and ST Evaluators that are members of Marijke’s Straightness Training Instructor Network (STIN) will evaluate your videos.

Evaluators are all licenced ST Instructors who have done additional training in order to be able to evaluate. 

The ST Evaluators follow the ST Evaluation Guidelines, and the standard of evaluations is closely monitored to guarantee high quality.

Hot Seat & Breakthrough Coaching

In the booking systems you can choose your ST Academy coach and class date & time.

Touchstone coaching

It is not possible to express a preference for a specific ST Evaluator.

We make sure there's a balanced spread of the submitted Touchstones across all ST Evaluators.

In this process of assigning the Touchstones, we takes into account the country in which the student lives, the pillar and grade in which the student is working, and who has evaluated the previous Touchstones for this student.

Touchstone certificate

When your work matches a certain standard, you'll pass this Touchstone and receive a Touchstone certificate.

Grade certificate

Once you have passed all Touchstones in a certain grade, you'll receive a Grade certificate.

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All certificates will be sent by email. 

EXPIRY DATE

When you log in to the Evaluation Program, you can check out the exact expiry dates of your Touchstones:

1. Log-in to the ST Evaluation Program.
2. Click on ‘My Dashboard’ in the top menu.
3. Scroll down and at the bottom of the page, you will see a list of your Touchstone credits including the dates on which they expire.

Scholar Touchstones:

• The monthly Touchstone is valid until midnight on the final day of the month, Portugal time.
• If you do not use the Touchstone it will expire but you will have another one the next day for the next month. 
• You do not ‘store’ the Touchstones you don’t use – but you get a new one each month and it is up to you whether you use it or not.

• The reason your monthly Scholar Touchstone might be expired is that the portal operates in a different time zone than your own. The portal runs in the Portuguese time-zone as this is where the headquarters are located. For this reason, it is always a good idea to avoid submitting on the very last day!

Mastery students' Touchstones:

• Purchased Touchstones are valid for one (1) year.

IMPORTANT

• The ST Evaluation system is operating on Portuguese time so your requests might expire a few hours earlier than they would in your time zone!
• Touchstones and other coaching requests are non-transferable.
• Touchstones and other coaching requests cannot be exchanged for cash.

No, extensions are not possible. Here are the reasons why:

A Touchstone creates a 'sort of' agreement between students and Evaluators.

With a lot of students on board, we have to be able to forecast the number of Touchstones we have to evaluate each month.

If there's no submission deadline on a Touchstone, the workload becomes unpredictable and unmanageable. If the number of unused Touchstones starts to stack over the months and years it can create problems when people do finally submit. 

Can you make an exception for me?

Unfortunately, we don't make exceptions on the Touchstone deadlines.

Many Scholars are dealing with difficulties of various kinds, that's part of life, and it is not possible for us to give all these students an extension.

So submit the Touchstones you can use, make the best of the situation, and know that the feedback will be helpful! 

The power of theory

Don't worry if you can't submit a Scholars Touchstone in one or more months.

You'll learn loads by seeing other Scholars going through the monthly cycles. 

And not being able to submit Touchstones means you have more time to dive into the theory.

A month where you don't submit is the perfect time to really take on board ‘the bigger picture' and to apply the ‘Think First, Act Later’ principle.

As François Robichon de La Guérinière (1688-1751) said: “In order to attain excellence in this art, it is necessary to be prepared for the difficulties encountered in the practice by a clear and firm theory.”

So not being able to train and submit Touchstones creates the perfect opportunity to study, because that will set you up for success in practice.

The ST Evaluation system is operating on Portuguese time so make sure to submit your requests according to that Time Zone:

• WET during winter time
• WEST during summer time

What if your Touchstone has expired?

The reason your Touchstone has expired is that the portal operates on a different time-zone than your own.

The portal runs on the Portuguese time-zone as this is where the headquarters are located.

Tip

Don't wait, don't hesitate, don't procrastnate and avoid submitting on the very last day on the very last moment when submitting your request. 

Due to the sheer number of Scholar Touchstones submitted, the team applies the "FIFO" approach, which means, “First In, First Out”.

The team of ST Evaluators strive to send you the evaluation form in a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 30 days. Whether it will be 3 or 30 days depends on the total number of submitted Scholar Touchstones that are in the pipeline.

No matter how many Scholar Touchstones are submitted each month, the ST Evaluators take the time it takes to complete a thorough evaluation.

HOLIDAY SEASON

In the holiday season, we're closed between 15 December - 1 January, so if you submit within this period, we will consider your Touchstone to have been submitted on January 1st. This means you can expect feedback between 3 and 30 days after the 1st of January.

If you cannot find a Touchstone, this may be because of one or more of the following three reasons:

1. Only evaluation forms of passed Touchstones are visible. 

2. Only evaluation forms of Groundwork Grade 1 Touchstones that are scored above 80 are visible.

3. Only the evaluation forms of Scholars and Mastery Students who agreed to publication are published.

4. Only a selection of "Completed Touchstones" are visible due to the enormous number of submitted and passed Touchstones since the start of the program in 2014 (3000+ Touchstones).

Therefore, to reach a really good overall standard in the ST community, we only present a set of Touchstones that meet our new definitions and standards.

This means: 

• We make an appropriate selection from the Completed Touchstones library so as not to overwhelm or confuse people, and to give them the best possible support in their preparation for a Touchstone.
• Touchstones submitted before 1/1/2019 are not visible. 

You can graduate with and without the training pillar Riding.

Basic Grade graduation:

You graduate when you passed the Grade Touchstones in:

1. Groundwork
2. Longeing
3. Work in hand
4. ST at liberty

Grade graduation

You graduate when you passed the Grade Touchstones in:

1. Groundwork
2. Longeing
3. Work in hand
4. Riding
5. ST at liberty

Criteria

• In order to get certified in a certain grade, all Touchstones in this Grade have to be performed with the same horse-human combination.
• The horse has to be educated by the human in question (i.e. not someone else).
• All Touchstones need to be at least of one-star quality according to the 2019 Standard. This means that Touchstones completed before 1/1/2019 do not meet that current standard, and are therefore not included when determining whether someone is eligible for Grade graduation.
• All Touchstones within a certain Grade need to be completed according to the minimum required standard (1-star pass or higher) within a time span of 5 years. For example, if the Groundwork Grade 1 Touchstone was a pass in January 2019, the other Touchstones in the other  Training Pillars have to be a pass before January 2024.

Scores

On the form, the evaluation is divided into separate groups of exercises, which have been rated on a scale from 0 to 10:

10. Excellent
9.   Very good
8.   Good
7.   Fairly good
6.   Sufficient
5.   Almost sufficient
4.   Insufficient
3.   Fairly bad
2.   Bad
1.   Very bad
0.   Not performed

Overall impression counts double

The overall impression of your performance is rated, and this score is doubled.

Extra score 5.5.

As of August 2021, we will be using the score 5.5. but ONLY on the level of Groundwork Grade 1.

With a very first Groundwork Grade 1 submission, we not only take the actual ST performance into consideration but also all the elements that need to be figured out to produce a complete coaching request, which includes:

• How to teach the horse the exercises
• How to do a script
• How to film
• How to put a video on Youtube
• How to submit a coaching request

When a student is heading in the right direction, but the work is not sufficient yet, this will be reflected in the 5.5.

Average result

• If the average of all exercises has been rated between 5.5 and 6.4, you receive 1 star for your Touchstone.
• If the average of all exercises has been rated between 6.5 and 7.4, you receive 2 stars for your Touchstone.
• If the average of all exercises has been rated between 7.5 and 8.4, you receive 3 stars for your Touchstone.
• If the average of all exercises has been rated between 8.5 and 10, you receive 4 stars for your Touchstone.

Stars

The end-result is reflected in a star, and the stars mean:

★ Satisfactory
★★  Fairly Good
★★★  Good
★★★★ Very good

If you don't stick to the script in your Touchstone video, you will get lower marks, but you will receive valuable feedback anyway.

Free format?

It's not possible to submit a Hot Seat or Touchstone in a 'free format'. But remember, in Groundwork Grade 1, only a few steps in haunches-in are required, so it doesn't have to be a whole long side and it doesn't have to be perfect. 

Only the 2-minute Breakthrough video (Scholars Program only) doesn't have to be according to the script.  

Yes, Scholars, Mastery students and students in the Basic ST Instructor Certification Program can purchase extra Touchstones:

1. Go to https://www.straightnesstrainingevaluation.com/
2. Login
3. Chose 'Touchstones' in the top menu.
4. Click on 'Buy a Touchstone' in the dropdown menu that appears.
5. Click on the Grade of your choice.
6. Click on 'Choose an option' to select the pillar of your choice.
7. Click on 'Add to cart'.
8. Next, you click on 'Checkout' and just follow the steps.
9. Once you have purchased the Touchstone, you can go to the 'Evaluation Request' form and submit your Touchstone.

If you buy an additional Touchstone from the Evaluation Program it is valid for 12 months, from the date of purchase.

Touchstones are non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash.

You will start in Groundwork at Grade 1, no matter your level of experience.

This means, your very first online coaching request in the ST Evaluation Program will be Groundwork – Grade 1.

This Touchstone will carefully prepare you for all the other training pillars: Longeing, Work in hand, Riding, and Liberty.

To pass the Groundwork Grade 1 Touchstone, requires an average of 5.5. and a total score of 77.

You'll stay in the Groundwork Grade 1 pillar until you reach the total score of  80, and then you can start submitting coaching requests in other training pillars.

In every training pillar - Groundwork, Longeing, Work in hand, Riding and Liberty - you will start with Grade 1, whether you are a beginner or an advanced rider.

In other words, each training pillar must be built up through the submission of sequential Touchstones, starting at grade 1, followed by grade 2, 3, 4 and then 5.

Yes, if you don’t ride, or have an unrideable horse, you can skip the Riding Touchstones. 

You’ll receive Touchstone certificates for the pillars you successfully submit and receive a receive a Basic Grade certificate for passing the Touchstones in groundwork, longeing, work in hand and ST at liberty.

A Grade certificate can only be achieved if all pillars in a grade have been successfully completed.

Also, see FAQ 2.6.

NOTE: You can start the Basic ST Instructor Program without practicing the Riding pillar.

If you don’t want to become an ST Instructor and if you don’t want to get certified in Grade 1 or higher, you can use any horse you’d like.

Yes, it’s possible to start more than one horse in the ST Evaluation Program.

To graduate in a Grade it needs the same horse in all Touchstones (see FAQ 2.6.)

Only if you graduated with one horse in Grade 1, you can start a second horse immediately in Grade 2 (see FAQ 2.6.).

We recommend that you use a Straightness Training cavesson.

There is some flexibility in this, but in pursuing mastery in all five grades, you will need to use a cavesson.

The cavesson is an essential tool in Straightness Training.

In ST, we always start bitless to spare the mouth and to preserve the sensitivity of the mouth. This is because, in the beginning, most horses are quite stiff in the body, because of the natural asymmetry. Therefore, a bit is only introduced later on in the horse's education - but ONLY if a rider would like to. So of course, a bit isn't mandatory, and if you wish to carry on bitless that is fine.

We have students from all over the world, and some of them work in fancy indoor riding arenas while others practice in an unlevel pasture.

And both end up with great results!

So just work with what you have - the most important thing is whether your horse is still able to perform the exercises.

When you start filming your Touchstones, you can always mark a certain rectangular area in your field with some cones or moveable poles and use that area. You need a rectangular area, paddock, or pasture to work in, but it doesn’t have to be a real arena.

We recommend the following proportions:

• 20 x 40m  (1 meter = approx. 3 feet)
• 20 x 30m
• 15 × 30m

You cannot use a small square paddock, sized for example 10 ×10 m or 20 x 20m. You also can’t use a round pen.

We’ve had one 80+ year old student purchase his first laptop (ever) to do the program. As long as you’re hungry to learn and a researcher for life, you’ll be fine.

Using Google you will find information on how to create a Youtube Account.

Don’t worry. If you ONLY want an ST Evaluator to see your video, there are two simple things you need to do:

1. Put your video on ‘unlisted’ in YouTube. An unlisted video is a different type of private video. ‘Unlisted’ means that only people who know the link to the video can view it (such as friends or family or the ST Evaluation system to whom you send the link). An unlisted video will not appear in any of YouTube’s public spaces (such as search results, your channel, or the Browse page).

2. When you make the evaluation request on the home page of the ST Evaluation website, make sure not to tick the box with the ‘Legal Disclaimer’. This way your video and evaluation form don't get published to the ST Community or to the public.

With the video it’s important that we can see both you and your horse properly; otherwise, we can’t evaluate you, and we can’t give you proper advice and feedback.

It’s best when you and your horse fill up the screen completely and when you keep the camera shot as constant and stable as possible.

Therefore ask somebody to operate your camera, and use the camera’s zoom to film at the appropriate distance and zoom in/out gradually.

The camera should be positioned in the middle of a short side of the riding arena and please use a tripod for camera stability.

If you use a robot camera, please make sure the zoom works well.

With Soloshot specifically, you can choose ‘tight’, ‘medium’, ‘wide’ and ‘extra wide’:

– Tight: 12 meters (6 meters on either side of the subject)
– Medium: 20 meters (10 meters on either side of the subject)
– Wide: 40 meters (20 meters on either side of the subject)
– Extra Wide: 80 meters (40 meters on either side of the subject)

Now when it comes to videos, only the ‘tight’ option allows evaluators to see details.

The ‘medium’ option is needed for longeing because the horse spirals out, just to keep both the rider and horse in the frame. However, the ‘medium’ option has a limited zoom, and we can barely see any details on a video when this option is chosen.

Therefore, after much experience analysing Touchstones filmed with Soloshot, we have come to two conclusions:

1. In the ST Evaluation Program, Soloshot can be used in the Groundwork, Work in hand, Riding and Liberty Touchstones when the ‘tight’ option is chosen.

You can tighten the zoom manually after setting the robot up. To do this, zoom in after you’ve completed the walk and pairing. Here is what you need to do to make this work:

• Start tracking (robot follows the watch),
• Position the watch at the end of the arena,
• Go back to the robot without the watch,
• Press ZOOM IN or OUT to set-up the desired frame.

2. For the Longeing Touchstones, it’s best to find a camera person for tailor-made filming and proper zooming.

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Whenever you use the robot, do some trial and error first, to fine-tune the footage with 2mm at the time, and once you have figured out the best settings, feel free to submit your video.

To find the link for your video, you need to do the following:

1. Login to Youtube.
2. Go to your video.
3. Click on the ‘Share’ button below your video.
4. Here Youtube will offer you a link to copy. Copy this link.
5. You can then paste this link into the Evaluation Request form.

If you're an Entry Course, Mastery or Scholars member, then join the official Straightness Training (ST) Evaluation Facebook group. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/StraightnessTrainingEvaluation/

If you use a nickname or your company name on Facebook, please send an email to [email protected] with your original name and your nick/company name, so we know it’s you.

Click here to hear what students have to say about their experience with the ST Evaluation Program.

The ST Community is a social network in which personal information may be exchanged between participants.

You are entirely responsible for deciding how much of your personal information you wish to share in the Community.

By taking part in the Communitiy, you agree to keep information of other members confidential.

Please review our PRIVACY POLICY to learn how we manage personal information.

All Scholars materials, coaching, live group coaching classes, class replays, class recordings, transcripts, workshops and workshop recordings, as well as the personal information of individual Scholars are to be kept confidential.

These details may not be duplicated, shared, posted on social media or utilized in any way.

Online coaching sessions are kept as confidential as possible.

The sole purpose of the Scholars program is to provide educational materials and coaching in the area of Straightness Training.

All tips, advice, comments, and ideas offered by an Academy Coach or ST Evaluator are solely for the purpose of aiding a Scholar in achieving their defined Straightness Training goals.

All coaching services are meant to help you identify the obstacles that may be standing in your way of finding balance in your horse’s body, mind, heart, and soul.

However, please note that the Scholars program does not guarantee results - see also our Disclaimer & Liability Chapter 5.3. on this page:

https://www.straightnesstraining.com/terms-conditions/ 

Remember, between stimulus and response, you have a choice, which means, you're free to agree or disagree with a coach and you're free to follow any given advice or not. 

The Scholars Program is all about taking responsibility and using the ability to respond - which means, you always have a choice in what you think, feel, and do. Your personal and individual choices will influence your results. 

If you're a Scholar, make sure to check chapter 6 in the Experience Guide with many tips on how to submit.

If you can't find the answer there, please write to us at [email protected] and we’ll happily take care of you.