Shoulder-in

Last updated February 22, 2019

The shoulder-in is a lateral movement in dressage used to supple and balance the horse and encourage use of its hindquarters. It is performed on three tracks, where the horse is bent around the rider's inside leg so that the horse's inside hind leg and outside foreleg travel on the same line. For some authors it is a "key lesson" of dressage, performed on a daily basis.^[1]

Lateral movements or lateral flexions within equestrianism, have a specific meaning, used to refer to movements made by a horse where the animal is moving in a direction other than straight forward. They are used both in training and in competition, vary in difficulty, and are used in a progressive manner, according to the training and physical limitations of the animal.

Dressage highly skilled form of riding performed in exhibition and competition

Dressage is a highly skilled form of riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an "art" sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined by the International Equestrian Federation, dressage is "the highest expression of horse training" where "horse and rider are expected to perform from memory a series of predetermined movements."

History

In the seventeenth century, Antoine de Pluvinel used the basic shoulder-in exercise to increase the horse's suppleness and to get the animal used to the aids, especially the leg aids. He felt the exercise helped to make the horse obedient. Independently, the Duke of Newcastle developed the exercise. In the eighteenth century, the French riding master Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere adapted the movement for use on straight lines.

Antoine de Pluvinel was the first of the French riding masters, and has had great influence on modern dressage. He wrote L’Instruction du Roy en l’exercice de monter à cheval, was tutor to King Louis XIII, and is credited with the invention of using two pillars, as well as using shoulder-in to increase suppleness.

Performance

In the shoulder-in, the shoulder of the horse is brought to the inside, creating a 30-degree-angle with the rail, with the neck bent only the slightest amount, only softening in the jaw so that the corner of the eye is visible to the rider. The horse's hind legs track straight forward along the line of travel while the front legs move laterally, with the inside foreleg crossing in front of the outside foreleg and the inside hind hoof tracking into or beyond the hoofprint made by the outside foreleg. Because the horse is bending away from the direction of travel, the movement requires a certain amount of collection. The shoulder-in can be performed at any forward gait, but in dressage competition it is usually ridden only at the trot.

Collection occurs when a horse carries more weight on the hind legs than the front legs. The horse draws its body together so that it becomes like a giant spring whose stored energy can be reclaimed for fighting or running from a predator. The largest organic spring in the horse's body, and therefore the easiest one to observe in action, is the back, including the spine and the associated musculature that draws it together in much the same way that a bow is drawn by an archer.

A young horse is first introduced to the movement when coming out of a corner or a circle on which the horse is already correctly bent, from nose to tail, along the arc of the corner or circle, as it is usually easier to maintain bend than to establish it from a straight line in the young or green (untrained) horse.

The rider is positioned on the horse in a manner similar to riding a circle or corner, with the shoulders aligned to mirror the angle of the horse's shoulders, while the rider's hips and legs mirror the position of the horse's hind legs. Thus, as the circle becomes the shoulder-in, the rider's shoulders are turned to the inside, while his/her hips remain "straight" on the track. The rider uses the inside leg at the girth to maintain the bend and encourage the horse to step under its body with its inside hind leg, while the rider's outside leg prevents the horse's haunches from swinging out. The outside rein steadies the horse and helps maintain the correct bend, while the inside rein is used with a giving hand. The rider's back and position in the saddle shift toward the horse's outside shoulder in order to restrain the horse from moving off the track, maintaining movement along the track.

A girth, sometimes called a cinch, is a piece of equipment used to keep the saddle in place on a horse or other animal. It passes under the barrel of the equine, usually attached to the saddle on both sides by two or three leather straps called billets. Girths are used on Australian and English saddles, while western saddles and many pack saddles have a cinch, which is fastened to the saddle by a single wide leather strap on each side, called a latigo.

Reins are items of horse tack, used to direct a horse or other animal used for riding. They are long straps that can be made of leather, nylon, metal, or other materials, and attach to a bridle via either its bit or its noseband.

Saddle supportive structure for a rider or other load, fastened to an animals back by a girth

The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider or other load, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is the equestrian saddle designed for a horse. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other creatures. It is not known precisely when riders first began to use some sort of padding or protection, but a blanket attached by some form of surcingle or girth was probably the first "saddle", followed later by more elaborate padded designs. The solid saddle tree was a later invention, and though early stirrup designs predated the invention of the solid tree. The paired stirrup, which attached to the tree, was the last element of the saddle to reach the basic form that is still used today. Today, modern saddles come in a wide variety of styles, each designed for a specific equestrianism discipline, and require careful fit to both the rider and the horse. Proper saddle care can extend the useful life of a saddle, often for decades. The saddle was a crucial step in the increased use of domesticated animals, during the Classical Era.

Common errors include use of the inside rein to create the bend for the shoulder-in. Doing so creates too much bend in the horse's neck compared to its body,^[2] and may also pull the horse off the track. The inside rein only asks for flexion, and if the horse is correctly on the aids, the inside rein can be loose.

Variants of the Shoulder-In include the Shoulder-fore, where less angle is asked, and a four-track movement is created. This is a useful exercise for the younger horse, and can be used in canter work to negate a horse's natural tendency toward crookedness.

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References

↑ Cf. Loriston-Clarke, p. 84. - Also: "The shoulder-in is a key lesson of advanced dressage training because many features of the correctly ridden horse are represented in this movement.", translated from the German Richtlinien, p. 50.
↑ "Too much neck bend and no angle" is one of the "common faults". Davison, p. 54.

Sources

Richard Davison, Dressage Priority Points, Howell Book House, New York 1995, ISBN 0-87605-932-9
Jennie Loriston-Clarke, The Complete Guide to Dressage. How to Achieve Perfect Harmony between You and Your Horse. Principal Movements in Step-by-step Sequences. Demonstrated by a World Medallist. Quarto Publishing plc London 1989, reprinted 1993, ISBN 0-09-174430-X
Richtlinien für Reiten und Fahren. Bd. 2: Ausbildung für Fortgeschrittene. Ed. by the German Equestrian Federation (FNverlag) Warendorf 12th edition 1997, ISBN 3-88542-283-2

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[1] Cf. Loriston-Clarke, p. 84. - Also: "The shoulder-in is a key lesson of advanced dressage training because many features of the correctly ridden horse are represented in this movement.", translated from the German Richtlinien, p. 50.

[2] "Too much neck bend and no angle" is one of the "common faults". Davison, p. 54.