Not Exactly Shoulder Fore

12/10/2011

Moving up the levels requires a new vocabulary. I've been studying, especially after the exercises that JL had me use for Sydney at our most recent lesson.

I've discovered that Shoulder Fore is taking the proper bend of a 15 meter circle and carrying that bend straight, while Shoulder In is taking the bend of a 10 meter circle and carrying that on a straight line. Two very similar exercises, but one requires more bend: shoulder in requires more effort than shoulder fore.

I hate to write about anything if I can't be somewhat authoritative. I am not an expert, and I certainly don't claim to be, but I do like to feel fairly certain about the accuracy of what I am writing. With that, I am going to plead ignorance here and simply admit that I am not sure what to call the exercise we did on Wednesday night. It wasn't a true shoulder fore since we did the exercise on a circle.

As JL called out instructions, I realized that she was asking me to ride with the outside shoulder forward of the inside shoulder. I asked if this was a shoulder fore. Being a hunter/jumper trainer, she wasn't sure what I meant. I explained that it felt as though I was asking for his outside shoulder to lead. Yes, that's what she was aiming for. But unlike a true shoulder fore, we were traveling in a circle. I don't think the exercise is a true leg yield either as I expected him to stay on the same circle, not move away from leg. The point of the exercise was to supple Sydney's body, specifically his neck, by asking him to stay off my inside leg with his neck over-bent to the inside. The point was to flex the neck while remaining on the circle, no collapsing in, no drifting out. In a true leg yield, the neck is not over-bent and the horse moves in a sideways manner.

After several of these neck bends, we kept the same circle, but I counter-flexed his neck. This time his neck was over-bent to the left while he tracked right, and it was the right shoulder that led. Then we moved back and forth, gently. Look at my outside knee, look at my inside knee, outside, inside. All the while I asked him to step away from my inside leg.

We repeated the exercise tracking left. This exercise worked wonders to supple Sydney's "ribcage" and his neck. He got softer and softer the more we worked. After a circle or two, I let him carry his neck straight to rest. But then we continued.

So what is this exercise called, if anything? Is it simply a suppling exercise, or does it have a dressage name? I've pointed out many times that my foray into the dressage world is anything but typical: I come from the endurance world with no formal lessons before the age of 37; I am riding an Arabian (and now an imported New Zealand thoroughbred); My trainer is a hunter/jumper trainer; I started showing way before we were ready. Like it says in my blog description, "classical dressage in non-traditional ways." That is us, and this recent set of exercises only confirms how non-traditional we are. If you have a name, other than suppling, I'd like to hear it.

And if you can, will you throw out what "upperish" movements these exercises lead to? That would be great.

Val link

12/10/2011 11:03:41 am

Shoulder-in is not really about neck bend. I would call the exercise described above "lateral suppling".

Shoulder-in is the "aspirin" of dressage movements, because it has so many benefits. Shoulder-in is ridden on three tracks in competition, but may be trained on four, which can be viewed from behind. I believe the classical approach is to strengthen and engage one hind leg at a time, which is why the movement must be practiced in both directions equally. Shoulder-in can be ridden in any gait, although shoulder-fore is really used in canter, and is traditionally ridden down the track. The lateral movements which ask the horse to move in the direction of the bend still have a feeling of shoulder-in (like half-pass and haunches-in) even though the horse is looking in the direction that he is going. I *heart* shoulder-in. Pretty and practical. :)

Karen Sweaney link

12/10/2011 11:06:39 pm

Thanks for the info, Val!

Kelly RGF link

12/13/2011 09:21:08 am

Lateral exercises can be done on circles too. For example, leg yielding from a smaller circle to a larger one and back again is a useful exercise. The 'track' is just the path you are following, it doesn't have to be the literal outside track of the arena.

As I'm sure you already know, the shoulder-in type movements progress as follows:
- riding in position (horse stays on two tracks, head positioned slightly to the inside or outside)
- shoulder fore (horses shoulders come off the track slightly so that he is on four tracks, bent slightly to the inside)
- shoulder in (horses shoulders come off the track so that the horse is travelling on three tracks, bent slightly to the inside)
As Val mentioned, many people school shoulder-in on a deep four tracks (not the shallow four tracks of shoulder-fore), so I guess you could count that as the finally, hardest version, even though you don't ride it like that during a competition.

Turn on the forehand and leg yielding are the 'starter' lateral movements, teaching the horse to move away from the leg.

The 'true' lateral movements (shoulder in, travers, renvers, half pass) simultaneously require and develop collection, and are the beginning of collected work, heading towards collected paces, pirouettes, passage and piaffe.

I think your exercise is called 'shoulder-fore on a circle' and 'counter-shoulder-fore on a circle' :o) Sounds like it was effective, and perfect for stiff Sydney!

Karen

12/13/2011 09:53:54 am

Kelly - good info, thanks!

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