Have you ever stopped to wonder why there is no movement called “shoulder out” in our dressage tests? In the listing of lateral suppling movements, the shoulder in is championed as an essential gymnastic exercise. It is included in dressage tests starting at second level, the first tests where collected gaits are required. But there is no such recognized exercise as its opposite, what FEI judge and author Charles de Kunffy calls the shoulder out. I’d like to argue that the shoulder out has gymnasticizing benefits as well and deserves to get a little respect; better yet, even recognition in the USEF Dressage rulebook and inclusion in our national level tests. We have travers (haunches in) and renvers (haunches out), both of which appear in second level tests, suggesting there is abundant evidence in support of bending the horse behind the girth and riding the change of bend from inside to outside and back. Why then is there no such series of exercises requiring riders to bend the horse in front of the girth while keeping the haunches straight and change the bend from inside to outside and back?
I think we can all agree that it’s essential for dressage horses to be balanced and laterally supple enough to bend and work in both directions and just as important for riders to be capable
of putting the horse’s shoulders or haunches anywhere they want to whenever they want to. Appreciating that the objectives for all the lateral movements include increased suppleness and elasticity, improved obedience and engagement as well as increased cadence and collection, then it seems logical that the shoulder out should qualify as a lateral movement because it too helps to accomplish all of these qualities. And in addition, the shoulder out ridden on a 20-meter circle provides an extra bonus – the challenge of riding counter flexion where your horse is continuously bent to the right (outside) while circling to the left and vice versa. One of my favorite uses for this exercise is when horses are braced at the base of their necks and not through their backs or tracking up. By changing from shoulder in to shoulder out on the circle, I can soften the neck and establish a more correct connection without having to change rein – a nice bonus indeed!
So tomorrow morning when you’re mucking stalls and filling water buckets, consider the advantages of asking for shoulder out on the 20-meter circle when you ride out to school. Shoulder Out - the new and improved lateral suppling exercise, guaranteed to add one more physical and mental challenge to your already over-flowing list of dressage movements to master. Or maybe it might just be easier to put this idea out to pasture with another one of those dressage movements that you’ve probably schooled but won’t find in any USEF rule book or dressage test – the turn on the forehand. Now what’s with that?
Like I said at the beginning of this essay, I was just wondering ….
Susan Moody, IEO President
I think we can all agree that it’s essential for dressage horses to be balanced and laterally supple enough to bend and work in both directions and just as important for riders to be capable
of putting the horse’s shoulders or haunches anywhere they want to whenever they want to. Appreciating that the objectives for all the lateral movements include increased suppleness and elasticity, improved obedience and engagement as well as increased cadence and collection, then it seems logical that the shoulder out should qualify as a lateral movement because it too helps to accomplish all of these qualities. And in addition, the shoulder out ridden on a 20-meter circle provides an extra bonus – the challenge of riding counter flexion where your horse is continuously bent to the right (outside) while circling to the left and vice versa. One of my favorite uses for this exercise is when horses are braced at the base of their necks and not through their backs or tracking up. By changing from shoulder in to shoulder out on the circle, I can soften the neck and establish a more correct connection without having to change rein – a nice bonus indeed!
So tomorrow morning when you’re mucking stalls and filling water buckets, consider the advantages of asking for shoulder out on the 20-meter circle when you ride out to school. Shoulder Out - the new and improved lateral suppling exercise, guaranteed to add one more physical and mental challenge to your already over-flowing list of dressage movements to master. Or maybe it might just be easier to put this idea out to pasture with another one of those dressage movements that you’ve probably schooled but won’t find in any USEF rule book or dressage test – the turn on the forehand. Now what’s with that?
Like I said at the beginning of this essay, I was just wondering ….
Susan Moody, IEO President
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