The Shoulder-In (Part 1) History & Misconceptions

wooo! First post! I hope this wasn't too long a first post, but I love this topic. If you have any questions please e-mail me at dressage.blog@gmail.com or post a comment below. If anyone would like more resources (or information on how I came about this information) on this topic please e-mail me.

The Shoulder-In was a movment developed by the Duke of Newcastle and is one of only two real sideways movments in dressage (more on this later). The Shoulder-In was later developed by French master de la Gueriniere (and he developed this movment on four tracks along the wall).

First off, let us clear up a few misconceptions about the shoulder in.

1. The shoulder in is not collection, it is an exercise to develop collection and therefore does not need to occur in collection.
2. The 30 degree angle that is so illusively sought after is a result of our competition system should be the END result of the 'performance shoulder-in'.
3.  The shoulder-in is a gymnasticizing exercise. Because of this, it is important that we first gymnasticize the horse (i.e. supple it by lengthening the muscles, encouraging proper carriage etc) via a schooling shoulder in before we attempt to "correct" the shoulder-in for competition purposes.
4. The shoulder-in can be done on four tracks during the gymnasticizing phase.
5. The shoulder-in will improve all of your training and first level movements and should therefore be done way before the horse is beginning to school second level tests or above. 
6. The shoulder-in at walk will not ruin your walk, it will in fact improve your walk by making your horse more supple in his neck and shoulders in addition to having your horse more 'off the aids'
7. Warning, the next point may blow your mind. The horse cannot bend through the rib cage. *GASP* Ok, well, the horse CAN bend through the rib cage, but not in the way that modern dressage has led us to believe. Horses sway through the ribs to the right and to the left with each step (like when we walk and our body sways forward and back on the step we are taking). They do not have the ability to shorten one side of their ribs and lengthen the other side to create a 'bend around your inside leg' and stay there whilst they move forward (as with each step the horse will sway to one side and then the next). A horse can bend it's body in two areas, the neck/shoulder region and the hip/sacral region. If you accept this point, the exercise of shoulder-in suddenly becomes much easier, and in competition, you will still get a nice comment on your test along with a wonderful score (counter-intuitive, I know, but keep reading). The reason for why the horse cannot bend through the ribs comes from a number of different factors but first off let us discuss the use of the abdominals that run just over the ribs on either side of your horse. With each step, these muscles contract and relax and play a major part in the movement of your horse. These muscles play no part in the bending and/or contracting of the ribs or thoracic cavity (since the muscles lay on top of the ribs, not between them). Secondly let's discuss the horses spine. Spinal joints are semi-movable sinovial joints. This means that they move ever so slightly only because of the tissue and cartilage between the joints. This movement is a result of shock absorption and has much less to do about whether or not our leg can push the ribs (and therefore the back) into an arc (I'd like to see you try and push that much muscle, bone and tissue over with one leg while sitting on top of the thing you are trying to arc... just saying). A supple back (that is required to have big long strides and active relaxed collection) comes from support of the muscles in all of the horse. The proper development and activation of muscles over the horse's back, neck, abdomen and shoulders are what create suppleness - NOT the forcing of bending the spine in ways it was not meant to bend.  Still don't believe me? Try this: Stand up straight with your arms at your side. Activate your abdominals and bend over to the left and try and compress all of your ribs as far as you can. Now run your hand down the left side. You'll notice that from your armpit down to your seventh rib your ribs are completely straight (go ahead, stick a ruler there... it's straight). The only compression occurs in the shoulders/neck (but limited due to the shoulder-girdle... which, by the way, the horse does not have thus allowing for much more shoulder flexibility and movement than we could ever dream of), floating ribs, the lumbar region and the hip. Our thoracic cavity does not bend. This is the same as the horse, except we have to remember that the horse is A LOT bigger than us and his thoracic cavity extends further down the back. Also as a final point to put this myth away... I'd like you to stand behind a horse doing a shoulder in and look at his hind end foot falls. Are the horse's hind toes pointing forward on two-tracks while the front legs point to the inside during shoulder in? This should answer most of your questions about spinal movement (try it!).

PHEW! Now that we got that cleared up, the next blog post will be about the purpose and execution of a shoulder-in and also how to get great scores on your dressage test.