The Shoulder-In

[Elvengirl]

I am not sure if anyone has encountered this but I'm finding it very frustrating and confusing and I'm hoping someone might be able to clear it up for me.

I have been told several different "proper" ways of doing a shoulder-in. I have also seen in books and articles several "proper" ways of doing a shoulder-in. So what is the real correct way of performing a shoulder-in. What sort of angle and action should I be feeling when my horse is performing it correctly. It seems like a simple thing, but I am perpetually confused by it, and I hope someone will be able to clarify this for me from the dressage community.

[galadriel]

One of the most interesting aspects of dressage is that there are so many different ways to achieve the same result.

The simplest method I've read for getting your first shoulder-ins is to ride the horse in a circle; come back around to the wall; let the horse's shoulders leave the wall as if turning into another circle; use your inside leg/outside rein to ask the horse to go straight down the wall just as his shoulders leave the wall. The horse's body should be bent to the inside, his shoulders off the wall, and moving straight down the track.

[Tor&Warrior]

Just how galadriel has explained it is exactly how I ask for shoulder in. Nice and simple especially if the horse has never done it before. It worked first time with Flyte.

[IrisSilverMoon]

well if you want to know the proper angle and position there really isn't something specific, a horse that is just learning shoulder-in can't keep the bend the way a horse who has been doing it for awhile can. If you want to win dressage competitions your horse needs to do shoulder in on three tracks, that is when you look straight ahead in a mirror the hind end is on the rail, the foreleg closest to the rail hides the hindleg farthest from the rail and then you have your other foreleg on the third track. Not sure how else i can explain that, but that's the "ideal" angle, a horse lerning may not be able to do that, and other horses may be quite capable of doing much more than that.

It sohuld feel like a leg yeild but with more bend the horse moving sideways under you.

[Elvengirl]

Sounds like I am doing the right thing when asking for a shoulder-in, thanks for the clarification!

[DavidH]

The most important thing when starting to teach a horse shoulder-in is to maintain the trot rythm. This may well require a much smaller angle to start with. Once the horse can maintain the rythm at very small angles then gradually increase the angle until you have a true 3 track. If at anytime the rythm starts to fall off then abandon the shoulder-in and push the horse forward.
Dressage judges mark down far more severly for loss of rythm than for incorrect angle.