A “lateral” movement, in dressage, is any movement by the horse that is both forwards and sideways at the same time. These movements are generally taught later in a horse’s education, after the horse has mastered the “forward” part of his training. A horse naturally travels with his hind legs spaced wider apart than his front legs. Being further away from his centerline, each hind leg does not develop much weight-bearing power. The purpose of lateral exercise is to help the horse learn to position his inside hind leg closer to his centerline, where it can become stronger and carry more of his weight. As his inside hind leg becomes stronger, he can travel straighter, with more impulsion, and with more collection (the purpose of dressage).
The lateral movements include turn on haunches, shoulder-in, renvers, travers, half-pass, and pirouette.
Turn on the forehand, shoulder-fore, and leg-yield are not recognized lateral movements, and are therefore not described in full here. They are useful as lateral exercises.
Turn on the Haunches
This movement is often taught along with turn on the forehand.
- The horse is bent in the direction of travel (for instance, to the left), and his body pivots (to the left) around his hind legs, which march in place.
- It is “lateral” because the horse is moving sideways, and the horse must learn to sink down in his haunches and raise his front end to make the pivot. Therefore, the degree of collection is present.
- In the dressage tests, it is first called for in Second Level, tests three and four. It is also part of all three of Third Level’s tests.
Shoulder-In
- Shoulder-in is a movement where the horse displaces his shoulders to the inside of his haunches. When viewed from behind or the front, the inside front leg follows one track, the outside front leg and the inside hind leg follow the middle track, and the outside hind leg follows a third track. The horse is bent around the rider’s inside leg (to the “inside”), but he travels away from his direction of bend.
- For instance, a horse does shoulder-in with shoulders to the right. His haunches would be traveling straight forward, and his shoulders curve off to the right. He is therefore traveling away from the direction of bend. It would be as if the horse were traveling along a circle, yet continues in a straight line without changing his bend. This movement, like the other lateral movements, requires the horse to cross his inside hind leg underneath his body more, and therefore develops strength to carry his weight in collection.
- Shoulder-in is first introduced in Second Level, tests one, three, and four. It is also part of the three Third Level tests, and the three Fourth Level tests.
Renvers
- Pronounced “rahn-VAIR,” this is also called “haunches-out.”
- The haunches are displaced to the outside of the shoulders, creating three tracks just like in shoulder-in. However, the horse bends to the outside (which is technically the inside because the inside is always the inside of the bend) and moves in the direction of the bend.
- For instance, a horse does renvers with his haunches to the left. His shoulders therefore travel straight forward, and his haunches curve out towards the left. He is therefore traveling in the direction of the bend. Think of renvers as the same as shoulder-in, but the horse has bent the opposite way. His feet still follow the same tracks, but his body is bent the other way. Renvers also requires the horse to put more weight on the inside leg (which is usually next to the wall, but not to be confused with the “outside” leg because of his direction of bend).
- This movement is first and only seen in Second Level’s test four.
Travers
- Pronounced “trah-VAIR,” this movement is commonly called “haunches-in.”
- The haunches are displaced to the inside, creating three tracks with the outside front leg and inside hind leg on the same track. The horse is bent to the inside.
- For instance, a horse does travers with haunches to the right. Therefore, his shoulders travel straight forward, and his haunches curve in to the right. Like the other lateral movements, the horse’s inside hind leg is required to step up under his body more, which enhances his ability to collect.
- Travers is seen in Second Level tests two and three.
Half-Pass
- The half-pass is a very advanced movement; it is first seen in the three Third Level tests, and is also called for in the three Fourth Level tests.
- The horse is bent to the inside, and moves on a diagonal. The outside legs (both hind and fore) cross in front of the two inside legs as he moves. A more advanced horse can perform a half-pass with a greater degree of inside bend.
- It’s practiced at the walk, and the tests call for half-pass in both trot and canter.
Pirouette
- The pirouette is like the turn on the haunches in that the front feet and hind feet describe two circles. The horse travels in the direction of his bend, with outside hind foot stepping around the inside hind, and the outside front stepping around and in front of the inside front.
- This highly collected movement is performed at the walk and canter, and also the piaffe, a trot so collected that the horse trots in place.
- A half-pirouette is first asked for in Fourth Level test 1 and is called for in the other two Fourth Level tests.
The “USDF Guide to Dressage,” by Jennifer Bryant (Storey:2006) provided many of the specifics for this article, and the USEF website provided copies of dressage tests.
 |
 |
