Lateral Movement - Three- and Four-track Movements

Three- and Four-track Movements

The shoulder-fore, shoulder-in, haunches-in (travers), or haunches-out (renvers), place the horse's body in such a way that he makes 3 or 4 tracks with his feet, instead of the usual two seen when the horse is straight. This can best be seen on footing after it has been dragged: a horse moving straight forward will produce two "lines" of hoofprints. A horse performing shoulder-fore will make 4 tracks (one track per hoof). A horse performing haunches-in or -out, or shoulder-in, will make three tracks. Haunches-in and haunches-out vary only in the direction the horse is bent relative to the arena wall.

The shoulder-fore is an elementary step toward the more advanced shoulder-in, while haunches-in and -out are generally considered the most difficult exercises. Shoulder-in encourages the horse to engage his inside hind leg and to raise his back. Haunches-in and -out also encourage engagement of the inside hind leg, as well as the transfer of the horse's weight back to his hindquarters (collection).

• Flexion and Footprints of different Lateral Movements

• Leg-yield

• Shoulder-in

• Travers (Haunches-in)

• Half pass