Teaching your horse to move their shoulders over is a great exercise to encourage your horse to take more weight on the hindquarters and lighten the shoulders as they have to do this in order to be able to step across with their shoulders. It also builds body awareness and builds into many other exercises, from leading and lunging to lateral work.
Of course, we want to teach it in a way that is relaxed, clear, fun and positive so I use a target to initiate the movement and explain what I want the horse to do.
This exercise is part of our Gymnastic Groundwork Home Study Course, which teaches you how to improve your horse’s suppleness, straightness, body awareness and movement. It starts with the theory of why this work benefits horses and what exactly it is you’re training. The practical lessons start from leading exercises and build gently and progressively from there, so it’s very clear even if you’ve never done any of this work before. It includes in-hand work, liberty training, object work for body awareness, lateral movements, lunging and all terrain training – all trained softly and positively with the emphasis on both of you having fun!
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