Tracking in the Lateral Work: Why Does it Matter?
By Paul Belasik
Recently the question came to me from a rider preparing to compete as to how they should ride the lateral work. They were confused by the rules, some of the movements are supposed to be ridden on three tracks, and some on four. And over the years, this has changed. This person had little idea of the hornet’s nest this simple question has stirred up, for a long time.
Three Track Shoulder In
I can personally go back forty years or so to when my old mentor H.L.M. van Schaik wrote his book, “Misconceptions and Simple Truths in Dressage” (J.A. Allen). He devoted a whole chapter to the shoulder in, and whether a three or four track shoulder in was correct or classical. I am sure many of his students can still remember his lecturing on the matter. He was hardly the only one. I think for the sake of this article let’s forget about tracking entirely, and just go over some of the mechanics of lateral work which might inform the rider enough to make their own decisions of how to ride and train the lateral work.
The historical evolution of the shoulder in exercise is revealing. La Guérinière, the generally acclaimed inventor of the shoulder in, gives credit to his predecessor, the Duke of Newcastle. Newcastle, who in an effort to help free the shoulders to help to teach and improve the horses’ airs above the ground (a complete shift of weight to the hindquarters complete lightening of the forehand), had the horse essentially leg yielding around a pillar, thinking this cross over of the legs (particularly the front legs) would give the horse more freedom of the front end. La Guérinière realized if he used the same idea of the sideways movement, but took the horse along a wall, he could limit the dis-engagement, or escaping of the hind end, and actually engage it. The result being far more lightness and flexibility of the front end by transferring the weight of the forehand onto the hind end.
In this particular case we are talking about the shoulder in, but lateral exercises in general can help the horse learn collection. The lesson here is that more crossover is not necessarily better for collection or relieving the over-burdened forehand.
Four Track Shoulder In
This four track shoulder in evolved from leg yielding. By blocking the escaping haunches, it could increase collection.
(photo – Karl Leck)
One of the things that adds to the confusion of lateral exercises, is that they actually can have different uses, which will determine how they are executed. One of the primary uses is to help to introduce and improve collection. That is the horse’s ability to change its balance more toward the powerful haunches, which can relieve the naturally overburdened forehand. The feral or untrained horse will carry some 58% of its weight on the forehand. In all the lateral exercises one hind leg will cross over the other and step more under the mass of the horse, thereby loading that leg. Repetitions of these exercises will improve the flexibility and strength.
They are particularly helpful because they can introduce the idea of carrying more weight behind (or collecting) one leg at a time, as opposed to an exercise like the piaffe where both hind legs have to come under which would require much more strength and balance. If one hind leg lacks dexterity or strength compared to the other, you can work more on one side to try to make the movement more symmetrical.
Three Track Travers
Again the hind leg steps across in front of the opposite hind leg under the center of mass, thereby increasing the load on that leg.
(Photo – Rose Caslar Belasik)
Four Track Travers
Although there can be more value in extra bend, the rider must always be aware of the inverse realtionship between sideways movement and load.
In the beginning of the article, I said one of the things that leads to confusion in the lateral exercises is that it can have different uses. Probably all mammals have a degree of handedness. For a person, one is usually right or left handed, with rarer cases of someone being ambidextrous, performing tasks equally well with both hands and sides of the body. A horse will come into training the same way. Some will bend easily in one direction and be stiff or resistant to bend in the other. I have talked in the past about possible reasons for this but for the sake of the article we will put that aside.
The other day I heard a trainer giving advice that he does not use the haunches in (travers) as an exercise because it is too easy for the horses to be crooked already and he doesn’t want to teach them an exercise which could encourage this evasion. So now we run into another biomechanical dilemma involving lateral work, and that is that you cannot make a horse straight by riding him straight. Because of handedness, you have to use the green stick approach. If a green stick is bent to the right, you bend it to the left and then when you let it go, it is straight. If your young horse carries its haunches constantly it seems to the left, you can use lateral exercises in the opposite bend to correct the crookedness and even out the asymmetry.
So in these cases we are using lateral exercises as a correction for the natural asymmetry or crookedness in horses. I know my collection may suffer a little, but I might need to bend a little extra on the stiff side. It is important because if I can’t get the horse straight, I will never get proper collection. It is like driving a team of horses and one is always slack in the traces while the other is always overworking. The point is the lateral exercises can have different uses, but the rider/trainer must know when and if they are compromising load or bend and why. Riders have to be able to know and feel the differences of three tracks, four tracks or complete disengagement of the hind legs. If you stop a trainer and ask, “what are you doing, and why?” they have to be able to explain what they are doing in clear, understandable language that makes sense.
Lateral exercises are not about riding to some recipe or rulebook. They are about using exercises to combat crookedness and increase engagement to relieve the forehand. Fostering collection, and better longitudinal balance, will produce a more balanced and symmetrical performance and thus a healthier horse.
Three Track Renvers
Renvers is the clone of travers. The right hind leg steps across in front of the left and up under the center of mass.
Lateral work is primarily governed by this biomechanical dilemma: that there is an inverse relationship between sideways movements and load. The more the horse is asked to move sideways, the less it can carry load, or collect. That is why many masters of dressage warned about leg yielding, that it is too easy to disengage the hind legs with too much cross over, having an opposite effect on collection. So there is an ideal amount of sideways movement of a hind leg when trying to develop collection. Too much sideways movement will actually disengage the hind end. How does the horse stay standing if there is too much disengagement of the hind end? The answer is the forehand. The front end takes up more of the load, which is the opposite of the intention of the exercise. Conversely, not enough sideways and the exercise will have little value.
Four Track Renvers
Whenver you ask for more bend or displacement, you can inadvertently put the horse more on the forehand because the hind end will not be able to carry more weight if it steps too far to the side.
I have joked in part that riders should be forced to take an elementary course in physics, because what I see and hear these days from famous riders and even judges, or the explanations of psuedo-dressage internet instruction, makes no sense and is often contradictory. What is wrong with the education of dressage riders that they clearly don’t understand simple concepts of science? We need lateral exercises to introduce collection, which is the art of controlling the longitudinal balance of the horse. We also need the lateral exercises to conquer the natural asymmetry or crookedness, which is the art of controlling the lateral balance. Thus, we are helping the horse become more supple and flexible, keeping our equine partner healthier for longer.