At The Shea Center, we strive to give our horses the best possible foundation for working in our program. Because each horse comes from a different background and has multiple staff and client riders, consistency in our horses’ training is a must.

Dressage is the French term for “training” and at its most fundamental level serves to develop a horse’s natural athletic ability and willingness to learn.

Dressage serves as a way to stretch, elongate, and collect our horses. The goal is to have the horse “up and through its back” and “tracking up”.

These terms describe what it means for the horse to be engaging its core muscles and hindquarters, which in turn pushes its back up into the rider’s seat, creating a very comfortable and rideable movement. This is also the key to building our herd’s back muscles, so they can offer our clients the best movement possible.

Leg Yield

Lateral work, such as shoulder and haunches in and leg yielding are integral. These movements help strengthen our horses and make sure they are building muscles and focusing their attention on where they are placing their body.

In leg yielding, the horse’s body remains completely straight, except for a slight flexion in its neck against the direction it is moving. The horse’s hind leg steps slightly underneath to propel the horse laterally, which teaches them to move their body away from the pressure of the rider’s leg.

Shoulder-In

Shoulder-in is a more collected movement that puts the horse’s body on a three-track movement, which in turn makes the inside hind leg step up underneath the horse’s center of gravity. This dressage movement allows the horse to carry its weight more in its hindquarters, and allows the shoulders to move freely.

Hopefully, this shines a bit more light on what schooling second level dressage does for our herd.