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September 2007 • VOLUME 25 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
Manolo’s Message Article #7 Lateral Work (Part 2):The Marriage of Lateral Work and Natural CollectionBy Manolo MendezCopyright © 2003 Manolo Mendez
Head Rider from the Royal Spanish School in Jerez (home of the 2002 World Equestrian Games) continues his series of articles on training the horse … from the very first kindergarten days all the way to Grand Prix. In his last article he described how to introduce the young horse to the lateral movements. Now we discover how lateral work becomes the foundation for all the higher dressage movements.
Lateral work consists of the shoulder-in, travers, renvers and half pass. We start with the simple shoulder-in and, when the horse understands this and can do it easily, we progress to travers (quarters-in) and renvers (quarters-out). When these movements are established, we then introduce half pass. We do not ask for too much of anything in these early stages. We build the horse’s fitness, suppleness and confidence.
Good basic lateral work makes Grand Prix more attainable
Lateral work requires the horse to move forwards and sideways at the same time. These are very special exercises because they develop and supple the muscles – the essential “equipment” for higher level training. The importance of lateral work is reflected through the levels of dressage competition. In Elementary only very simple lateral movements are required (shoulder-in and travers). In Medium and Advanced, increasingly developed movements are required. If the basic lateral work has been rushed or forced, this will show up more and more as the horse moves up through the levels. There will be more resistance: the horse will be finding it difficult to get to Prix St George. And yet this is really only halfway to the top, because to properly develop all the movements required for Grand Prix can take another twelve months or more. If the horse has to struggle to get to Prix St George, how difficult will he find it to get all the way to Grand Prix?
No horse can perform Grand Prix movements with grace and ease if he has not been properly and thoroughly prepared through lateral work. This is like asking a human who has only ever run forwards to suddenly start moving sideways or backwards. He does not have the coordination; he needs different muscles that he has not yet developed. He has to build these slowly, slowly, step by step. We do not expect him to achieve perfection overnight, and neither should we ever rush our horse through any stage of his development.
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