Lateral Work for Horses Explained

Lateral work is a cornerstone of progressive, correct horse training. Whether your horse is just learning to carry themselves in balance or is schooling at advanced levels, these movements offer invaluable benefits. By asking your horse to move both forwards and sideways while maintaining rhythm, balance, and bend, you are encouraging deeper engagement, strength through the topline, and greater elasticity in every pace.

In this guide, we will explain what lateral work is, how it can benefit your horse, and how to introduce each movement in a progressive, thoughtful way. Plus, we share practical exercises to help you get started, inspired by the FEI’s expert guidance on introducing lateral work at home.

The Benefits of Lateral Work

• Encourages suppleness and elasticity through the whole body
• Enhances engagement of the hindquarters
• Builds balance, rhythm, and straightness
• Develops responsiveness to lateral aids
• Strengthens top-line and core musculature
• Promotes collection and lightness in the hand
• Useful in managing tension, spookiness, and distraction
• Keeps training varied, thoughtful, and mentally engaging

Progression of Lateral Movements

Lateral work should be introduced gradually. Starting with simpler patterns ensures a solid understanding of basic aids and balance before progressing to more complex coordination and collection.

Here’s the typical progression:

1. Turn on the Forehand – An early introduction to moving away from leg pressure, helping the horse understand lateral aids.
2. Leg-Yield – First true lateral movement with forward and sideways steps.
3. Shoulder-In – Introduces bend and inside leg to outside rein connection.
4. Travers (Haunches-In) – Begins to develop collection and deeper engagement.
5. Renvers (Haunches-Out) – Reinforces travers principles with reversed alignment.
6. Half-Pass – The most advanced movement in this sequence, combining lateral movement and bend along a diagonal line.

Lateral Movements Explained

1. Leg-Yield

What It Is: The horse moves forward and sideways while remaining straight through the body, with a slight flexion away from the direction of travel.
How to Ride It: Apply the inside leg behind the girth to ask for sideways movement, maintain a consistent tempo, and support with a steady outside rein. The horse should cross both front and hind legs.
Purpose: Teaches basic responsiveness to lateral leg pressure, encourages crossing of the hindlegs, and increases suppleness. Can be ridden on the straight or on a circle.

Try This:
Referencing the FEI’s “20 Minutes of Lateral Work”, here are two useful leg yield exercises to try:

• The Stairs: Ride down the centre line and alternate 3–4 steps of leg yield toward the track with a few straight strides. Repeat until you reach the wall.
• Leg Yield Out on a Circle: Spiral from a 20 metre circle into a smaller 10–12 metre circle. Then leg yield back out, encouraging the horse to step sideways from your inside leg.

2. Shoulder-In

What It Is: The horse is bent around the rider’s inside leg while travelling straight with the forehand slightly off the track. Typically ridden on three tracks.
How to Ride It: From a corner or circle, maintain the inside bend and bring the shoulders in off the track while the hindquarters stay on it. Inside leg encourages bend, outside rein controls shoulder placement.
Purpose: Shoulder-in helps the horse engage the hindquarters, take more weight behind, and lighten the forehand. It improves suppleness through the shoulders, enhances straightness, and gives the rider greater control over the horse’s alignment. Builds the foundation for collected work.

Try This:
Start in walk or trot on the right rein and ride large around the arena. As you reach the first marker on the long side, begin as if you were going to ride a 10 metre circle. Instead of completing the circle, apply a gentle half halt and continue straight down the long side, keeping the bend and shoulder alignment from the start of the circle.

Visualise guiding your inside hip down the long side to maintain the bend while moving forward. Keep a subtle inside flexion, energise the stride with your inside leg, and use your outside rein to steady the shoulders. Your outside leg, slightly behind the girth, helps prevent the quarters from drifting out.

Only ride shoulder fore for half the long side at first, then straighten and try again on the next. Aim for quality over quantity, even a few balanced steps are a great start.

3. Travers (Haunches-In)

What It Is: The horse is bent in the direction of travel, with the hindquarters brought in off the track.
How to Ride It: Ride a slight inside bend, keeping the forehand on the track and gently bringing the haunches in using the outside leg behind the girth.
Purpose: Builds engagement and strength in the hindquarters. Encourages deeper flexion in the joints and prepares for collection.

4. Renvers (Haunches-Out)

What It Is: A mirror image of travers. The horse is still bent in the direction of travel, but now the hindquarters stay on the track while the shoulders come in.
How to Ride It: Begin on a straight line with the horse bent toward the inside. Use the outside rein and leg to bring the shoulders off the track while maintaining hindquarter alignment.
Purpose: Reinforces the gymnastic benefits of travers, challenges the horse's coordination, and helps improve straightness.

5. Half-Pass

What It Is: The horse moves both forwards and sideways on a diagonal, while bent in the direction of travel. A more advanced and collected movement.
How to Ride It: Maintain the bend around the inside leg. Use the inside leg to encourage forward movement and the outside leg behind the girth to guide sideways motion. The outside rein supports the shoulder.
Purpose: Requires balance, straightness, and engagement. The half-pass is a hallmark of advanced training and collection, often seen in upper-level dressage tests.

Adjusting Difficulty

As recommended by the FEI, lateral work can be adapted depending on your horse’s strength and experience. Increase or decrease the difficulty by:

• Changing the gait (walk for clarity, trot for activity, canter for advanced work)
• Adjusting the angle of the movement
• Shortening or lengthening the duration
• Breaking the exercise into smaller, more manageable sections

And remember, if something does not feel right, it is perfectly acceptable to ride out of the movement and regroup. A few quality steps are far more beneficial than a long, unbalanced effort.

In Summary

Lateral work is a key component of any thoughtful training program. It promotes suppleness, strength, and communication. Whether you are schooling a young horse or refining a Grand Prix test. Take your time, celebrate progress in small steps, and always prioritise feel, rhythm, and relaxation.

With patience and consistency, you will feel the difference lateral work makes in your horse’s way of going and in your connection as a team.