How To Dressage

Main Menu

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Article Categories
    • The Scales of Training
    • Dressage Theory
    • For The Rider
    • The Horse’s Paces
    • Dressage Movements
    • Dressage Competition
    • Horse Care
    • Dressage Troubleshooting
    • Interviews with GP Riders
  • Training Forum
    • Recent Posts
    • Register
    • Login
  • Our Book Range
  • Our Podcast
  • FREE STUFF!

logo

How To Dressage

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Article Categories
    • The Scales of Training
    • Dressage Theory
    • For The Rider
    • The Horse’s Paces
    • Dressage Movements
    • Dressage Competition
    • Horse Care
    • Dressage Troubleshooting
    • Interviews with GP Riders
  • Training Forum
    • Recent Posts
    • Register
    • Login
  • Our Book Range
  • Our Podcast
  • FREE STUFF!
Dressage Movements
Home›Dressage Movements›How to Ride Haunches-In (Travers)

How to Ride Haunches-In (Travers)

By How To Dressage
July 6, 2018
6650
0
How to Ride Haunches-In Travers how to dressage


Haunches-in is more usually referred to as ‘travers’.

This movement can also be used in schooling as a preparatory movement when teaching the horse half-pass.

So, what does a correct haunches-in look like, and how do you ride it?

What is haunches-in?

When riding haunches-in, the horse is asked to bring his hindquarters to the inside of the line he is being ridden on, whilst maintaining bend through the poll, neck, and body to the direction of travel, that is with bend to the inside.

When riding haunches-in in a dressage test, this is known as travers.

When haunches-in is ridden in training, this can be ridden on any line and is particularly useful to communicate to the horse the meaning of the rider’s inside and outside legs.

Therefore, the horse becomes accustomed to the rider’s outside leg as a turning aid, whilst maintaining the bend and impulsion through the inside seat and leg, which will be necessary for the horse to know when being ridden in half-pass and when executing pirouettes.

The bend should be uniform from the poll to the tail, and the horse should look in the direction in which he is moving.

The horse’s outside legs pass and cross in front of the inside legs – the horse travels on four tracks and the angle of the horse’s body should be maintained through the effectiveness of the rider’s aids at 35o .

The aim of the haunches-in is to collect the pace, whether trot or canter, and to improve the balance as a progressive exercise for the advanced movements.

For test purposes, the travers is ridden only in trot. However, during training, the haunches-in can be ridden in walk, trot, and canter to teach the horse to take more weight back onto the hindquarters and to build the impulsion and self-carriage required for the more advanced, lateral movements.

How to teach the horse haunches-in

When the horse understands shoulder-in, start next to the wall of the arena in walk and ask the hind legs to step onto the inside track from your outside leg.

Measure the quick reaction to the leg aid and do not worry too much about bend at this moment.

Gradually encourage more steps as you feel the horse’s balance improving.

Start to ride in the correct bend and check for a prompt reaction to the outside rein contact.

Once the ‘penny has dropped’ in walk progress to riding the exercise in trot, and then canter.

Common problems and faults seen in travers

There are a number of common faults that are seen when horses and riders are learning travers. Here are the most most common mistakes along with how to correct them.

Too little angle

The rider could use quicker, more precise leg aids enhanced with a ‘tick’ from the whip.

But remember to quieten your aids as the horse sharpens his response.

Too much angle

Use less outside leg and more inside leg.

Be prepared to ride into an effective outside rein to help control the amount of bend.

Not enough bend

This can happen when the horse offers too much angle.

Bring the horse to walk and establish flexion through the poll and bend through the body, then ask the hindquarters to step in slightly.

Horse falling or drifting to the inside of the track

Lessen the outside leg aid, and quickly use the inside leg to encourage the horse to promptly step forwards and upwards into the outside rein.

A note about half-pass

If you are using travers as a preliminary exercise in order to teach the horse the half-pass, it is helpful to accept less angle and more bend to establish rhythmic, flowing steps.

Related read: How to Half-Pass

In conclusion

As you can see, there is much that can go wrong with haunches-in.

Always begin teaching your horse to perform this exercise in walk, only progressing to trot and canter when the horse is confident and you can coordinate your aids correctly.

As with any difficult exercise, end your training sessions on a positive note and don’t be tempted to keep going when your horse is tired or becomes upset.

If you have any other questions or need any more help with this movement, please leave a comment below. Alternatively, you can join our dressage training forum.

Related Reads: 

  • How to Ride Shoulder-In
  • How to Ride a Walk Pirouette
  • How To Leg Yield
  • How to Ride Collected Canter

Previous Article

Why ALL Dressage Riders Need to Know ...

Next Article

How to Encourage Your Horse to Listen ...

How To Dressage

We are an information blog breaking down the How To's of dressage. All of our articles are put together by British Dressage judges to help you train your horse correctly, get higher scores and win your next dressage competition.

Related articles More from author

  • How to Prepare Your Horse for Transitions dressage
    Dressage Movements

    How to Prepare Your Horse for Transitions

    January 26, 2019
    By How To Dressage
  • How to Ride a Good Halt How to Dressage
    Dressage Movements

    How to Ride a Good Halt

    March 15, 2018
    By How To Dressage
  • How to Ride Shoulder-In how to dressage
    Dressage Movements

    How to Ride Shoulder-In

    March 5, 2018
    By How To Dressage
  • How to Ride a Figure of Eight how to dressage
    Dressage Movements

    How to Ride a Figure of Eight

    June 9, 2018
    By How To Dressage
  • How to Ride a Good Trot-Canter Transition how to dressage
    Dressage Movements

    How to Ride a Good Trot-Canter Transition

    May 1, 2018
    By How To Dressage
  • How to Introduce Lateral Work (And in What Order) Dressage
    Dressage Movements

    How to Introduce Lateral Work (And in What Order)

    July 21, 2020
    By How To Dressage

Leave a reply Cancel reply

0

WANT MORE?

  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • How to Create Cadence in the Dressage Horse

    How to Create Cadence in the Dressage Horse

    By How To Dressage
    March 2, 2021
  • How to Transition Between Piaffe and Passage Dressage

    How to Transition Between Piaffe and Passage

    By How To Dressage
    February 23, 2021
  • How to improve rider confidence dressage

    How to Improve Rider Confidence

    By How To Dressage
    February 16, 2021
  • How to Stop Your Horse From Changing Canter Leads Dressage

    How to Stop Your Horse From Changing Canter Leads

    By How To Dressage
    February 9, 2021
  • How to recognize an unhappy dressage horse

    How to Recognize an Unhappy Dressage Horse

    By How To Dressage
    February 2, 2021
  • How to Connect Your Horse Through the Use of Transitions Dressage

    How to “Connect” Your Horse Through the Use of Transitions

    By How To Dressage
    January 26, 2021
  • How to Have Patience With Your Dressage Training

    How to Have Patience With Your Dressage Training

    By How To Dressage
    January 19, 2021
  • Dressage Training Plan

    How to Structure a Dressage Training Plan for Your Horse

    By How To Dressage
    February 13, 2019
  • how to create the ideal arena surface footing for dressage

    How to Create the Ideal Arena Surface Footing for Dressage

    By How To Dressage
    October 31, 2019
  • How to Import a Dressage Horse

    How to Import a Dressage Horse (from Europe to the U.S.)

    By How To Dressage
    October 19, 2019
  • How to Fit Horse's Noseband

    How to Fit Your Horse’s Noseband

    By How To Dressage
    October 5, 2019
  • How to Safely Ride and Lead horses

    How to Safely Ride and Lead

    By How To Dressage
    March 13, 2019
  • How to Keep a Consistent Rein Contact How to dressage

    How to Keep a Consistent Rein Contact

    By How To Dressage
    June 13, 2018
  • How to Ride a Good Trot-Canter Transition how to dressage

    How to Ride a Good Trot-Canter Transition

    By How To Dressage
    May 1, 2018
  • How To Dressage
    on
    February 15, 2021

    How to Keep Your Horse Straight

    Thanks so much! :)
  • Niavoequestrian
    on
    February 15, 2021

    How to Keep Your Horse Straight

    Its a great post! ...
  • How To Dressage
    on
    February 14, 2021

    How to Ride a Good Trot-Canter Transition

    So glad we could ...
  • Adriana Roessner
    on
    February 14, 2021

    How to Ride a Good Trot-Canter Transition

    thank u so much, ...
  • How To Dressage
    on
    February 4, 2021

    How to Plan Dressage Freestyle to Music in 7 Steps

    Hi Anmari, That's a ...
  • Anmari
    on
    February 3, 2021

    How to Plan Dressage Freestyle to Music in 7 Steps

    Where can i find ...
  • How To Dressage
    on
    February 2, 2021

    The Scales of Training: Scale 1 – Rhythm

    Hi Sandi, It's a ...

Article Categories

  • Dressage Competition (28)
  • Dressage Movements (45)
  • Dressage Theory (48)
  • Dressage Troubleshooting (46)
  • For The Rider (31)
  • Horse Care (39)
  • Interviews with Grand Prix Riders (8)
  • The Horse's Paces (23)
  • The Scales of Training (8)

Free Email Courses

how to dressage newbie email course

how to dressage scales of training email course

how to dressage competition email course

WANT MORE?

Useful Pages

Home
About us
View Our Book Range
Join Our Facebook Group
Forum
FREE STUFF!
Contact Us

See our social side

Our Podcast

how to dressage podcast
Copyright © 2018-2021 How To Dressage
Privacy Policy
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links that are included on this website are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, we earn a commission if you make a purchase. If you would like to support this website in some way, using these links will help you do exactly that. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT