SHOULDER IN. 303 



Shoulder in. — In the '' Bending Lesson " of Cavalry 

 Drill, there is taught a movement to one side, called 

 " shoulder in," which is similar to the passage, except that, 

 when doing it, the horse's head is turned away from the 

 direction in which he is going. It is practised, in our 

 military riding-schools, only with the tail to the wall ; and 

 the passage, only with the head to the wall. The impo- 

 sition of such a restriction on the passage is unreasonable ; 

 for it is a movement which is frequently required to be 

 performed by cavalry in the open, where there is no wall 

 to guide the direction of the horse. In the French school, 

 from which the English and Germans have derived their 

 notions of military equitation, the appiiyer (passage) epatile 

 en dedans (shoulder in) is synonymous with the passage 

 croupe ail, innr (croup to the wall), or, as I have called it, 

 passage tail to the wall. The English author, or authors, 

 of the " bending lesson " evidently thought that the term 

 epaule en dedans had reference to the way in which the 

 horse was "bent," and not to the fact that his shoulders, 

 and not his tail, were turned towards the inside of the 

 school. My readers will have seen that the passage " head 

 to wall " is preparatory to the more difficult movement of 

 the passage " tail to wall " {epatile en dedans). The fact 

 of the regulation '' shoulder in " being executed with the 

 head turned away from the direction in which the animal 

 is proceeding, condemns it as a movement to be employed 

 outside of a riding-school. If it be thought fit to retain it 

 as a means for teaching the use of the aids, it (like the 

 passage) should be practised head to wall as well as tail 

 to wall. Personally, I abominate it ; for it is the defence 



