I have started to introduce Shoulder-in to Lucano at Work in hand and during training I ask myself many questions.
To name a few:
– is the angel right (3 or 4 tracks)?
– is he only bringing the head in, which results in an overbent neck?
– does he understand the function of the outside indirect rein yet, guiding and inviting him to place the forehand in front of the inside hind leg?
– is he stepping forward and under the center of mass with his inside hind leg?
– if so, can I feel the shoulder freedom of the outside shoulder?
– is the outside hind leg also coming forward or is it stepping more sideways?
– is he getting light in front because of his carrying ability in behind or is he pushing against my hand?
– is he soft in the poll; yielding and searching to my observing half halts?
– do I have to correct the center of mass with rebalancing upward half halts?
– is he horizontal balanced, having a forward-forward tendency or he is downhill oriented?
The movement itself is a bit familiar to Lucano as we have practiced this at Liberty but bringing in some tools (reins, bit etc. ) we humans easily tend to overdo things.
Therefore, I do film myself regularly to check what is working and what needs attention!
Do my feelings I had in the training match the pictures I see afterwards?
