ANSWER:
In the shoulder-fore, the outside front leg is placed in between the tracks
of the hind legs, so that you see four legs, when you look at the horse and
rider directly from the front or from behind.
In the shoulder-in that is ridden in the showring today, the outside front
leg is placed directly in front of the inside hind leg, which is why you see
only three legs when you watch directly from the front or from behind.
In the shoulder-in that the Spanish Riding School rides and that you see in
Spain, Portugal, and France, the outside front leg is placed to the inside
of the inside hind leg, which is why you can see four legs from the front or
from directly behind.
In the canter, the angle of the shoulder-in cannot be as steep as in the
trot or in the walk, because the horse's legs would otherwise interfere with
each other. The shoulder-in (or shoulder-fore, rather) in the canter is
called plié and used to be part of very advanced dressage training. It is an
excellent straightening and strengthening exercise.
The half pass can indeed be compared to a haunches-in on the diagonal. The
difference is that the angle which the horse's body forms with the track is
generally steeper in the half pass than in the haunches-in, which is why
there is more crossing of the legs. In the competitive haunches-in, the
front legs go straight ahead, while the hind legs cross over. In the past,
the haunches-in was often ridden with a much steeper angle, as you can see
in 18th century engravings. Oliveira, e.g. sometimes rode the haunches-in
with a very steep angle as well.
The quality of the half pass depends entirely on the activity and engagement
of the inside hind leg *before* the movement is even started. If the inside
hind leg does not reach forward enough, and if it does not bend enough
underneath the load, the half pass is doomed to fail. The remedy is to bring
the inside hind leg more under and then try again. Sometimes it takes a few
weeks or even months, before the horse is strong and elastic enough to
perform a half pass. Some horses do it very easily, even with hardly any
training, whereas other horses really struggly with it for quite some time.
- Thomas Ritter
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Last Update: January 13, 2007