You'd be shocked how important it is to have control of your horse's shoulders.
Here are the problems with lack of control.
Keeping your horse's shoulders up and square keeps his hips balanced.
Why is this important? It's important because the propulsion comes from his hind legs.
This, of course, is from the hip area.
Thus, you want the hips to be in balance.
You see, there's something human anatomy has that equines don't.
What is it? It's a collar bone.
So what? Without a collar bone, it makes it easier for a horse to lean.
When your horse leans, he can pull his hips out of balance.
That is why we need shoulder control.
Let me show you how this can pull hips out of balance.
The first thing to do is find a chair and sit upright in it.
As soon as you're settled, lean to the left.
When you do, notice how you start feeling it pull in your right hip.
Now imagine trying to walk straight or turning circles if your hips are feeling out of balance.
You would have a hard time doing it.
Plus, it would be difficult to walk comfortably.
So if you keep the shoulders square, you have a more comfortable horse that can do circles a lot better.
Not only that, keeping his shoulders square will keep him from wanting to lean and do a circle to offset his hip being pulled on.
How can you tell if your horse is leaning with his shoulder? If you're riding a circle and it gets smaller and smaller...
then that's an indication.
Or, if you're riding a circle and it gets oval and/or bigger, that indicates he's dropping his outside shoulder.
If that happens, then you can see the value of your horse's shoulders being squared up.