The exercise is started from the ground facing the horse. Take both rings of the snaffle with both thumbs and push up toward the joint between second and third vertebrae following the natural direction of the mouth itself. Push steadily, progressively, strongly if necessary, introducing the strength little by little. When the horse yields (stops pushing down on the bit), relax immediately and drop your thumbs.From your position facing the horse, you must never push the reins towards the horse's chest, it must be an upward movement from the corners of the lips.
With regular sessions the horse will start to display the behaviour detailed in my last post, "a behaviour similar to tasting a sugar, playing with the bit and swallowing, then salivating. Not chewing".
When the horse has been educated by this exercise you can then progress to lateral flexions in hand as a base for all the in hand lateral work to follow.
The process would be
1. Mobilising the Jaw and Tongue, relaxing the horse.
2. Controlling the neck, longitudinally and laterally.
3. Flexing the poll.
2 comments:
Where's the pics of you doing this with Anky? Good write up but interested, have you ever had to push strongly?
but what do you do if your horse moves backwards?
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