Raising the Neck

As discussed in my last post, Jet while relaxed, energetic(mostly!), and aligned, tends to get a little downhill in his balance and low in the poll.  This is not optimal but I have allowed this posture because of all the good things going on like minimal spooking, swinging back, good lateral balance, and a generally happy demeanor.  Sometimes you have to make choices, and especially since the goal this summer has been to go to shows and have a relaxed and focused pony, I've let him go in his preferred balance while starting to add a lot of the building blocks we need to move in a more uphill balance with engagement.  Things like flexibility exercises, lateral work, and more transitions and so on.  But the poll has still been a bit low.

Since we've had three calm outings in a row, after our last show I decided it was time to try to raise the poll and get to a better balance by using a technique called raising the neck as seen above.  Basically, after you have all the attributes of a relaxed, through his back, and engaged horse, IF the poll is still low the rider "fluffs" the horse with the reins to fix the curling or tendency to be low in the poll.  Starting with the normal slightly low poll position but with relaxation, energy, and a calm and happy horse, nothing changes for the rider except a very light momentary upward "fluffing" rein motion that does not go backward at all.  The rider then returns to the normal light contact hand posture within 1-2 seconds and continues on like nothing happened.  Easy squeezy lemon peasy.  The horse typically responds at first by going poll high but withers still a little dropped and then will slip back into poll low after a while.  After a few rounds of this the horse gets the idea they have to stay poll high but that they won't be held up.  Then over the course of one ride or several, if the rider is consistent in asking for the poll to be high momentarily while also keeping the the relaxation, energy, and alignment, the horse's shoulders also lift and you have this.

This is a VERY light "fluff" with lots of self carriage checks interspersed.  The idea is that it just a suggestion to change the poll position, with no holding, while keeping all the other good attributes.  The "fluff" works on the corners of the mouth, not the bars and is feather light.  The big question is, does it work?  And the answer, at least for Jet, is that it works beautifully.  I was careful to make the "fluff" very light, with no backward motion, and to use lots of self carriage checks with the inside rein.  I kept the energy and alignment up to par and only did short 1-2 minute sessions of poll up/neck raised making a clear demarcation between being up and being stretched with nothing in between.  Over the course of a couple of weeks, Jet started to get it right away, though he got a little scooty working outside.  I brought him inside for a few days and gradually increased his time in the new posture over each session.  Then we took things back outside.  And wow.  Everything is SO much easier.  Because his balance is level everything takes much less preparation.  We need a lot less rebalancing before transitions and lateral work is so effortless.  The canters feel like riding on a cloud.  All with easy self carriage checks with the inside rein at any time.  We're taking this new balance on the road for our last dressage show this weekend, so we will see how it all works out at a show.