Rehabbing Suspensory Strain using Long Reins

12/12/24 Ginny with Talie, Bee and Storm
It's a long one! Talie continues rehabbing a hind suspensory strain on the long reins, with the need to adjust and adapt during the healing process. Bee, another gaited horse, continues to make general improvements in her movement but unable to make a full change of posture yet. Both are good examples of how we have to adapt to what the horse is telling us, or give enough time and repetition to gain a change. It's not that different than us getting stronger by going to the gym - it takes time. Ginny and Storm working under saddle need to make a few adjustments in order to utilize the movement for improving balance. Update to follow.
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Kirsten Nelsen, professional horse trainer
developer of Training for Optimal Balance
www.kirstennelsen.com

[@leob6097]

going left at the beginning with the head/neck going to the right- is the tension on the outside rein causing that?

[@kirstennelsen]

Great question - yes and no - the tension on the outside rein is increased when the horse makes the inside rein slack. The inside rein is slack because the body weight is tilted to the inside. The outside rein is adjusting the hindquarters, equalizing weight left to right. The neck bending to the outside means a significant weight adjustment is required in order to restore balance. As the pelvis stabilizes and weight is equalized left to right, then the neck will straighten out without the horse putting slack on the inside rein.
It is a complex groundwork technique that equalizes internal body weight laterally and stabilizes movement from back to front. It looks backwards in the early stages if the horse is disengaged and on the forehand when starting.