𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞

In all my rehab training from a kissing spine I start with encouraging to stretch the topline. But why do I do this and for how long do you want to keep on doing this?

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒔

By asking the horse to activate the hind legs, the horse will start swinging them further underneath the body. The more this happens, the more the SI joint will work as a lever pushing the spine up. When the spine is being pushed up, the vertebrae will get more space between them. The head coming down is a 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡 from the hind legs getting activated. The more the topline muscles are relaxed and stretched, the more the hind legs can swing underneath the body so the horse can start carrying weight on them.

𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒙𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒌

In the stretch you want the horse to relax the underneck. As soon as the horse starts bracing or pushing with the underneck, he will push the front down and collapse through the thorasic sling. Meaning he can't lift the front of the ground and become hollow. The hindlegs can only do so much. That's why in the beginning I'd like the horse to get as much space in the front as he needs. To which point the horse would like to stretch is different per horse, but one should always keep in mind that the underneck needs to be soft and relaxed.

𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒄𝒉

This depends per horse. As soon as the horse starts offering a higher frame I tend to go along with it. As long as the contact is soft, the underneck is relaxed and I can see or feel the hind legs swing underneath the body with a supple back. In the end you don't want to have your horse with his nose on the ground forever. It's just a way to help the horse become soft and relaxed through the body.