Is your horse tight in the poll?
Do you know if your horse is tight in the poll? 🤷♀️
What are the signs❓
Signs your horse is tight in the poll may include:
🔹Reluctance to accept the bridle
🔹Head or ear shy
🔹Reluctance to be caught
🔹Not keen on being brushed at the top of the neck or near the ears
🔹Reluctance to work into a contact
🔹Tight through the neck on one rein
🔹Snatching at the reins
🔹Unable to collect
What causes this❓
There are many possible causes, some of them are:
🔸Use of a curb or shank bit
🔸Poory fitting bridle (brow band too tight)
🔸Ridden with restrictive contact
🔸Believe it or not hind end dysfunction can present as tightness in the poll
(more on that in a future post)
🔸An injury from pulling back when tied
🔸Constant Crib biting
🔸Dental issues
🔸General tension/ and anxious horse
The good news is there are a few techniques I can use when treating your horse to help release tension at the poll ✔️
As well as looking at the horse as a whole and helping to work out what may be causing the problem in the first place 🧐so we can try and prevent the problem reoccurring ✔️
There are also some simple things you can do between treatments to help your horse in this area ✔️
One of which being the ear rotations and stretch 👂🏻 🐴
I hope you enjoy this short video demonstrating how to apply this technique 🎥 🍿