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 🎥 🍿