While riding my OTTB today, I realized I’ve been chasing roundness, disguising it as “connection” before creating the suppleness that allows that to happen. In my own Claire Terms I need “neck and back use” so I repeated “access to topline”like a mantra. For my purpose, Kerm with his short back & spider legs, raises his head, which braces the underside of his neck, tightens the back. While I can lift my hand to meet the mouth, if I squeeze my leg when he’s in this shape, it’s igniting a firework. I can’t ride into the contact when the neck is restricted, jammed. . But when I grease those buttons that tell him to take the neck forward, unwind like an accordion, I can use my leg in all the ways it’s meant, ride him forward… . This sometimes looks like a hint of left or right bend, without asking for more poll flexion. It’s using my circles and corners to move him around my inside leg. I exhale to soften tension in my shoulder, elbow, and hand. He learns that quiet bend is an invitation...