When you want to collect your horse, the energy being used to move forwards needs to be harnessed into shorter strides while keeping the impulsion. This energy needs to go somewhere, so instead of moving forward, the body moves up and down in shorter, bouncier strides. To be able to do this effectively, your horse needs to be able to mobilise it's thoracic sling.
Rather than a collar bone, horses have the thoracic sling - a group of muscles suspending the thorax between the front limbs, which absorb impact to allow for multi directional movement. To achieve the up and down motion needed for collection, these muscles need to remain soft, supple and pliable. We can use the sternum lift to bring our horses attention to these muscles and encourage them to improve posture and control of the body. By doing this on the ground, we can then work it into our riding when asking for collection.
How to:
1) Place your hands shoulder width apart with palms facing upwards onto the middle of the horses belly.
2) Focus on something just beyond the horses back to see if the back lifts.
3) Using your fingertips on the belly, draw your hands together until they meet in the middle.
4) The back should gently lift and hold for a few seconds before releasing.
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