OPEN YOUR COLLARBONES FOR BETTER STOPS!

You might have heard a trainer yell a thousand times "sit up straight" or "keep your shoulders back" but Warwick's unique and to the point explaination might turn on the light for you, it did for me. - J. Milchick

by Warwick Schiller

"Open your collarbone" refers to separating your collar bones, ie making the distance between them more. I use this term (or should I say our wonder-eq-coach used this term) because it doesn't cause you to change the rest of your body. You could say "put your shoulders back" but most times this will cause people to arch their back and
rotate their pelvis forward slightly, which you want to do neither. It's a bit like training a horse, when you change one thing or add something new you have to be aware of everything else that it changes too.

I find that if my horse isn't approaching the fence as well as it should (especially at high speed) then my body is doing the chickens**t and my shoulders are trying to hunch. That's usually the cause so then I just have to tell myself "look up and open your collarbone, look up and......" well you get the picture. Then when I get it done my horse will go to the ground really smoothly. Basically everything you do from the waist up will be reflected by your horse from the cinch forward. If you get stiff, the front end gets stiff. If you stay neutral, the front end will stay neutral. If you flop forward, well you know the answer to that one.

Till next time..................................Warwick

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