Collection. To do this exercise correctly, your horse must "collect" his body by carrying his hind legs more underneath himself, closer to the girth area. This rounds his back so his withers are higher than his tail. He appears to "compress" the distance between his shoulders and hindquarters and has better balance.
This is not a "headset"! Avoid using items like draw reins, martingales, tie downs, or other gimmicky devices as artificial shortcuts to force this posture on your horse! Instead, teach him to use his muscles, to develop a more powerful top line across his back and through his spine, and to shift his weight onto his hindquarters.
When collection is achieved as a natural progression developed from balance and strength, it is a beautiful thing to see!
The last spot. Now, on to the last spot, which is on the shoulder. SPOT #5 can be anyplace on the shoulder or by the withers or on a concho at the front of your saddle.
Again, the steps are in the same order: Ask for the nose, start the horse forward, check the ear elevation, bring the two spots together, then touch the rein one more time while focusing on Spot #5. When this spot even begins to move slightly away from you, release the rein. Then you can pick up the rein to move the tail over and stop the horse. Repeat this progression from the other side, as always.
As you get better at moving your shoulder spot slightly away, then begin to change the angle at which you're asking it to move. Picture a clock, with 12 o'clock being straight forward, 1 o'clock a little to the right side, 2 o'clock a little more to the right, 3 o'clock straight to the right side, 4 o'clock at a slight angle backward, 5 o'clock at more of a backward angle, and 6 o'clock straight back. Work slowly around the clock face with Spot #5. Only ask for 1 to 3 steps at a time toward a particular number. If your spot doesn't move, then go back to the preceding step bringing Spot #2 and Spot #4 together. Soon, you'll be able to get Spot #5 to move in all of the clock directions.
Moving this spot teaches your horse the following tasks:
• Diagonals
• Canter leads off the front end
• Reverse arc circles
• Shoulder control, guiding your horse with his shoulders
• Slowing down in a collected manner by softening all the parts and muscles
• Collected transitions
• Side passes from the front end
• Stops with the front end
• Half passes and full passes
• Three-tracking
• Turns on the hindquarters
• Backing
The neatest part about all of this is that you get to observe all that you've taught your horse with a couple of hours of work. Your horse will lead better, stand better, trailer load better, and so much more.
