TTouch rocks

Today, Wilbur and I enjoyed our first TTouch session with Karen Bush. We observed Wilbur in his stable and noted several things:

• His neck muscles are more developed along the bottom of his neck, and  less well developed just in front of his wither - so there is a 'hollow triangle' at the base of his neck on each side. This contributes to a general disconnect between his front and back end so the energy generated by his hindquarters isn't able to follow through to the front end when ridden.. He finds it difficult to stretch his neck forward and down when under saddle.
• He holds quite a lot of tension in this neck - indicated by the tightness of skin along his neck.
• His chest muscles are more developed on the near side with a small amount of 'extra muscle' located on the inside of his near foreleg that isn't present on the off-fore.
• When standing, he has quite a narrow base, with this fore feet closer together than the width of his chest and his off hind is generally forward and in front of this near hind. 
• He has good muscle development in his hindquarters and behind the saddle area. 

We decided to concentrate on his front end, i.e. his neck and shoulders, with the aim of helping the energy created in his hindquarters flow through to his front end when ridden. We practised several different TTouches, including caterpiller along the top of his neck, inchworm along the bottom, wither rocks and forelock pulls. After just one session, his neck was less tense, and his feet were wider apart at the front. I've learned so much in this single session about Wilbur and look forward to more sessions in the near future.