Correcting A Low Poll
Ideally the horse’s neck is carried as a natural extension of the balance of his body. Since the neck is flexible, it is easy for horses to curl up, shorten, or lower their necks too much. When they lower their necks it takes weight off the hind end. If it becomes a habit, it can make it more difficult to engage the horse.
It can be much trickier to help a horse raise his poll than to help a horse who carries his neck too high. It often requires a bit of finesse. These 5 videos give you some good examples of different horses and tools for helping improve this.
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Correcting A Low Poll - March 2013
In this video I teach Ewa in Sweden on her lovely Lipizzan. He has a habit of curling his head behind the vertical, and becoming too low in the poll. This can be much more challenging to correct than a horse who is too high! I will explain my thought pattern for this issue and you can watch as I ...
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Poll High + Self Carriage + Stretchable - May 2014
Karen teaches a student who has a lovely connection with her horse, but she loves the stretch and gets a bit low in her working gaits. In this video you will get some great theory, and will see the student quickly put it into practice!
This is a great video for anyone who wants to understand how ... -
Poll High + Self-Carriage Makeover - Sept 2014
In this video, Karen teaches a dressage student with a beautiful warmblood how to create a more balanced posture and positive connection by focusing on Poll High and Self Carriage. This video will show the power of these priorities, and will give you a very beautiful horse to watch
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Engaging The Stretchable Horse - Dec 2012
Karen Rohlf teaches a student over 5 days. This horse and rider have an excellent foundation and are accomplished at finding the Sweet Spot for let loose posture. Now they need to come up off the forehand and begin to carry with the hind legs. This is a nice example of the different things Karen ...
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Helping A Horse Reach Into The Contact - August 2025
In this video Karen coaches a professional (and DN student) with a young horse who shows some anxiety about the contact with the reins. He tends to curl up and lower his neck, while getting ‘balled up’ in his body. She says relaxing and letting the reins go longer hasn’t helped him. He seems to g...
