The Anxious Horse: Working Through Tension

thinking about riding our horse from back to front. Tension develops in the hind quarter works through the body and shows up in our hands. We cannot effectively fix it if we cannot recognize where it comes from.
Work on bending and flexing the horse with forward movement will help his body become supple. I encourage the horse to lower his head and neck while still maintaining soft contact with the bit and work on creating an arc in the body rather than an articulation point at the withers. In order to do that I need to break the body into small pieces the head the neck the shoulder the rib cage and the hip. These areas should all be articulation points that when working together create a natural bend in the body. When one piece locks up there is tension and imbalance.
Maintaining forward movement is also very important. We want movement with impulsion but not speed. Movement should be slow and deliberate but we still need access to power. If we have speed momentum starts to work against us. If we are coasting we are not engaging the body and the horse may have flipped the switch to autopilot.
Think about impulsion as driving your car up a hill. If you dont keep the gas on you wont get to the top. When you are at the top of the hill you can coast but coasting wont allow you to pass the car in front of you. When you start down the other side if you arent careful to be in the right gear your car will start to run away with you because you have too much momentum. With impulsion you can work when you coast you are not getting anywhere and if you have a runaway you are in trouble.
When I ride a horse I am always trying to measure tension and tell where it may be coming from. Then I need to effectively eliminate the tension if I am to progress with the horses training. It is very difficult to teach a horse if he is tight through the body and in a reactive frame of mind. As a rider I never feel that I am not accomplishing anything if I have to step back and spend days or weeks dealing with anxietybased tension. I keep the big picture in mind about what the horse will become when