An open front line. The rider proud, presenting an open front line... some call it the D shape. The chest and abdomen long and open to the horse. The sternum lifted. The well-dropped thigh.

Something desirable?

Or is there a point where it is desirable and not desirable. Is this like so many other things. Desirable when....

All things require a level of balance and moderation. Perhaps this more true then many of the other things that we strive for as riders.

An Exercise
You will need one swimming pool deep enough that you can "stand" with your feet apart without touching the bottom.

One floatation device. One of those float boards.

Take one float board and place it between your legs, above your knees and level to the floor of the swimming pool below you. It may feel a bit wide and awkward, but truly a horse is much wider then this, is he not?

Stand as close to a riding position as you can. Once you have that, open up the front of your abdomen, wide, wider and see what happens.

You will notice that you will reach a point where the floatation board will start to dip down at the front.

Try again. See if you can open, up more and more without dipping the front of the board.

You probably will discover that no matter how hard you try, as you open up your front, you get to a point where the board starts to tip down.

Now Lets Think About The Horse
When you are sitting on your horse, could you possibly be having the same effect upon him?

So what happened?