Who is really on their forehand?

It has been a while since my last blog and so here I would like to start in a new direction. By now you may have seen Sinatra pony on you tube being ridden outside in an area that is somewhat open with only a rope around his neck. I started working with Sinatra in this way over the winter to break up the boredom and found that he was mentally stimulated by it. I also needed to undo some bad habits he had gotten into when he had been leased and the trainer insisted he bend by having his rider cross the inside rein over his neck. His reponse to that was to try to look to the opposite direction to pull away from the pull. So I wanted to work on restoring Sinatra to natural balance - meaning if I sit on my inside seatbone and keep my inside leg saying "hello" at the girth, he would turn around my leg and look into his turn on his own. He had gotten a little weak on that left hind having been forced into a false imbalanced bend. Letting him get back to his own balance naturally strengthened him and then the balance was perfect. Proper bend was restored. But wait! If such a small detail interrupted Sinatra to this degree, what on earth does all the "framing" we see do to horses and ponies? I now believe we are the reason horses are on their forehand to start. I said that backwards. We START horses on their forehand. Have you ever been on a horse and had your bicepts burn? Or how about that expression that the horse is "rooting." Better yet, lets make sure that your horse is round in his head and neck. What happens when we so cleverly manipulate a horse or pony with resistance and pulling? Or under pretense explain the horse is lacking "acceptance" perhaps? All a disguise for what to me is now the obvious. Either through ignorance or deliberate cutting of corners for the sake of (?) horses are being placed on their forehand and then being blamed for the consequence. Without a bridle on Sinatra pony, I had to define his body through my own. I had to be responsible for my body angles and symmetry, for weight distribution, and planning. I discovered Sinatra would stretch out his head when he needed to use his back more, and lift his withers when he needed to push his body up more (such as in the canter). He would find the BALANCED FRAME in his head and neck for the movement from his body. Why then do trainers insist on a one size fits all frame sends a horse to his forehand, to start movement and energy from the front as opposed to the back? I don't know. But I do know the horse's energy is constantly pitted into that bit and as a consequence the front end gets jammed - hence on the forehand. Next video will be some lateral work. I discovering where need to be in for Sinatra to do full crosses in a proper leg yield. He is showing me where I need to be for him to respond to the exercise and where he must put his head and neck for balance.