Encouraging horse to engage back on long reins
 

I am currently rehabbing my horse post PSD surgery and working closely with my physio but I am a bit stumped. We are starting off by long reining 20 mins a day out on straight lines and then one day a week we long rein a dressage test in the arena and will continue to do this for 3 weeks. He seems to be using his bum and really marches from behind but his head is still in giraffe mode and I can see his back is hollow. He will very occasionally shove his nose on the floor so I tried to encourage him along but as soon as I do his head comes right back up. I don't like messing with the long reins too much as he then just tucks his chin into his chest. He's always had a high head carriage and an upside down neck. The physio is really keen to get him to engage his core and lift his back and we have been doing carrot stretches every day to encourage this but just feels pointless long reining him if he is going to walk around with his head in the air. I am quite good with managing the reins and have tried lots of walk to half transitions, collecting and then extending, backing up (we can do limited amounts) but nothing seems to be doing the trick. Any advice greatly appreciated! He is just long reined in a roller with a pad underneath and his bitless bridle.

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