Give it a stretch

So ... no exciting "I almost got dumped" reports. Hampton has been a true gentleman, very obedient and has done everything I have asked of him. Of course, it's also about 90 degrees and humid. That might be helping. But either way, our rides have been great lately. I've now started teaching him about stretching down and out. I hadn't introduced this yet, because I wanted to make sure he was truly broke to ride before I said, "Ok horse, you may put your head down now." Today he really started to get the concept. He really started to lower his neck. He still needs to poke his nose out a little more, but I felt it was a good start for a baby. We'd probably still pull a 6 on a training level stretchy circle. Here's what I really want to avoid as far as the forward-down-out working goes. T-Bone (my previous horse, a Morgan), learned this by way of vienna reins (or running side reins). This appeared to work great for him - as he was an uptight, upheaded horse who took any opportunity brace against the contact and hollow his back. The thing is, all the Vienna reins did was teach him to unhinge at the withers. He never truly stretched into the contact, but he was great about lowering his neck as if to graze. I want to avoid this at all costs with Hampton. To be fair, Hampton is a totally different animal. He's not built like T-Bone, and does not have the same mind. Right now I see no need to use Vienna reins, as he's learned to lower his neck just fine with me opening my inside rein and "turning the key" with my hand. But how do I teach him to strrrretch and not just unhinge? ... In other news, the canter is still great. Starting to get a few more strides of straight-away each ride. Training Level 1 or 2 will be no problem. If I can get a good stretchy circle, Training 4 will be within our reach, too. Yippeee!