(“Push him to a virtual object–a location.”)
[From Wikipedia: Lagrange Points, named for the 18th century Italian astronomer and mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange, are places in space where the combined gravitational pull of two large masses roughly balance each other out, allowing a spacecraft to essentially “park” there. If the spacecraft were moved into a tighter orbit, it would orbit faster which would counteract the increase in gravity; if the object moves into a wider orbit, the gravity is lower, but it loses speed. The net result is that the object appears constantly to hover or orbit around the Lagrange Point as though the point were an object itself.]
The topic came up with a smart young woman I was teaching who has a green PSG horse who tends to suck back / retract in his tempis. To ensure she can get him to change cleanly, in the past she has kept him deep and a little tight. The downside is that inhibits his engagement and decreases his shoulder freedom.
As I said to her, “Now when you do the changes, super organize him on the strides between each change, but at the stride when you give the aids, soften your hand and give him a bit of space to reach to. Instead of pushing him to an object (like the bit in his mouth or in astronomical terms like a celestial body), c. Gravitationally speaking, a LaGrange Point functions like an object without mass. Make him reach to a place which he perceives as capable of receiving his energy as opposed to driving him to an object which (he thinks) deflects or blocks the energy flow.”
This is obviously not an explanation for Pony Clubbers but it kind of amused her and me.