New trainer - weird outside rein technique

[3magic_beans]

I'm recently getting back into dressage after many years overseas and I've started taking lessons from a local trainer on one of her horses. One of her techniques to get the hose into proper bend and alignment is throwing me off.
Basically, when using outside rein, inside leg, she's asking me to move my outside rein way out to to the side of the with my thumb pointing out like I'm hitch hiking. It's very award because my hands/forearms don't run parallel to each other and it throws me off balance. I've never been told to use this technique before so I'm wondering if it's common or if I've just been out of the loop long enough that I've forgotten it's a thing?

[Tanga]

My guess is it is not a technique, but trying to correct something you are doing, like putting your outside shoulder forward and taking your hand across the neck.

Try it. See what happens. Ask her why she is asking you to do that.

[Ponichiwa]

I had similar thoughts to Tanga. Typically out-of-neutral corrections (e.g. leaning back or forward, high or low hands, wider than neutral hands, turning the hand to avert breaking at the wrist, etc.) are intended to fix something that's missing in your neutral position-- or to illustrate a point to the horse.

Does the horse have a bit of a lean through the shoulder towards the outside? That's another issue that can be fixed with short bursts of wide outside hand.

[Flight]

Sometimes opening the outside rein can help guide them out into it more. It's more corrective, not really a sustained thing. Like what Tanga said, ask!

[StraightForward]

I've done this a little bit with myself because somewhere along the line I developed a habit of sucking my right arm into my body too much. I was trying to get a horse to go into my right rein and asked about it in Sylvia Loch's FB group. She responded herself that I should try moving my hand away from the withers and it worked; I needed to make space for the horse to go to the rein. Sounds like your instructor might be having you do something a little more extreme, but agree with the others that it is probably an exaggerated correction that is temporary, but I would ask for the rationale behind it.

[Chisamba]

it's pretty common in certain techniques to turn your wrists to " admire your manicure" and to widen the hands. if I use it I only do so until the correct response is offered by the horse, then return to neutral.

however if it is affecting your balance I recommend some work on an independent seat. almost everyone needs a lesson from time to time with swimming arms, wind mills, airplanes especially at sitting trot. or maybe only I do. lol

[Ryeissa]

First, is there a reason why? Is it correcting something you or the horse are doing?

I can't say if its the same exactly, but this year I have been specifically told to OPEN the outside rein away from the neck to have proper alignment and collection. I was crossing it over too much. This goes back to my asymmetry and habits. To have a proper outside connection the outside shoulder has to have room to move and "fill". If the rein is against the neck too much its restricting the connection/flatens the outside of the horse. "Create space, fill the space". I'm taking a few inches, no one could really see this change. It's also working at second at third level where the turns are smaller and the horse is more collected.

If the trainer does it with everyone and doesn't explain why, yeah, that is weird. Especially if it's super exaggerated.