Blocking is messed up

When you block your sword in 1.8, it hold out your sword in front of you like you're going to attack someone.

This will make it hard sometimes to tell if someone is block-hitting in a PVP game, or if they're frozen in some way.
Please resolve this issue, it looks bad and also doesn't make any sense. If you were really blocking your chest with your sword, it would go across your chest, not half-way in front of it.