I checked with Horticulture Educator Ryan Pankau, who is an arborist and this is his reply: "A picture would definingly help with discussing options. But, in most cases, Id recommend pruning to take some weight off near the tips of the limb. If you can imagine the limb as a big lever arm, the further out the lever that you remove weight, the more impact it has on the load bearing upon the fulcrum, or the attachment at the trunk. By removing weight, you allow the limb to compensate naturally for the imbalance. I would guess we can already see signs of additional wood fiber the tree has added to compensate. So, taking a little weight off allows the tree to more easily support the limb with its current structure.
Depending on the alignment of the branch, next steps might be installation of a cable 1/3 of the way out the branch or installation of thru-bolt at the trunk. But, the recommendation for cabling and/or bracing probably needs to come from an arborist looking at it directly. In any case, I would always recommend weight reduction pruning, even if its is followed up with cabling/bracing."
