Question on Horse's Head Position

Jaclyn wrote and asked me, "I am a pleasure rider and sometimes trail ride with a friend of mine who is taking lessons. Some of the time she has good tips to pass off to me but sometimes it makes riding not very fun. The latest thing she is trying to get me to do is to drop my horse's head and try to ride her with her head bowed but not long after I try to get my horse to drop her head she will stop become seemingly frustrated and toss her head. When I just ride her normally everything is fine. My favorite thing to do is to ride her in a big open field and just spend time with her, so how important is it to get my horse to drop her head or is this just for competitions?"

Hi Jaclyn, maybe your friend is just excited to share what she is learning. Your friend is seemingly explaining Collection, where the horse breaks at the poll placing the plane of their head, from forehead through the nose, perpindicular to the ground.  This does a couple things such as rounding the horse's back, helping to get the back end up and underneath the body, transferring weight from the front end, where the majority of the horse's body weight is, to the rear end for balance, quicker turns, stops and back ups. It shows an element of training, or softness on the horse's part that reflects the horse and rider's relationship.

It is most often attained by being in contact with the horse, through the reins and bit. From the pressure of being in contact, a horse will learn to drop it's nose fiding that release from that pressure.  So notice if your friend is riding with a taunt rein when she gets her horse to give his head and notice that she ain't always riding him like that cause it would wear him out, as it isn't a natrual headset or otherwise we wouldn't have to teach it, the horse would already be there.

Think of a boxer who keeps his chin tucked into his chest to protect against an uppercut punch. With his head tipped downwards he has to look out of the top of his eyes as opposed to the center of his eye. The boxer will get into this position as he gets close to his opponent because he has a purpose for that position - to protect his exposed chin, but he can't stay that way all the time, let alone hard enough for an entire 3 minute round as it is too fatiguing and un-natural. Go ahead and try this - stand straight up and look at something eye level. Then tuck your chin into your chest, your back should start to round, and continue looking at the object. See how long it takes for your neck and eyes to get tired. I think it's the same way for a horse. It is natural and more comfortable for them to have their head more forward and be looking through the center of their eyes.

So just like the boxer, the horse breaks at the poll and collects in order to establish a position, again a weight transfer from the front end to the back end, through rounding the back and making it easier to get the back end more underneath the body. This is particularly useful when backing the horse as it allows for the rear legs to be picked up more easily.  The picture above left is a horse standing with his natural head set on a loose rein.  The picture above at right shows a standing horse being asked to drop his head (notice the taunt rein) and collect for which I will reward him with a release of the pressure.  Eventually, the idea is to hold the contact at a point where the horse can bend at the poll, drop his nose to a position where he finds his own release.

The picture above left is a horse at the trot where he takes a natural head set that is comfortable to him.  The picture above right is the horse at the trot being asked to collect - he's not quite there yet but will be when his face is vertical and his poll is about the same level as his withers.  It will be hard to begin to train your horse to do this while he has forward momentum. Normally, the progression is to train your horse to break at the poll in ground training, then with you mounted while she is standing, eventually doing that while she is walking, then trotting and holding that position for longer and longer periods of time. Your mare tossing it's head is showing some frustration, most likely because she doesn't know what you are asking of her. As you are walking her and your friend trys to get you to get her collected through being in contact with her mouth through the reins ands bit, she is probably slowing or stopping because that is similiar to her for how you are getting her to stop.

I think you can ride all your life, not asking your horse to collect and you'll be fine, however getting your horse to be soft, to give and learn how to collect will help in so many other aspects of your riding.  I don't work a lot on collection except when asking my horses to back.  It makes it easier to back on an arc if they are collected and get their back end more underneath their body.  And it sure is pretty to watch a horse and rider screaming down an arena, head lowered and collected, and come to a stop with the back end sliding 20 feet.  Hope this helps you Jaclyn.  Safe Journey.