“Why Keep Your Horse’s Head Down?”
If you’re into Western Riding, there’s
a head position that’s desirable for horses.
That head position is down.
Why is that?
When the head is down, it automatically
causes the horse’s back to rise.
What’s so good about that?
It gets them to use their back legs
more.
So what?
It keeps their front legs light and
ready to move.
Thus, when the horse’s front end is
light, they can turn faster and easier.
They’re simply in a more athletic
position to do maneuvers.
If you ever watched a Draft Horse pulling
contest, you would likely see their heads down while
pulling because it helps them get that strength
needed to pull.
Another key point about the head being
down, back up, and light on the front end, is
this is much of what collection is about.
Collection is an important factor in
the horse world. When they’re using the rear
legs, light on the front, and moving with
balance,…you’re getting collection.
Thus, when your horse puts his head
down we don’t want to take that away from him.
Instead, we want to encourage it.
But what about when the horse puts
his head down to lean on the bit?
Then what?
The first thing to “not” do is pull
his head back up.
If you do, you’re encouraging him not
to lower his head.
If you’d like to know what else to do,
you might want to take a look at the
Kenny Scott horse training video.
Kenny reveals many solutions for various
problems including the one I just described.
Kenny’s a lot of fun to learn from be-
cause he’s got more experience and championships
under his belt than most trainers you’ll meet.
He won the 1997 World in Western Riding.
He’s also placed at the World so many times I’m
not sure I could accurately count them.
He’s also made the finals at the Congress
in Western Pleasure.
Combine his wins with his background in
horse training and you begin to see why he’s
someone to learn from.
Anyway, if you want to know more about
him, click on the following:
http://horsetrainingresources.com/dvd-kennyscott.html
Remember, the head down is a good thing.
But you might ask, “But what if it looks
like he’s going to buck? Don’t horses buck with
their head down?”
Great question.
Kenny answers that in his video as well.
http://horsetrainingresources.com/dvd-kennyscott.html
Ok…that’s it for today. Stay safe out there!
Charlie
P.s. Order anything now and we’ll pay the shipping.
Use coupon code FREESHIP on the checkout page.
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One of Jesse Beery’s more famous training aids he
developed was his Pulley Bridle. He refers to
it multiple times throughout his course.
We have taken his original design and improved upon
it in many ways and now offer what we call the
“Beery Pulley Bridle”.
You can see it here:
http://horsetrainingresources.com/bridle.html
We also offer the bridle and the Beery course
as a discounted bundle if you want both.
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