[kansess]

my teacher always tells me to keep my horse's head level with her body but she always lifts it up within 5 strides of any gait. i "shake" her head down by gently sawing the reins and nudging her on(this also tells her to slow down)
any help?

[shyxpony]

Ahh... the good ol' headset question.

Try doing a search first, there are TONS of threads out there on this.

[lvmypnt]

Your teacher should not be telling you "to keep your horses head down." Your teacher should be teaching you how to help your horse use it's HQ and get collected.

See-sawing bad, collection good.

[PoochtheMighty]

like the others said, run a search on HGS- you will find PLENTY of opinions and advice about this.

Originally Posted by kansess

my teacher always tells me to keep my horse's head level with her body but she always lifts it up within 5 strides of any gait. i "shake" her head down by gently sawing the reins and nudging her on(this also tells her to slow down)
any help?

If your trainer is telling you to do this, she is a quack. Run away. Very far away.


Sorry... I am being honest. If you aspire to be a truly good rider and horseperson and you want your horse to be truly athletic and perform to the best of his abilities, get out of there.

What kind of horse are you riding? What do you do with this horse?

Okay. Now- I don't know what type of riding you do, but headsets are just bad news all together. Horses use their head, neck, back, and entire body (ideally) and by forcing her head in a certain 'position' you block forward energy, put your horse on the forehand, deaden her to your cues, and set her up for possible injury and lameness.

What you WANT to do, is instead of try to force her head into a certain spot, is encourage her to use her whole body in a working outline. Remember, the horse's back and neck are every bit as important as the head. To create a horse who is relaxed, happy, comfortable with the aids, and physically capable of stopping, turning, changing gears, etc. at the drop of a hat because she is WELL BALANCED- that is your goal here. Not to get a horse's head down.

So, after you get a new trainer , work on stretching your horse down and forward- do not force her head down- if you ride correctly and consistently, your horse will stretch forward and down through her neck and back, while simultaneously propelling herself forward and reaching under her belly with those hind legs. Got it?

Step one- keep your hands QUIET. QUIET. QUIET. If you are constantly playing, tugging, see-sawing, and 'shaking' her mouth, she is going to get sick of it and just deaden to your aids. You might get a headset, but it will be inconsistent and unpleasant to look at from a trained eye.

Try trotting your mare at a relaxed but forward pace, for about five minutes. Use circles, serpentines, etc. Remain quiet with your hands, but do not let her rush or be lethargic. Watch for your mare to relax. She will snort, sigh, and eventually as she loosens up, will lower her head- a few inches ABOVE her withers, preferably. Keep a steady, quiet contact with her mouth and you will find that she looks for and accepts the contact rather than backs away from it.

This relaxed state should be there in all of your gaits before you really can start serious work on acheiving and mainting a working outline. From the relaxed state, you use suppling to balance and fine tune your horse. Really- it is best acheived with someone knowledgable with you.

Does she know how to give to pressure?

[kansess]

mkay
thz everyone

[IIIBarsV]

See-sawing = yoyo head. Notice how she brings it up right back up again as soon as you stop see-sawing? Yeah, it's not working.

When the horse's head goes down from see-sawing, they are actually evading the bit. They often end up going under the bit (arching or curling their head in), and their stride does not improve.

I will say it a little nicer.... your trainer is old-fashioned. This sort of method on a high-headed horse is only going to frustrate you and your horse. For all anyone knows, your saddle could be pinching or too narrow and causing the hollow back. Maybe the horse has hoof problems that aren't showing up as lameness (this can cause stiffness in the shoulder which translates to a higher head). Maybe the horse is just built to carry themselves high, and going level is physically difficult.

There are a lot of things to check out and evaluate closely before you go looking for training exercises.

[horserider1]

i would stop the sawing if it just confuses your horse more. look at other threads there are plenty that will tell you about being collected.

[kansess]

sry
i shouldve said it before but the horse's head IS level when i tell her to go on (slightly faster)

[MaggieSue]

I wouldn't say the trainer is 'old fashioned', I would say she herself was taught the wrong way. Many 'old fashioned' trainers would never dream of teaching the 'see saw', because they know it teaches the horse to evade the bit.
The reason your horse is throwing his head is because he's looking for his comfort zone-keep your hands still and push him forward...hold onto the mane if you must-but dont' move your hands! You can squeeze your fingers alternately-and at random, but not 'back and forth' to ask the horse to go on the bit...all the while pushing forward.

[Buckshot]

I only use the "see-saw" when the horse knows better and is being an ***.

However, when finessing the headset, I'll use my little fingers only and barely work the bridle. Soft works much better than hard shaking.

The head is not the problem though. The problem is the hind end. I strongly suggest you find a different trainer if her only way of dealing with the horse's 'headset' is seesawing. Because that is just wrong, imo. To get a proper frame, you need to hold have pressure on the reins, but DRIVE at the same time with your legs and seat.