Head Set

As I look for a prospect the issue of head set seems to come up over and over. I'm looking for a 2 to 4 year old horse and I don't care if it's a filly or colt, English or western, or even much about breed. I am open. I find these "started" horses and almost all have been started with a focus on their head.  I don't even "believe in" head set. What an odd concept to make the horse's head position the starting point of training. What or where or how with regards to the head is all an effect of other things. It seems pretty obvious that if a trainer begins with the head, that there is a good chance that all the other things that are supposed to be the movements that create the head's balance and position will be effected, and probably effected in a negative way.

Like I said on the Horse Buying Considerations topic, I look first at hind reach. If the hind engages to the point that the horse reaches under itself such that the horse can balance on a single foot under its belly, a lot can happen from that position of balance. For example that means the horse can land a jump and turn directly out of the landing, not needing a stride after landing to compose its balance in order to turn. But if a horse is "trained" to put his head somewhere specific, the odds of that head position interfering with the horse's ability to reach under himself is pretty high.

It doesn't seem to matter what discipline, they all have an idea of where and how the head should be and it's an early training priority. You've got the "long and low" Hunter/Jumper idea, the "peanut roller" western idea, the "on the bit" dressage idea ...

Anyway, I am getting our TB mare back in shape. Starting the bakery meant she has been turned out for nearly a year. She raced four times and convinced her owners she was not a racehorse. I got her and started retraining her and then I became a pan washer. She was coming along nicely and now she is a mix of reversion to track manners, inattention and go fast and turn left. But she is remembering her post track training at a reasonable rate. I am pleased.

Interestingly. I was working her in 20 meter circles and someone observed that she was bobbing her head a lot, something I was just ignoring and allowing. I explained that it was like a boy in the first grade, they don't know what to do with their hands, as in fold your hands and put them on your desk (do they still say that?). It's part of her inattention and in time when she more fully remembers her job, she will use that extra energy now put into bobbing to pay attention to the rider and the task. But it was not lost on me that someone pointed out that I was not working on head set. I have been working her in and out of a creek that runs through the farm. It has some steep drops, some slides down into it and a lot of variation in the banks. It's perfect in how it demands attention in so many different ways at different spots. I have been toying with the mare's balance as she negotiates each variation in the terrain. For example, she will plant her hind feet to pop up and out of the water and I will sway her balance a little to make that move less appealing and cause her to rethink it. She will then decide to slowly walk up the steep slope with poor footing. The idea of popping out of the creek at that place probably was the best choice, but I am causing her to think about more possibilities. In this kind of work, there is no head bobbing, only optimum head carriage to get the job done.