Headsets
May 25, 2010
Look at more than just head position when training your horse.
AQHA Professional Horseman Lynn Palm stresses the importance of training your horse for more than just a headset.
By AQHA Professional Horsewoman Lynn Palm in The American Quarter Horse Journal
One of the most common questions I get from show-horse enthusiasts is: How can I achieve a better headset and get my horse to lower his head? Horses’ head positions and headsets seem to be such an emphasis with competitors, trainers and the general public who want to achieve excellence with their horses. Some exhibitors are absolutely obsessed with the headset, and the horse is the one that suffers.
Self-Carriage
Learning more about the horse and his mechanics and how he will respond is essential in taking the focus away from the head set. A horse operates from the hindquarters, and if you train him to respond from the hind end, the forehand will do what you want in time. If you train only from front to back, you are always shutting down the horse’s hind end.
Where a horse’s head and neck carriage is while performing (high, low or level) tells us about his balance. And his balance will impact the quality of his performance. A horse balances himself from his four legs. The front legs naturally bear more weight because of the head and neck. When a horse is performing, the rider has to encourage the horse to transfer weight from the front to the back end, so the balance is carried more from the hindquarters, and the horse can achieve self-carriage. When a horse has self-carriage, his head and neck relax and lower to his natural position according, to his conformation. The head (poll) and neck will be level, or up slightly, from the withers.
The late Bill Van Norman believed the vaquero training traditions were the very best ways to develop a solid horse that can be used in all kinds of disciplines. He was eager to share his training knowledge with others, so he provided Vaquero Horse Training Tips, a report you can order today!
The bottom line is: When the horse is balanced, the head sets itself up naturally. The rider’s hands receive and guide instead of taking or forcing the head in a specific position. It is a much softer way to ride; the horses love it and usually respond willingly. The balance is achieved by controlling the horse’s body alignment while going straight or curving through the rider’s leg and rein aids.
The Right Emphasis
If your training emphasis is to control the head and neck, the horse will respond from fear or resist because the mouth is the most sensitive part of the horse. If you only train from the mouth, first you toughen up the mouth, and then you will have to use more and more severe bits to get a response.
Second, your horse will lower his head to the point where he will have most of his weight on the forehand, and he will be over-bridled with his nose behind the vertical to escape your way of riding. Third, the horse’s forward motion is blocked, and his natural way of moving is hindered, resulting in gaits with incorrect cadence. When that happens, you stress the horse’s back and overwork the horse’s stifle and hock joints. Ultimately, you end up with lameness and joint problems and shorten the horse’s career.
Training for headset puts the horse in such an unnatural body position and restricts any natural way of moving that it instills resistance and unwillingness. As riders, we should always put our horse’s health and well-being first. It is critical that our horses trust us so that they are happy performing. We must avoid forceful training techniques and always promote understanding and patience. Training horses is about longevity; it is so much more rewarding to enjoy a long-lasting partnership.
Train your horse to respond from your seat and legs and guide him with the reins. Put your horse in a correct body position so it is easy for him to achieve balance and relaxation. His movement will become more free-flowing and his gaits more beautiful.
Do you want the full story on the vaquero horse training tradition from one of the best trainers in the industry? If so, order Vaquero Horse Training Tips today!
Comments
10 Comments on “Headsets”
Add a Comment
May 27th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Excellent article. My daughter had a trainer that was always teaching her to ride heavy on the fores. Everytime there was a problem, she insisted that it was my daughter’s fault. We really got concerned when the farrier would come to do his feet and he was stating to us how the front left was becoming real flat and our horse was having a hard time developing a heal, which part of that was that he was being trained to be heavy on the fores and also everybody at our old barn seemed afraid to go in any other direction except left. Our old trainer’s response to correct a lot of things was to go to a harsher bit. She recommended a double twisted wire and we promptly recommended her to take a hike.
We do mostly open shows, just for financial reasons, but we are finally starting to see this line of thinking that Lynn speaks of to filter its way down to the open show circuits, and the quality of horse movement and headsets is becoming much better.
Thanks Lynn for stepping up to the plate and thinking outside of the nornal Quarter Horse box and really pushing for a hunter horse that moves with a good Dressage basis as its foundation.
July 20th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
I am an English instructor but I get a lot of exposure to the Western show ring when I take my kids to the local club for shows. Western and English classes are offered on the same day. I hate to see those poor Western Pleasure horses being tortured by their riders….their heads are so low (nose to knees) and every third or forth step, the rider yanks on the rein to get the horse to lower his head even more! Their jogs and trots look like the horses are totally lame…if one of my horses started moving like that, I’d call the vet immediately! To top it off….those are the people that get all the ribbons!!! Even when they change tack and clothing and ride in the English classes, those low-headed horses win again!!! If the judges keep on pinning these people, how will the Western Pleasure world ever stop this torture and start realizing that a natural head carriage is so much better for the well-being of the horse?
July 25th, 2010 at 6:24 am
This is great that AQHA puts these articles out by such well respected people as Lynn Palm. But…..until they start requiring more from their judges to not pin horses with these peanut roller headsets or moving so slow, as Susan up above pointed out, that you can no longer tell the difference between the gaits, then people are going to keep doing it. As long as these people are being pinned, it empowers and encourages them to keep doing it. And maybe wit the exception of a few open shows in my area, it is still taking place there, along with being rewarded in the placings. Some may argue that open shows have nothing to do with what AQHA encourages, but I beg to differ, as the open shows often mirror what AQHA and APHA are doing.
August 19th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
I have to agree with the comments here. I show my quarter horse in barrels and hunter jumper classes. The first time I showed in an English class at a AQHA show, I was disqualified. I found out why and then tried again. I was then told by the judge I had to get the horses head lower.
What really blew me away, the next day I go to a hunter jumper show and took Grand Champion (included rail work and fences). I spoke to the judge after the show and told him what happened. He agreed that my horse had the proper head set, but I would never win at a AQHA show because she won’t put her head all the way down.
October 26th, 2010 at 4:02 am
[...] too soon after a rain, you are at risk of being detrimental to your base. It’s just a matter of patience. But if you have an arena that doesn’t have a base – that’s pure sand – it’s not as [...]
February 16th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Again, I agree — we need judges to step up and stop placing the horses that are being trained to move artificially!….
April 19th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
[...] It’s very different from being on the wrong lead. When a horse is on a wrong lead, he’s on the forehand, pulling himself along, and his hocks are out behind him. He’s not engaged, travels unevenly in [...]
April 21st, 2011 at 8:14 pm
It looks like Lynn Palm should be teaching classes on proper self-carriage to these horse show judges, since they don’t seem to have a clue what they’re doing. I’ve even seen people at the 4-H horse fair with their horse’s head tied down around the front legs(to the cinch) so they jerk themselves in the mouth every stride. If you teach a horse to give to the bit, and you use your legs, you don’t have to yank on his face. A natural headset is a beautiful thing! It’s called training, and it takes time.
May 4th, 2011 at 7:44 am
[...] horse in true self-carriage is on the bit, not above it or behind it. With a soft poll, the rein affects the hind legs and haunches, rather than stopping in the neck as it does when [...]
January 20th, 2012 at 9:53 pm
I have a problem with the canter. I know the walk is a four beat gait and the trot is a two beat gait. I always thought the canter was a three beat gait. BUT,now all I see are four beat canters from your western type horses moving at a snails pace.In a westtern pleasure class this is quite disturbing but more so in a english hunt seat class.Who’s kidding who?