Stop pulling your horses’ head down!
This grinds my gears a little but I guess I have to remember you don’t know what you don’t know. But something I see ALLLLL the time in every part of the equine world, is this habit of always pulling the horses head down, if they put their head up slightly.
I see this done when the rider is sitting on the horse at a stand still and they fiddle with the bit till the head goes down, or people standing with their horse and they pull the halter to make the head go down.
My question to you is, why are you wanting to do this…and have you ever wondered why your horse isn’t standing with its head down? If you go back to my previous post on the anatomy of the poll region you will now know how delicate this area is.
If your aim is to help the horse relax and have a better posture, pulling the head down is more likely to elicit a submissive response to lowering the head (or resistance to it).
Why not invite the horse there rather than pull it, so they truly find relaxation and a better posture
? The easiest, most simple and non-invasive way to do this is to simply offer them your hand to their muzzle and see if they will follow it down, I have have shown in this before and after pic.
If they don’t want to or are resisting, you either need to wait, or assess the situation. Is it actually logical for the horse to “lower it’s head” in that moment to “relax”?
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