How do I train My horse to get its head down to a western pleasure head set

Question

How do I train My horse to get its head down to a western pleasure head set

Answer 1

Oh Yeah, Headset questions

First off the head is the last thing to be set. You need to get the horse to use it's back. Rounding and staying balanced and the walk, trot, canter. Agfter you have given the horse time to learn how to use his back then you can start working on the head thing. A horse can not look through the bridle properly without discomfort unless his back is in the correct shape.

Start at the walk.

As you are sitting on your horse walking "better done in a round pen" give the horse equal amout of pressure with your calves. At this point you are asking him to lift up his back and walk. He may not be able to do it for long, but how many push up could you do on the first try?

Prais him for doing it correctly:)

I am guessing your horse will speed up with the leg pressure. You will have to reteach him what that pressure means. Instead of using tons of leg pressure to ask for forward motion tilt your hips and ask with your seat, then apply the leg pressure. He will get the clue in time.

After you master the walk go on to the trot. It helps to do serpentines, figuer eights and on the rail.

As you do you transition down to a walk, give your horse some rein and let him look through the bit will still giving him the calf pressure to lift his back. You will want him to be able to extend and shorten his gait while doing this long and low excersise and all without the aid of your reins. You need to use your seat.

Remember, walk  first:)

Wanted to add that your horses anatomy may not allow him to lower his head as much as you would like. There is nothing you can do about it. Also, when you go back to teaching any new training you should use a nice fat copper snaffle.

Answer 2

1. get a running martingale

2. get your horse so he can easily bend his head around. practice bending his head around to where your foot is and as soon as he brings his head to your foot quickly release. the release is his reward. get your horse comfortable doing this so you don't have to fight with him when you ask him to bend his head. it may take a while depending on how often you ride.

3. once he can bend his head around without a problem, then to ask him to drop his head lightly pull every other rein till he drops his head. at the slightest drop of his head stop pulling on the reins, if he brings his head back up, lightly pull every other rein again, repeat doing that.

it can take awhile be patient, the more you work with him on it the faster he will learn it. this is how i teach my horses to drop their heads.

good luck  

Answer 3

you need to lower your hand set  down and when moving forward begin to hold on the bit until his head drops and release. You have to do this all the time until he knows what you want.  You must beable to flex him side to side with easy before you try this.

Answer 4

First you leg him forward and sit very deep, and get him moving forward and reaching under himself....when his hindquarter is engaged, you will feel his back elevate and his forehand lift...his head will come down and at this point he will accept the bit.  Keep your hands low...in front of your legs with loose reins as you keep legging him forward.  Using your fingers on the reins, open and close your feel on the reins and keep him on the bit as you work him into the frame you want.  You have to keep the reins loose, and give slight vibrations to signal his mouth to achieve the collection you want.  You can use your weight against his forward movement to slow him to the pace you want once he is collected...you can lean back as you dig your seat bones deep into the saddle. Keep him off the rail until he is in frame and moving at the slow pace you want....he should associate the rail with collected, slow movement. A martingale won't properly train the horse for this and it is a huge mistake if you ever intend to show.

Answer 5

draw reins, but be careful u can mess em up but eyah they work super well

Answer 6

Whatever you do, DON'T use gadgets and gimmicks to try to force your horse into a wp frame. Its fake and judges can tell the difference. It'll also s***w up your horse and make him sour.

1. Drive the horse with your legs. Get him going into a good trot/canter that is balanced.

2. Move your reins up while squeezing him with your legs. This will tell him to stop in front but keep going behind. Don't let him stop, try to keep him moving. If he does, stop and go back into the trot/canter again.

3. When he slows down a little, reward him by relaxing and getting rid of the pressure (relax hand, stop squeezing). When he's done this several times, give him big pats and quit training for the day. Don't do this so much that he'll get bored and hate training because you won't reward him for small achievements. Training has to be fun for him.

I hope that works well for you.  

Answer 7

It is called collection. You need to use a martingale.

Answer 8

Before you get on him, put your reins over his neck, and grab them right below his chin, take his head to his chest and ask him to back up, back him for a couple steps (like 5 or so) and then walk him forward a couple steps, repeat this once more.  This is called ''setting the head'' while you are riding, double rein him and keep contact with his mouth, but lower your hands to your knees, this makes him collect his head, therefore lowering it.  once he gets good at it, you can try neck reining while collecting, it is a bit more difficult, but necessary in a pleasure class!  

Answer 9

You don't need a martingale or any of that BS to teach you're horse to keep his head down (WP headset).

You just need to teach him a cue to do it.

What i do is i start with a snaffle bit (D or egg ring it doesn't matter).

Do small sea saw checks on both reins (Pull one lightly release then do the same with the other) do it in kind of a down ward motion so the horse knows you're asking them to lower their head not higher it.

If the horse doesn't respond make the checks harder until the horse lowers their head then release all rein pressure. do this every time they put the horse puts their head up. and after awhile the horse will realize they have to keep their head low in order to avoid the checks on their mouth.

Answer 10

I would not advise to use a martingale. It just pulls the bit and reins downward and teaches them from pain, not form willingness. I have used the following methods. Just do them in order and changes will happen.

First:      Do lots of flexing. I mean hundreds on both sides. The more flexible our horse gets the lower his head comes down NATURALLY not from the help of a pain full tool. Here's the steps for it.

   1.put your horse on loose rein.

   2. slide your left hand down the reins

   3.Pull towards your hip

   4. Hold you hand there until he stops and there is slack in the rein.

   He may just try walk in circles, he may try throwing his head because he doesn't understand until he gets the release for the first time.

Second:      Just lots of riding, with a light hand. Every  time you ride him use a lighter hand and really focus where you shift your weight and where you look when you turn. That way you don't really have to use the reins and they relax more.  And some horses just have a higher head set so some have it and some dont.

If you use my methods you can email me at [e-mail] for more info, details and otehr questions.

Hope you get this solved!