Do we focus too much on head position ... or not enough?
Your horse’s head position is a source of very valuable information, not a problem that needs to be fixed with shortcuts. Here is what a lot of riders get wrong when dealing with head position problems.
The horse’s head position reflects the balance (or lack of it) in the rest of the body.
The horse's head position under the rider seems to be something that riders focus on the most. When knowledge of correct movement of the horse under the rider got passed down generations of trainers, a sort of »Chinese whispers« effect happened. With each generation, some of the essence of correct horse training got lost until the final message was incoherent and detrimental to the horse. Nowadays a lot of people mistake collection for a certain head position and they think that the way to get the horse moving »correctly« is to use the reins to get its head down. This is very, very far from the truth.
Yes, the head is important, but not in the way we usually think about it. The head position is not something to be actively influenced. It is however, something that can give us a lot of information about what is going on in the horse's body. The horse uses his head to find balance in his body while moving, which is why he will change his head position in response to what is happening elsewhere. One of the major things riders want to »fix« is a head held too high. Horses use a high head carriage to compensate for a lack of balance in the body. When this happens, riders usually take one of two approaches. The riders that don't understand that the head position is not an end goal but a source of information, will go about trying to »get the head down«. They will use more rein pressure, a different bit or gadgets like side reins. Or all of the above. The result will be that the head will be down, but the imbalance in the body will still be there. In the long run, this creates tension, dysfunction, pain and injury.
The other approach requires an understanding that the head is just information. In that case, the rider will recognise the head position as a lack of balance in the body and will address that, rather than the head position itself. The rider might check saddle fit, get a bodyworker out to address any potential dysfunction, make sure the hooves are balanced... After that the rider might want to take a few steps back in training and focus on ground work to word towards a better posture. He will take time to develop the horse's core musculature, which is crucial for maintaining balance. After that the horse will lower his head position on its own accord. When all the pieces fit, the results follow.
In the short run, it will appear that the first rider is progressing faster with his horse. He will be able to ride at a higher level and even compete while the first rider will still be working on the basics on the lunge. But in the long term, the first rider's horse will start to break down, while the second rider's horse will start to become more and more powerful. It's the long run that we should be aiming for. Always. So, the next time you think about your horse's head position, try to think about what it's telling you. Don't just focus on fixing the head position, focus on what information you are getting from it.