Head Set

I’ve been noticing in the magazines lately that the big topic is about hyperflexion. The International Equestrian Federation has weighed in heavy on the topic. Rollkur as it is called in dressage is in many cases cruel to the horse and we have trainers in the reining industry who practice much the same thing to get that low head set. The Federation wants to pass rules as to what is acceptable and what is not for all horses. My concern is that a rule like this will not apply to all breeds of horses and all individuals within those breeds? What if a horses just naturaly goes that way? We are so prone in the horse business to fads and styles. If a rider wins wearing a red shirt at the finals then next year you see nothing but red. If an individual wins with a fancy vest then next year you see nothing but gaudy two hundred dollar vests. Ten or more years ago I saw Bob Avila ride a really nice three year old in the NRHA futurity. The colt had a naturally low head set and really looked good in the pattern. Ever since that day everyone has tried to get that same head set on every reining horse. They are not all built like that people! I have horses that run flat out with their head low and stop with it in the dirt and I also have horses that run flat out with their head higher than their withers and stop the same way. Both are correct in my opinion. What I have stressed for years is natural head set for every individual. Don’t take away from the performance of a horse just to satisfy a fad. Styles and fads come and go and the bad ones move on after awhile. At Doubletree we stress natural head carriage in all our horses. I teach our judges for our Versatility Shows that natural head set is preferable. Educating judges about what is natural for a horse is where we should be concentrating rather than rules that might hamper a particular type of horse. Yes there will be abuses and there will be styles and fads but to make a rule that takes away from a whole group of horses that don’t conform to your particular model is probably not wise for any origination to fool around with.