The Perfect Hunter Headset?

[amanti20]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get my horse to develop a hunter headset? He constantly wants to keep his head up when I ride. He will bend in the corners however. Thanks for the help.

[canadianbeaver]

hey first of all you need to get out of the mind set of riding the head. Ride the body, and the head will follow. You need to create impulsion in the hindquarters and then keep your horse off of the forehand and he should relax (which is the key point!!) and drop his head. Only then is he using himself effectively.

How to do it:
1. ensure you are seated correctly and are not throwing your horse out of balance (try some lunge lessons if this is an issue!)
2. Ride your horse forward, but don't nag with your leg (this is how horses become dead-to-leg)
3. hold a consistent contact with your horse on the outside rein, it's really important to make sure the horse isn't holding onto this rein, so you should be able to bend the head left and right without a problem
4. with the inside rein (ensuring the outside rein is being held firmly!) pull gently back asking for the bend to the inside, (note this is not severe pulling, gently is the key word!) but don't nag with the inside rein.

hope this helps!