The horse’s poll – always the highest point?
There is no general answer to which head and neck position you should ride a horse in. This depends on the horse, its level of training and its form on the day. No matter how or what you train, the aim should always be a relaxed, supple, content horse that energetically goes forward with a swinging back.
The FN guidelines (German Equestrian Federation), The Principles of Riding, (Volume 1) state:
The head-neck position of the horse is the result of a correct and sensitive process of coordination between the driving and regulating aids of the rider. This should be gradually developed over the course of the loosening (warm-up) phase. … The head-neck position is strived to be so that the head-nose line is slightly in front of the vertical.
The horse decides which head and neck position is best for the day, for this training session. This can be an extended warm-up phase in which the rider rides the horse mainly forward-downward, allowing the horse to drop its neck, stretch and lengthen. The head and neck are a bit lower in this, the nostrils are about at the height of the point of the shoulder.
Specific Training
For some horses, the training mainly consists of a warm-up phase for a while, for others a short warm-up phase is followed by the work phase in which the rider can ride the horse more in (relative) elevation and the horse carries the neck higher (relative: flexion of the haunches=relative raising of the forehand). The poll is the highest point. Still other horses fall on their forehand and “dig” into the ground if you ride them forwards-downwards too much or for too long. It is more effective with these horses to ride them a little more up so that they can carry themselves, with an open throat latch and light in the poll. No matter how you position the neck, it is always important that the hindlegs are actively stepping under the centre of gravity, the horse swings over the back, that the lower neck muscles are relaxed and the horse steps onto the bit.
Exercising the Horse in Every Direction
As the horse changes, the training must also change and adapt. “There is not just one direction or the other in which the horse should be trained,” emphasizes Benjamin. “We exercise our horses in every direction.” In the interview, he reveals what he means by this, what he pays particular attention to during training and whether he prefers a certain head-neck position:
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