Originally Posted by
vineyridge
Horses who jump have to be able to use their heads and necks to balance. It is unnatural for a horse to jump a fence and not stick out its nose in landing. If the head doesn't change position during the jump, someone had to train it not to do so or the rider is keeping the head from moving forward and out.
I said "death grip" in my first post because the horses' heads in the COTH photos were not in what I would consider a natural position at that stage of the jump. I assumed that the reason was that the rider was keeping the head from moving forward and out in preparation for landing--I.e, no release. After watching the videos of the Big Equitation Finals for the past four or five years, it became apparent that the horses' heads rarely moved at all over jumps--takeoff or landing. So the riders could well be releasing all that the horse needed to get over the jump. But since a immobile head while jumping is, IMO, by definition unnatural, either the release is not allowing the horse to use its head and neck or the horse has been trained not to use them naturally.
Want to explain why its good equitation for the horse not to use its head when it jumps?
There are zillions of youtube videos of jumping horses--free jumping and with riders. Watch some and see if an immobile head is natural.