Tie a horses head to it’s tail for better turns

Martha
My Wife has a friend that tells her to tie her horses head to it’s tail to make it turn tighter. Have you heard of this and what is your opinion.

Hi Bob
To answer your question, yes, I’ve heard of the practice of tying a rein into a horse’s tail to teach the horse to give to the bit and flex. My opinion of it: DON’T LIKE IT – WOULD NOT DO IT! The things that effect the way a horse turns is education of the horse and rider and the hands on the end of the reins. I think that you are better able to teach a horse to turn or flex if you are “hands on” so that when that horse gives you the correct response you can reward or “release” immediately. Tying the head to the tail gives you NO chance at rewarding that horse for the correct response until after the fact and then it’s too late and the horse doesn’t learn anything except that bending (against his natural body position) is quite
uncomfortable!

Martha