This is another tough one because there is so much controversy. But to me collection is just a term that can
mean different things to different people in the horse world. The collection I am talking about is what is natural to
the horse. If you ever watch stallions in a herd prancing around showing off their power with neck arched and
their back lifted, this is the natural collection I am talking about. So the question is how do we replicate it. The
answer is time rather then force. The force that is commonly used is merely holding a horses head in a vertical
position with very tight reins. The problem with this is the horse is not bending at the poll naturally he is usually
bending further down in the vertebras. I say further down because not all horses bend naturally at the poll, so a
horse should be allowed to bend were he naturally bends. That's one of the reasons the Vaqueros developed
their method of the bosal training to gain a mental and emotional collection rather then just a physical, and a
merely physical is not going to give you this power from the horse. Remember their horses weren't as big as the
bulldog style quarter horses we have now, so they used this to gain as much power from their cow working
horses as possible. Not to mention the state of mind the horse is in when he is being held in so tight like that. I
have had discussions with people who ride like this and then wonder why their horse won't settle down. True
collection is a hole bringing up of the body, not just a bend in the neck. It is the ability for him to do this relaxed
and on his own rather then force. Their are people who can with a snaffle bit get what they call a soft feel, but to
me this still isn't true collection. The soft feel is plenty adequate for most people and the horse is still in a good
state of mind rather then the horse that is forced. To tell you the truth very few horses do I take to the spade bit
collected horse. The Vaqueros only used their stallions for this, because like I said they had smaller horses. And
these were their cow working horses. Their mares and geldings they used as just their regular riding horses and
they didn't take them to this level. Which I believe today is plenty good for most people to just enjoy their horses.
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