How do you fix a horse that tilts its head in dressage?

A horse that tilts its head — rotating its poll so that one ear is higher than the other, creating a lateral tilt rather than the level poll position that correct dressage work requires — is showing either a physical issue affecting the poll or neck on one side, an asymmetry in the contact that is producing unequal rein effects, or a pattern of evasion in which the horse avoids the demand of one rein's contact by tilting rather than yielding. The first priority is ruling out physical causes: neck soreness, poll soreness, dental asymmetry, or an ear issue can all produce head tilt that will not respond to training corrections and that may worsen if training pressure is increased. A veterinary assessment including palpation of the poll and upper neck is the appropriate first step when head tilt appears or worsens. If no physical cause is identified, the correction addresses the specific rein asymmetry that is producing the tilt: head tilt typically occurs toward the lighter rein while the horse resists the heavier rein, so the correction involves equalizing the contact quality by softening on the heavier rein side while asking the horse to accept more contact on the lighter side. The inside leg on the side toward which the poll drops is often insufficient — the horse tilts its poll toward the side where the inside leg is not creating enough bend and engagement — and strengthening the inside leg aid on the low-ear side often corrects the tilt by developing the inside hind engagement that correct bend requires. Lateral exercises performed with specific attention to maintaining a level poll — shoulder-in, leg yield, serpentines — develop the symmetric contact and lateral flexibility that prevent head tilt, while any tendency to allow or work through the tilt rather than correcting it allows the pattern to become established and increasingly habitual.