How do you teach a head horse to face after the catch?

Teaching the face — the head horse holding steady forward tension on its rope after the heeler's catch with the steer straight between both horses — requires that facing be trained as a specific, required response rather than left as an afterthought at the end of the run. Most training sessions focus heavily on the break, the rate, the catch, and the turn, then allow the horse to drift and relax once the heeler's loop is thrown. The horse learns that its job ends at the turn, and facing becomes optional rather than confirmed. The fix is to make holding through the catch and facing a deliberate part of every practice run. After the turn and the heeler's delivery, apply leg to keep the horse moving forward, hold it straight and taut against the rope tension, and maintain that position until you release the horse intentionally — not until the horse decides it is finished. Over repetitions the horse learns the run is not complete until the rider releases. Some horses resist facing because holding the rope at the dally is uncomfortable — check your dally position and whether the horse is being asked to hold against excessive tension or an awkward angle. A horse that has been jerked hard at the dally in previous runs may associate the face with pain and back away from the tension rather than into it. Rebuild facing through progressive work where the tension is gradual and the horse is rewarded for stepping into and holding the pressure. The complete run — break, rate, catch, turn, face, hold through the flag — should be practiced as a single sequence so the horse never develops the habit of self-releasing before the run is actually finished.