Well, you know, I went through all the “teach him to lower his head” and that worked just fine - until the bridle got involved. He’ll still put his head down from light poll pressure. He put it down after that first attempt to bridle when he nearly flipped, but a little goodie to make him happier about the bridle is fine with me. Now, I did say to a friend who gave the reward BEFORE the horse took the bit that THAT was not going to work in the long run. LOL I’m tall and I can generally get the bridle on even if a horse decides to be uncooperative. But, knowing that he will be rewarded makes my guy reach for the bit the moment he sees the bridle (which can be funny when I’m trying to put on an ear bonnet first. He’ll stand there holding the bit in his teeth, the headstall still draped around my arm while I put on the ear bonnet. And he doesn’t get pushy or nippy if I happen to forget the reward. He just sighs and gives me that Appaloosa side-eye.
When installing a new behavior or replacing a behavior I don’t want, I use treat rewards. I don’t see it as bribery at all, it is a reward for the correct behavior I do want. One of my horses was a bit frantic about bridling when I first got her, possibly because she was not taught how to willingly take the bit and bridle on her own, or because she had been banged in the mouth with the bit. I suspect the latter, because she would also be reluctant to let go of the bit when taking off the bridle—with head up out of reach and a bit of a frantic expression.
Using a training tool— a peppermint or sugarcube— changed this horse’s behavior and also changed her association with the bit and bridle to a positive experience. I would like to have my horses willingly take the bit, and then let it go again when taking off the bridle, rather than making it a “you MUST” situation. It always seems like the one time you are in a hurry to bridle is the time the horse will turn into a giraffe, if not trained to consistently take the bit/bridle. Then both parties escalate the frustration and frantic “hurry up!” and that is just unpleasant.
Once the behavior is confirmed, the peppermint or sugarcube becomes an intermittent reward—not every time, but horse never knows when it might be offered for the correct behavior. And sometimes just a pat, scritch or itchy-face-rub is the reward offered.
The horse I described now dives for her bit, and also releases it when I remove the bridle, whether there’s a treat to follow or not. She does not know if/when a treat will be offered.
As always, YMMV.
I wrap a fruit roll up around the bit. Most horses love it and you can pack another one for you to snack on!
I have a young busy pony, so have taken to having a sugar cube in the bit hand most of the time. She’s learned bit=good.
Now to sort out the moments when the straps are still hanging free and she wants to lip at and grab them 
Thanks everybody for your input!
I wanted to clarify that while I used the work “tricks” I’m all for proper training. I probably should’ve said “favorite methods” instead. As we all know, different things work for different horses and I was looking for some new ideas.
The below method is what I’ve been doing. Where we need improvement is when the bit comes into play. As soon as I go to put the bit into her mouth, she will raise her head higher than the reach of my right arm (if I’m not on a mounting block). She never backs up, only lifts her head. If she lifts her head, I will ask her several times to drop her head then try bridling again, which is generally successful (not raising head). As soon as I get the bridle over her ears I give lots of “good girls” and pets. She has no problem with me playing with her ears (scratching the insides of them is actually one of her favorite things :yes:) or playing with her lips/mouth.
WhereDidMySeatGo and a few others described what I’m looking to achieve, that is, having the horse reach for the bit or halter instead of just tolerating it. I have a lot of time to work on this during the winter (as I don’t have an indoor and live in the cold/snowy/icy part of New England) so I think with more practice and patience we will get there.
Thanks again and happy holidays! 
When “bribery” gets you a horse that will absolutely 100% of the time lower its head and practically bridle itself, I say screw mounting blocks, firm grips, and massaging gums. Sometimes what you have been taught is “bribery” is actually a far kinder and more sensible (in every sense of the word) way of training. I spent 25 years not using candy or sugar to bridle horses. Yes, they all learnt and it was all fine, but I still feel it was 25 years worth of horses who, although they didn’t get a raw deal by any means, could have had a much sweeter (pun intended) deal.
Further, reward training, or incentive training, or whatever you’d like to call the thing you labelled bribery, is not bribery. Bribery is standing in a trailer shaking a bucket of grain and hoping that the lack of leading training put into the horse won’t matter and that it will magically load itself.
OP, for goodness sake, save your arm muscles and your horse’s patience and just offer a candy or sugar cube with the bit. It won’t take long for your horse to be looking for the bit.
It’s a bit like those horses that haven’t been taught that oral meds are no big deal. They’re not likely to learn something that they’re not keen on without a little help. Why would you wrestle or waste time over something that can be solved with a few syringes full of applesauce and zero trauma?
I do clicker training for a lot of ground work and tricks. It is a bit different from bribing I think. It’s a way to make it clear what behavior you want with the click and then reward. My horse is super motivated this way and it almost seemed too easy when I was introduced to it!
That said, I started with her before I knew about clicker. She was green and fussy about bridle. I used to just leave the rope halter on under the bridle. I’d leave her tied up while I put on the bridle.
After a while I saw she was dropping her head and searching for the bit. I realized she likes to be an active participant in the bridle going on. Every once in a while someone tries to bridle her pony club fashion, holding the scrunched up bridle to her face, and she is very offended.
Keep working on it. Of course, make progression gradually, but she should eventually learn to hold her head where you ask her to put it. It just takes time and consistency.
As a courtesy, make sure you do not bang her teeth with the bit when you both put the bridle on and take it off.
I wasn’t aware that positive reinforcement was not a “proper method [of] training”, let alone a shortcut! Learn something new everyday…
I was responding to your flat statement about correct bridling training. Yes, the OP did not state about any past issues - equally, she did not state that there weren’t any :). Your method would not work with my recycled mare.
I actually agree that correct training is essential. My 3-week old foal is learning that human contact is goooodddd - how do I know all of his itchy spots :). He is also learning (age appropriately) to be haltered and when he can have scratches.
My recycled horse is being shown clearly what is and is not acceptable as well as the time to understand that humans are not all bad. I do use treats as a key component of that training - as an event marker that the work has been done and done correctly. In this case, bridling. This is exactly the same when training dogs - a treat (which can be a play with a toy or a pat) encourages far more than a jerk on a check/choke chain or even just a collar. If doing this properly, the treats become far less and at random intervals - as they learn, more is expected for that treat.
As I say to all of my (dog) groups - you need to know what you need to train and then work out how to train that before you start to train. And, you know when to break off and start again.
