Poll Tie Downs

Since tie downs that go over the nose are highly debatable. What are people's thoughts and opinions of Poll Tie Downs? These allow the horse to have his nose and doesnt let him balance off of it. I saw Brittany Pozzi (think round 4?) run her horse in one. I didnt know they existed but am happy I learned they do :)
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Personally, I don't care for any gadget that covers up the problem instead of fixing it with training.
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It's called a war bonnet, usually I see them on high headed horses. I don't have an opinion on them really, so someone else can answer that.
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To me they are they same as a tie-down just a little freer in the nose area. They are called many things, from bonnets, headsetters, ect. But they have the same concept....keeping a horses head down. It works off Poll Pressure VS Nose Pressure.

Don't care for them....

I dislike the concept of any kind of tiedown, they restrict more than balance, if the horse is freed up, it can find its balance when trained right and slow:)

I'm going to go against the grain here on this one (based on the responses).

I personally don't like tie downs either. I would like the horse to learn to balance on their own. None of my horses learn the barrels or any gaming event with a tie down.

HOWEVER ..... there is a time and a place for tie downs in barrel racing. There are some horses that just plain run better with a tie down. It's not that they aren't balanced in the first place, but they'll run better with one.

So when I have a horse that is already going well on the pattern, I will try a tie down and see what happens. If it seems to help them, I'll keep it on. If it doesn't seem to make a difference, then they don't wear one.

A tie down is like any other piece of tack. It should never be used to mask a problem (ex: force the head lower, or provide balance to a horse because the horse doesn't have any on their own), but it certainly has it's place and can be useful when used correctly.

Tie downs are not designed to keep the horses head down or keep their nose in. They are designed for the horse to be able to lean against the pressure. So for barrel racers they can help the horse REALLY turn the barrel well. However if you decide to take one OFF a horse who is used to one spend a LOT of time without it before you decide to run. I know someone who got seriously injured by deciding not to run in one randomly.

Tie downs have their purpose. But I think most are used incorrectly, or many horses who don't need them wear one anyway. A tie down is my last resort and then it's just a plain nylon one. I feel like they restrict movement and motion, but that's my opinion. I ran my old mare in a tie down off and on through the years, I never noticed a difference in her turning style. But it helped other things.
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One time while flipping through my Barrel Horse World or News or whatever its called magazine, I saw a horse with a bonnet-tie down combo, a hackamore-combo bit, and a browband headstall...like really how many freaking straps can you put across your horses face O.o

I would personally not use one on my horse for barrels, but I think I've heard that tie downs can be useful for balance when occasionally worn for cutting? From what I remember, they were recommending tie downs used selectively and seldom to help a horse who already knows how to balance, balance even better but not to use it as a training crutch. Has anyone read the same article? No idea where exactly it was from.