reasons for why horse does this??

so when i go to give my horse a carrot or an apple, right before i feed it to her, she'll hold her head up and than she'll drop it to the ground than bring her head back up again and repeat this 'pattern' over and over until i give her the carrot. what does this mean ?? is it a way of her asking "please, give me the carrot" or what, or does she just do that just because ? any answers ?

She's probably just excited because she knows she's about to get a treat. Not sure!

Did a previous owner teach her tricks?

no, i bought her as a chuckwagon pony and she was just three years old, and no they never taught her any tricks lol

I've seen several horses pick up weird "begging" behaviors. My boy will sometimes paw if he thinks you're taking too long with food. My sis taught her QH to "smile" for a treat, and we actually had a young calf pick it up from the horse! We never intentionally taught it to him! The cow, almost three years later, will still "smile" when he sees people coming to the fence, lol. Since cattle don't have upper teeth, it looks even funnier!