Peanut Rolling?

I went to a western horse show today (broadening my horizons!) to watch and I saw a lot of people commenting on "peanut rolling".
I also see it commented a lot on here.

What exactly is "peanut rolling" and why did the term originate? Can someone should me an example of a "peanut roller"?

It's a humerous observation of horses who carry their heads so low they could 'roll a peanut' along the ground with their nose.

^^ Exactly. Unfortunately, it is very hard to find a picture of a true peanut roller from back in their hayday because it has become kindof taboo for the people involved in the discipline to talk about it. Think of a modern WP horse with a head about half again lower than it is.

Oh okay! Definitely saw a bit of that today.. there was no happy medium. Horses with their heads super low or horses running around like they were drowning.

I myself ride a peanut roller...Its Barney...he came to me that way kinda strange but alot of people like it...I will have to dig out a great pic:)

Bundy has a habit someones when we are cantering on a loose rein of putting his nose literally to the ground - I think it might stretch his back or something. He only does it for short periods of time. It's a horrible feeling - it feels like he is going to trip over his own head!
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The pony I ride at lessons does that too. I think he does it to stretch and relax a bit because I know once he's done that he's going to be a good boy to ride.

Btw, here's a photo kmac. I know its of a trail class but imagine a WP horse going round like that. That's the how low it would be.

Peanut rolling typically means any headset significantly lower then the wither. The standard is supposed to be the poll level with the withers, and much like Dressage where you should be on the vertical, slight deviations are acceptable. The picture posted above is a very dramatic example, probably moreso then was regularly seen in WP showing.

Another example, not quite so dramatic, but still unacceptable nowadays and labelled as "peanut rolling":



Another one I would classify as a peanut roller (not extreme, but a blatant deviation from a level topline):



Here is a good example of the topline you're SUPPOSED to see (or they preach is standard anyway):



If you look up Western Pleasure Horses in Google, it's actually difficult to find many horses with a level topline - they almost all deviate slightly or immensely from the wither to poll line.

This is the way that I learned that WP is supposed to be, but today I see lots of shows full of 'peanut rollers'.

I think this is more ideal than the example above:
This is actually just a touch higher than level. Here's an example of my horse's headset, which I would consider ideal:
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