"I used to have a fixed pole head with fixed rings for the straps and changed it to a swivel with a swingtree type thingee whose name escapes me. (Been a while since I drove a pair!) Anyway, which do folks who are actively competing in CDEs prefer and why?" You are talking about a marathon yoke as pole head. It has the advantage that you can drive with a shorter pole, as you can hook it with quick releases directly into the breast collar (or kidney link of full collars) D rings at the center of each horse/pony, thus the pole head does not to be longer than being next to resp. very slightly in front of their chests. If you would do that with a conventional pole, without the yoke, then the pole straps would run at a right angle from the pole to the horses/ponies, thus not enabling them to hold back on the pole when needed, instead they would just be pulled in to the pole. With the yoke they can hold back as they can pull straight back and are not pulled into the pole. The shorter pole has the advantage of needing less room to turn in tight hazards. For dressage and cones a conventional pole slightly longer and with pole straps or chains is fine. Also, as that question is sometimes asked: The yoke should swivel freely to all sides. Hardy _________________________________________________________ To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.html `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````