Had a steer doing this Sunday night, cured it Monday morning. He would put his head down, and run into you, not charging, but trying to get away from the tension some how. He reared so high he almost hit his head on the barn beams, reared, lost his balance and rolled over like a dog, would shake his head violently back and forth so hard he would lose his balance and almost fall over. He is only about 600lbs, but was determined not to walk properly. He would try all these things so that he didnt have to walk. He did all these things for the past couple weeks for my sister. I saw her try to lead him and saw that she only had about a foot of slack on the halter, between him and her. So I said, let it out, at least 4 feet or more. Therefore he has more personal space to freak out in, and she has more leverage, because she has more length in the halter. She pulled lightly, he would shake, rear, stumble, and then take two steps forward. We did this over and over again in a pen about 25X25ft. Pulling in circles over and over again. After half an hour he was much better. Would rear, stumble, shake head only about every 5 pulls of the halter.
Next morning I took him outside....I mean outside where he could have gotten away anywhere. He did this about every 10 pulls of the halter, but "gives" (like a horse) to the halter much better, and walked quite well with only a stumble every once in a while. All this time we have had at least 3-5 ft of slack in the rope to keep leverage. The MOMENT he starts to pull or shake his head or rear give him all the slack you can. Then he isnt jerking your arms and body around and realizes he is only hurting himself. Took him about 1-2 hours of total leading time to break him of the habit. Its ALL about personal space, teaching cattle how to give to the halter (like a horse does), and leverage by staying at the end of the halter. Ever notise that most people who know cattle well never lead the calf holding the halter right close to their face except for show day? Cattle who are well broke "give" you there noses just like well broke horses do. For example, you want them to turn, you lightly pull on the halter and they move their whole bodies. That is "give".
If there is ever tension in the halter when you are trying to hold a calfs head up at a show, dont reef on the halter and hold their head up. Not only is it tiring, it makes the calf stretch their neck and distort the look of their body. Let the calf relax their head, then pull in light jerks. If tension builds up again, let them have their head again, then keep pulling in short jerks. I did this on that steer ive been talking about, and within 20 seconds, his head was up high and he was enjoying life being scratched with the showstick.
Your daughters steer is putting his head down and being a jerk becuse he knows it works for him. When you give him slack, he will realize it wont work for him any more.
Should so just make a video. Next time I will try to remember. I hope this helps. Sure did for me. Had an uncooperative little prick (for lack of a better word) on Sunday night, and a sweetheart on Monday morning. Ahhhh what a nice monday morning!!