"Round" actually has nothing to do with the horse's head set. Round simply means that the horse is stepping under itself, carrying it's weight on the hind end, lifting and engaging the stomach and back muscles ("rounding" the back), and allowing it's front end to move freely.
In short: It is all about posture - engagement of the hind end, stomach, and back muscles! The actual neck set has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Just because the horse keeps his head up and rounded doesn't mean it is actually round. Too many times, this head set was forced too early, causing the horse to "break" in the neck while still arching it's back and keeping his hind end blocked and straight. It is a very uncomfortable position for the horse which usually causes loss of motion in the muscles through the body and results in a shortened stride behind.
The high, rounded neck frame should be a result of collection, happening naturally as the hind end drops lower and lower, carrying more and more weight. The back and stomach muscles engage strongly, further supporting the frame (the equivalent of a human doing crunches. While you might look shorter overall when doing a crunch, your back muscles are actually stretching). It actually requires a good amount of stretching over the topline in general and a lot of strength in the muscles to support such a frame. Overall, the position is pretty much the equivalent of us squatting, engaging and sucking in our stomach muscles, rounding and lifting our backs, our shoulders and our necks. Once you try that a few times with your own body, you will gain a whole new understanding of "collection" and the sheer strength needed to support it.
When forced too early (the "crank them in" method), before the muscles are able to stretch adequately and are strong enough to support such a position for any length of time, the horse arches his back to avoid damaging and overworking the muscles of the topline. By breaking at the neck and arching the back, the horse allows the topline muscles to stay short while still giving the rider what he wants - a short, high, round neck. This, in turn, has detrimental effects on joints and bones.Not to mention control and rideability.
A horse can be round in any frame. In the long and low position (See the long and low post), the horse pushes forward strongly from behind while reaching forward and down toward the bit, stretching out all the muscle groups of the whole topline. The back is round and stomach muscles are engaged, allowing the shoulders and front end optimal freedom. Without engagement of the hind end, stomach and back muscles, the horse is simple dragging itself around on the front end.
In the medium frame (I like to call it the "working" frame), before collection is introduced, we slowly ask the hind end to engage further, dropping a little lower and carrying more weight, asking the stomach and back muscles to engage harder, in turn lifting the head a little higher and shortening the neck in order to stay balanced. The lifting of the neck should come as a RESULT of the hind end stepping under and carrying more weight and the stronger engagement of stomach and back muscles. It can therefore never be achieved by simple pulling up the neck and head. Once again, if you tuck in your own butt and engage your stomach and back muscles further, you will "lift" your neck as a result automatically.
In a collected frame, we simple engage hind end, stomach, and back muscles even further - the equivalent of a brutal crunch while squatting in a human. At this point, we should be able to also ask the neck muscles to engage a little more, aiding the shorter, higher neck position without loosing the suppleness or movement throughout the neck. It is a physically highly demanding "posture" to maintain and requires adequate stretching of the muscles before and after the workout to prevent them from shortening even if they are loose.
In turn, a horse can also be round with the nose up in the air. A jumper, for example, has to lift his head in order to see the jump. Ideally, he will drop his hind end, reaching forward in his strides while maintaining a round back and engaged stomach muscles when approaching the jump or taking tight turns. His front end will remain free and light, the muscles throughout his whole body (including the neck) continuing to engage and relax. If engagement of the hind end and back is lost as his head comes up, he will once again be heavy on the forehand, arched in the back, with the hind end sticking up behind him, and no longer round. If, however, the whole body is still properly engaged, the horse will still be "round", despite the high, straight neck set.
If only the neck and head of the horse are cranked in, the rest of the body is as flexible as a board. When you ask those horses to "collect", the hind end is unable to drop, the back unable to round up and the only thing you can achieve is a shortening of the stride (the board cannot flex or engage).
If, however, you properly prepare the horse, it becomes as flexible and strong as a fresh, still green twig. You can bring the front and back together because the middle can round up, resulting in a "shortening" of the overall look. The hind end, in this case, is able to step deeply under the body, achieving true collection while utilizing maximum range and freedom of movement.
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