Re: Hackamores/ex-racehorses

[Abigail Aiyagari <abby1@itsa.ucsf.edu>]

If you want the horse to learn to give to pressure, and particularly if
you want to work on bending, I'd recommend some type of headstall without
any leverage or nutcracker action.  Mechanical hackamores and bosals
aren't very good for lateral signals, a sidepull (with a SOFT noseband) or
even a vosal would be better.  Maybe just a rope halter to start, to see
how the horse responds without a bit in his mouth (you don't want to spend
$50-100 on a sidepull to discover that the horse hates it!).  I've just
seen so many horses, particularly those that have never been taught to
yield to pressure, barreling around in mechanical hackamores with their
noses in the air as the rider hauls on the reins trying to slow the horse
down by pure physical force.  And the rider thinks they're doing the horse
a favor by not putting a bit in his mouth.

Not to say that I think mechanical hackamores are "bad", but that they may
not be the best for reschooling.

I started my horse with a rope halter, then moved to a sidepull that I
bought and replaced the stiff lariat rope noseband with marine rope.  Once
I decided I wasn't going back to a bit, I splurged on a beautiful Beta
sidepull from Hought Endurance Tack that actually fits my horse.  The
Bitless Bridle may be OK, I haven't tried it, but it seemed like it had
much more "oomph" than I need with my horse (it does have some nutcracker
and leverage action).  I think a plain old sidepull is much simpler and
easier for the horse to understand.  Just my $.02.

Abby
& Cola (happy with no bit)