Re: mechanical hackamore question

[Chris Paus <paus@micoks.net>]

I have one horse who has been ridden all his life with a mechanical
hackamore. He is now 19 and has never known a bit. I neck rein and direct
rein him. You just have to remember to have light hands. You don't want
constant contact with his nose. Just use the pressure when it is time to
stop or turn or change gaits. Constant pressure will cause him to panic.
The hackamore works by pinching his nose which can interfere with his
breathing if you are heavy handed.

chris paus and cisco

At 11:01 PM 3/16/98 -0800, L Eisele wrote:
>    Need a bit of advice.  I recently bought the "S" shaped hackamore
>for my horse and was told that it should be used with neck reining as a
>direct rein would cause confusion in turning with the pulling back
>signaling a stop.  That made sense to me for awhile and got to thinking,
>none of my horses neck rein, always used the direct signal and use the
>kimberwick curb.
>   Question is, how is it different?  Plenty of english riders direct
>rein with curb bits and the one rein direct pull does engage the curb,
>does it not?   Why then can one not use direct rein with a mechanical
>hackamore?  It is only different in that it has a noseband instead of a
>mouthpiece, pressure to the nose instead of bars of the mouth.
>   I am completely new to the use of mechanical hackamores and trying to
>undertstand how best to use them.
>    I like to be able to squaw rein in an emergency.   Thankyou, Linda
>
>Linda Eisele & Sareei and                   
>hubby, Allen & LS Iceman
>& the young LS Lakota
>nevadaghostridr@webtv.net
>
>
>