Sidepulls

[MBlanchrd@aol.com]

Hi,

  EQUUS magazine has an excellent article titled "The Beauty of Bitless
Bridles" in this months issue. It has a very good description of sidepulls,
mechanical hackamores and bosals and how they all operate. 

I put my Jordan in a mechanical hackamore not long after I bought him. His
former owners had ridden him in a rather severe western curb bit because he
"had a tendency to run away". (so they claimed...)
 When I rode him in it, he was constantly tossing his head, rooting, doing
everything he could to get away from it. He'd do it even when I rode on the
buckle.  I had his teeth floated and he stilll acted up. I was told by a
western riding friend of mine that I needed to put him in a tie down to keep
him from avoiding the bit. 

Instead, I put him in an English hackamore and bingo...no more head action.
He's much happier in it..and I can allow him to graze in it. For my horse, the
hackamore's just perfect.
Now if I can only keep him from playing with his lips (you know,  flopflopflop
with the lips.....)

Michelle and Jordan "look mom, no metal in my mouth!!"