Hackamore help?

Question

I have a rescued gaited mare although im sure shes some kind of cross. I know very little about her past but what i do know is she has had a very rough one. I just trail ride her an shes wonderful, I ride her in a bike chain hackamore, since i cannot put a bit in her mouth(someones done alot of damage) shes very responsive with it and listens 95% of the time but sometimes if she gets nervous she pulls through it but she does stop.

Is there a differnt kind of hackamore that would give me a little more stop power?

thanks!

Answer 1

Try the bitless bridle, it's a lot more humane than the hackamore, which although bitless, can still be very harsh. Read up up what Dr. Cook has to say about his bitless bridles, I'm going to order mine soon =].

Answer 2

If a bike chain hackamore isn't enough to stop her, doesn't that indicate that harsh headgear isn't the answer?  Other than adding spikes, I don't know what you are thinking.

Answer 3

Stopping is in the feet, not the face. Unfortunately, I think you need to start back at square one and get a more credible and punctual stop by doing more ground work. If your horse is only listening to you 95% of the time, then he's only respecting you 95% of the time. You need his full respect if you are wanting a reliable and trustworthy mount, and there is no amount of gear or bits or head stalls that will create that respect. If you are using reins, bit, or hackamore to stop then you are riding wrong. Instead of pulling back on the reins which automatically triggers the flight response, develop a deeper seat when it comes to whoa or get your horse voice controlled to where she stops on whoa. Easiest way to get her to listen is to teach her on the ground that whoa means stop.

Remember, the chain hackamores even though they are covered with rubber or tape are still harsh. A horse is going to try and escape that pressure by pushing through it unless you teach them otherwise. Start doing flexion exercises on ground with just a regular halter and then build up to your hackamore.

Also, a bad fitting hackamore can be more dangerous than the harshest bit. In order to find the perfect response from your horse you need to move the hackamore up and down your horses nose(on the ground) and find the spot that gets the most amount of positive give and response with the least amount of pressure.

Answer 4

Here is a website for you... its Charmayne James's website she is a seven time world champion barrel racer and breeds her own horses. But on her site she has many bits and explains them well like what they are best for so this might be helpful....

http://www.charmaynejames.com/store/cate...

click the details button

Good Luck with your horse

Answer 5

you could try her in an English hackamore but if that doesnt work try this http://www.bitsnmore.com/images/catalog/... you can purchase it here - http://www.bitsnmore.com/reinsmancombina...

other than that i dont know because hackamores are for horses that are sensative. seeing as she took a bit once means she is used to one so wont be as responsive and alot of rescu horse people have that trouble.

depending on how bad her mouth is, you could try her in a happy mouth straight bar eggbutt and be VERY light with your hands.

good luck

Answer 6

you don't need something stronger.

hackamores are very powerful, and loads of people don't realize that they can actually do more harm to the horse than good. when she starts to run through it, DO NOT PULL! its one of the biggest mistakes that you can make. instead relax sit back in the saddle and quietly turn her in a circle until she settles back down and goes forward, calmly.  just get her feet moving, so her mind can just concentrait on that.

edit: harsher bits are not the answer, your going to scare her more.

My mare, who was also a rescue (and is gaited),  use to run through any and everything that you put in her mouth, 4 years down the road she goes happily in a French link snaffle. Two years of very experienced riders working with her, and two years of me working with her. One of them blowing around a field out of control, and the next just working my butt off to make her mouth soft. its hard but its possible. I can tell you right now if I asked any of the people who knew her before she went well in a snaffle, to hop up on her in the French link, they would probably laugh and think that I was crazy. But heck as long as you use your seat, don't pull on the reins, and are comfortable with speed, shes a total angle, will stop when you ask, and listents to just a little squeeze from the rein.

Answer 7

Yes - I would agree with the first answer.

In your quest to become a good horseman/woman - one of the first things you must get over is thinking that the bit is the answer to all your issues.  A bigger badder meaner bit won't make the horse easier to control.

If you make a horse feel trapped and disallow it to move it's feet, their confidence lags in your leadership ability - if the stump is scary with teeth to them, and you crank 'em down and force them to face it you are telling them you'll throw 'em to the lions.  You must allow them their fear, allow them their movement and teach them to trust you and think first - not run and ask questions later.

Additionally, one can damage a horse severely with a mechanical hackamore (as opposed to a non-mechanical hackamore like a bosal).  The ends of their bones around their noses and the cartilage and nerves there can become damaged.

If she gets nervous, you must allow her to be nervous while staying in control.  Practice stopping - if you've got a good quick stop on her (she's focused on you and stops when asked normally) then you must work on how you react when she spooks.  

You can start from the ground, then work up to the same process from on their back.

1.  Never allow them to lock on to something scary - they'll talk themselves right into the fact that it's got big teeth and is going to eat them (as prey animals they think everything they aren't accustomed to is going to eat them - add a predator like us to their backs and the scary thing becomes more scary as they go left-brained more and stop thinking).  Instead focus their attention directly ahead and allow them space to skirt around the scary object.

2.  From the ground, whatever objects in her area or your yard that scare her, figure them out.  Then begin carefull working her in circles causing her to go by that scary object.  Put her just inside her comfort zone away from the thing and ask her to walk in a circle around you and between you and it.  Keep a stick or a whip between you and she - not to hit her with but to use to reinforce she needs to stay out the rather than swerving in on top of you.  As she works she'll seem to act pretty nonchalant about the object - obviously not intimidated by it any more.  Ask her to move one body width closer to it until she's not thinking about it anymore.  Keep doing this until she's as close as she can safely get to the object (not too close with leg eating bars or things sticking out of the object like handles on a wheelbarrow for example).  Then change directions and do it again.  When she's comfortable with the object, reward her with rest then go about doing someting she's perfectly comfortable with,

Next time out, do the same thing - she'll have thought about it between now and then and she'll accept it a lot sooner.

You can do these same processes from on their backs - but don't work from the ground on one object then jump to the next scary thing mounted if they are things in your local yard or area you typically ride through a lot.  If you encounter something that's scary to her in an area you don't typically ride, practice just about the same thing - but maybe not to the same extent - if you have come to this place where she spooks and won't be there again, there's no sense in working for hours near that item unless you find she will accept things faster and faster so it will only take a few moments.

You will find that she'll be less apt to spook.

I have a 7 year old paint mare that's nearly spooked me to death - she spooks then bucks or bolts - usually when deer in our field jump up out of the tall grass - I suppose were I a horse something jumping out of the tall grass would most definitely have to be a lion or something.  So I've sent her to a trainer who specializes in spook proofing - if you have this availability of such a trainer, get in touch with him and ask for his help - a horse that's been worked with cows gains a lot of confidence and is more spook proof.  You won't stop the horse from spooking, but you can minimize the damage and get them to "spook in place" then think perhaps.  This would bea good experience for both of you.

Remember, the headgear is a communication device whether it's a bit or hackamore.  The old vaguero cowboys of California would start a youngster in a snaffle to teach them the basics - then they would go to a hackamore when the horse was about 3 to allow the bit path to mature.  Then maybe 4 or 5 they'd go to a 2-rein which was a pencil bosal and a bit.  They would cue first to the hackamore bosal and if they didn't get the results they wanted, they would engage the bit as reinforcement.  The horse got lighter and lighter (more responsive) at which time he was pretty much going with only the slightest cues - then the most refined riders and horses would graduate to a full bridle bit the pinnacle which was a spade mouth cathedral port bit and bit rowel spurs.  These weren't mechanical torture devices meant to force a horse to listen - the horse had progressed so well in it's ability and desire to know what the rider wanted by the communication of the hands and feet that only the slightest movement resulted in exactly the right response.  They didn't HAVE to have big bits that could hurt a horse - they COULD use one without hurting the horse and get highly refined performance.

Hope this helps