When you're ready to move out of the snaffle and into the hackamore here's the equipment that you'll need. Since I'm really particular about my equipment, we've worked with several manufacturers to develop these products. Our goal was to give you a choice of price points, and the confidence in knowing that whatever you choose, it will do the job for you.
Why Go To The Hackamore? What is the reason to use the hackamore when making a traditional bridle horse? One reason that we use the hackamore is to increase performance level without hurting the horse’s mouth. That mouth is precious to us and by using the hackamore we can educate the horse to accept pressure without causing fear in his mouth. The second reason is to educate his nose so that he is ready to be bridled in the two rein phase. It would be very difficult to put the bosalito - the little bosal used in two rein - on him and have him understand if his nose is not educated.
The Hackamore The horse has reached his four-year-old year and we really like this horse. We want to continue his education and make him a real bridle horse. The next step from the snaffle bit is the hackamore. There are quite a few choices in hackamores – the number of strands used in it, how springy it is, what type of core it has, hackamore size – so it is just as important to find the right hackamore as it is the right snaffle bit. You want a hackamore that doesn’t scare the horse but that does demand his respect. There are eight strand, 12 strand and 16 strand hackamores. I like the 12 strand best and I’ll take a 16 strand hackamore. I don’t like the eight strand. The type of core the hackamore has is critical. The core needs to be a twisted rawhide core that has a tremendous amount of life in it – it should spring back to its original shape. It’s great if you have a lot of hackamores but you can get by with two. The ½ in and 5/8 in are the most important to have in your tack room. There are two custom hackamore braiders that really braid nice stuff. One is Bill Black and the other is our great friend Don Brown. If a custom hackamore is out of your price range, we’ve worked with an excellent rawhide braiding company to create a quality “production” hackamore using the specs that I prefer, and I have to say they’ve done a good job at it, if you go that route I think you’ll still be very pleased.
To be to my liking, the noseband on a hackamore should be 6 to 6 1/2 inches, and the inner diameter should be 10 ½ to 11 inches. You want to measure the inner diameter from the point of the inside of the nose, to the point where the hackamore comes together at the bottom. Also, the hackamore won’t show up shaped like your horse’s nose so you want to squeeze the nose closed and tie it. It looks like you’ve ruined it but if you put a coffee can in the middle, and tie the bottom tightly with some bailing twine, then and leave it for three days, when you open it up you’ll have a pretty, shaped hackamore. They do need re-shaping every so often.
After the strap is tied on the hackamore, the nose band should sit on the nose right above where the cartilage ends. In the early stages of hackamore training I fit it a little looser so that it operates more off the nose. Once the horse understands the hackamore, it should be just perpendicular to his forehead when I pull back and it makes contact with the fatty part of his jaw. In my opinion if the hackamore does not make contact when it is perpendicular to his forehead, it loses a lot of function.
We want the horse to learn to avoid this chin pressure and work off the pressure on his nose. The way to teach this is for him to feel pressure whenever his head is not perpendicular. We want to teach the horse to feel for the hole in the middle of the hackamore – that is where he will be most comfortable. If they are looking for that hole in the middle of the hackamore then they will keep their neck pretty low and their head perpendicular to the ground.
The ropes, or mecates can be made of horse hair or nylon. Most people like horse hair but if I was working out on a ranch I’d probably use nylon because they are more durable. Also, if you aren’t real careful, your horse might chew on them and they’re almost impossible to fix. You know horses only chew on real expensive things!
The ropes should fit your hands, some people say that if you have a 5/8” hackamore then you should have 5/8” ropes but I don’t think that’s true. I use 5/8” and they are 21 or 22 feet. in length. I like the four-strand because they don’t have a core and they’re a lot nicer in my hands. They have a nice squeeze to them and they just fit me better. Also, since they don’t have a core they don’t get stiff when it’s wet or cold. The six strand ropes have a core. Cheaper ones have a cotton core and you don’t even want to think about buying that. Even some of your better ropes have a core made of tail hair and it makes the rope much less pliable.
Good ropes are made from mane hair which makes them soft, and the darker the hair the softer - ropes made from tail hair are really prickly. How many wraps should there be on the bottom of the hackamore? Three wraps is perfect for me but you can have two. One wrap under where you pull your reins through, one wrap over and then your reins coming out. For three wraps you can have two wraps below your reins and then one wrap over your reins.
Using The Hackamore As I said above, in the early stages of hackamore training – maybe the first 20 or 30 rides – I’ll ride with the hackamore adjusted pretty low so that it works solely off the nose pressure. However, if I find that the horse is not responsive enough then I’ll go ahead and tighten it up. As the training progresses you’ll start to figure out what size of hackamore your horse needs. If you need lower leverage (for more lift in the neck) you’d want a longer nose band. A shorter nose band (6 or 6 ½” will give you more drop in the neck. Before I start riding in the hackamore, I’ll follow the same process of tying around that I did with the snaffle. The most important thing is to take your time. Never leave the horse unattended. Stay with the horse and as with the snaffle, if you see him starting to hang against the pressure, cluck to him or maybe tap him with a little whip. We don’t want him to learn to lean on the rein.
I don’t start my daily ride in the hackamore. I start out in the snaffle to make sure everything is functioning and then if it’s a good day I change to the hackamore. The traditional way, when making a bridle horse is to come out in the snaffle and finish in the hackamore. The hackamore rules are the same as in the snaffle bit, never pull on both reins at once. Keep some life in your hands so that you can feel your horse through the reins. You’re feeling for the moment that your horse gives you a positive thought so that you can release the pressure on the rein. It’s great if you get the total positive response from the horse. In the beginning you’re more likely to get just that thought and it is imperative that you reward it right away.
Try to avoid conflict when you are riding in the hackamore. If you do run into a problem don’t try to fix it in the hackamore, go back to the snaffle. I have found that a bad situation in the hackamore is the hardest to apologize for and recover one hundred percent. It just seems that once you really get them upset in the hackamore you never totally get it fixed. If a problem arises I’ll take a stand and see if I can work my way through the situation. I won’t take a hard stand; I’ll go back to the snaffle and fix it there. I don’t ride in the hackamore every day. Two or three times a week is plenty after he’s going well in the hackamore. Most of our schooling is still done in the snaffle. The horse can go in the hackamore for his four and five-year-old year if you want to show him. For our purposes we’ll say that his fourth year is his hackamore year and when he turns five we would start working on the transition to the two rein.
The transition into the two rein can be made any time you like after the horse’s nose is educated to your satisfaction. If you’ve increased your horse’s performance to the point that you think you’ve done all that you can in the hackamore, then it’s time. Not every horse is a hackamore horse; some horses just don’t have the feeling in the nose. That horse just might not spend as much time in the hackamore and he might get bridled earlier. I have had horses that were not very good in the hackamore, but they bridled great! Most people don’t bridle during the summer and fall of the horse’s four-year-old year because they are showing, or are too busy doing ranch work, so the winter of that year makes a good time. You have a lot of time to do the slow work. People ask me how I know when it’s time to go to the bridle and I tell them the same thing the old guys used to tell me, “When he asks for it.” This means when we have educated his nose and maybe he is starting to disregard the hackamore a little (in other words when he starts to run off in the hackamore!!!!) then he is ready for the next phase – two rein.
