From: Melissa
Dear Jessica,
Thanx so much for the wonderful service you offer for us who seek the best for our horses!
I have a couple of questions this time. First of all, I have a gelding that works in a mechanical hack ... was broke with it and responds to it with very little pressure. My daughter rides him on the trail with it and has no problems. But I keep hearing they're terrible things, and I don't know why, when a snaffle can cause extreme damage if used too roughly. Can you explain why people say hackamores are so inhumane??
Secind of all, that same gelding has been worked in a snaffle but simply doesn't respnd to it ... won't stop, turn etc., unless he's really calm. I don't want my daughter riding him like that ... he'll run of and possibly hurt her. I'm wondering, if hacks are so inhumane and I'm hurting my gelding, how 'bout a sidepull? Realize, I'm full time military and a single mom, so don't have the time to train everyday. More like twice a week. Anyway, I saw some sidepulls in a catalog and they looked interesting. There was also a sidepull with a snaffle bit. Would this make the transition easier for my gelding, since he just doesn't seem to be able to associate nose pressure with mouth pressure?
I really hope you get this letter ... I've written several and have no idea if you ever even got them or not. Please let me know if you receive this, even if you don't address it on horse sense.
Thank you so much!!!
Melissa Patton
Hi Melissa!
Most of the people who say that hackamores can be inhumane are thinking of particularly nasty versions of mechanical hackamores. There ARE some -- particularly the ones with long metal shanks and a chunk of metal under the horse's jaw - that cause tissue damage even when used "gently", and can break a horse's jaw when used "hard." These hackamores (avoid anything that's nicknamed "the Cruncher"!) are vicious pieces of equipment, and shouldn't be used by anyone. Even some of the less nasty-looking mechanical hackamores can break the cartilage of a horse's nose if they are adjusted or used incorrectly -- and some can cause the same damage if used CORRECTLY. And even without the crushed cartilage, a horse in pain from such a hackamore can react by going over backwards... not a good thing at any time, for horse or rider. So avoid anything with a lot of metal, anything with a narrow noseband, or a curb chain instead of a strap, or long cheeks. But there are other forms of hackamores, some of them very mild indeed.
The gentlest version is probably a jumping hackamore, which looks much like a bridle but with no bit, and with a leather-covered soft rope noseband ending in two rings for the reins. The rings are at (more or less) the horse's mouth level, and the curb strap is wide and soft. This hackamore is lovely on a green horse that requires very definite steering, and on a horse with an injured mouth.
The next step up would be either a sidepull with a wide noseband (leather-covered lariat rope or a wide piece of plain leather) or the simplest short-shanked mechanical hackamore: this has a wide, fleece-lined flat leather noseband, backward-curving SHORT (4" or so) shanks, and a curb strap instead of a curb chain. These are good starter bridles for young horses, and good trail-riding bridles for older horses who appreciate a chance to stop and eat grass on the trail once in a while.
A horse can learn well and calmly if it is put into a mild sidepull or jumping hackamore, with NO bit, to learn the basics of stopping and steering. These bridles make sense to a horse that is used to accepting pressure from a halter. Once the horse understands the signals that ask it to stop or change direction, it can be put into a sidepull with a bit. At this point, most of the pressure is on the nose, but the horse learns to carry the bit. Then the reins can be attached so that there is more pressure on the bit. The next step is to put the horse into a simple snaffle that fits the horse's mouth and suits his stage of training.
(see the horse-sense archives for articles on bits and bitting)
There are varying traditions of bitting and training according to what people expect from their horses. Traditional English training would take a horse from a longeing cavesson to a snaffle and eventually to a full (double) bridle; modern trainers often start and finish with the snaffle. ;-)
Horses being trained in the traditional manner for Western work, particularly spade bit work, would be started in a bosal and then worked in a snaffle, then a curb, and finally, much later when they were fully trained and very responsive, a spade bit. Trainers nowadays are often seen to go directly from snaffle-and-training-fork to curb, leaving off the initial bosal training and the refinements of the spade bit.
You are right about snaffles, of course. There are some that shouldn't be used or sold, as there is no way to use them without hurting the horse. Sharp triangular mouthpieces, bicycle chain mouthpieces, single and double twisted-wire mouthpieces and barbed wire -- yes, I've seen all of these -- are vicious bits. There is no excuse for any of these bits And there are riders whose actions would destroy a horse's mouth even with a thick smooth bit! There are too many riders use the reins for balance and the bit for control, instead of using both for quiet communication. We have only two ways to protect our horses: one is to TRAIN THEIR RIDERS; the other is to be sure that the bits in our horses' mouths aren't inherently cruel.
If you are worried about your current mechanical hackamore, you can replace it with a shorter-shanked version. If it is already a short-shanked hackamore, you can put a fleece cover over the nosepiece, and replace the curb chain with a strap (and perhaps another piece of fleece). What I've just described IS the trail-riding bridle for one of my horses, by the way. ;-)
It sounds as though your daughter is a sensible girl with good balance and gentle hands. If she rides your gelding in a gentle side-pull for a month or two, then adds a snaffle and lets him carry it while she continues to ride him with the side-pull for another few weeks, then begins to use both snaffle AND sidepull for another few weeks, she will eventually be able to ride in just the snaffle -- if she wants to. ;-)
Jessica
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