Sigh...hackamores?

[areias]

This somewhat of a continuation of my previous post, about my mare not accepting a bit. I had been riding her in a regular side-pull hackamore, but it has not been totally effective, I feel as though I have to drag on her face to get her to halt or slow down (she dosen't seem to respond to seat aides to stop either). I talked to the girl from the rescue (they are next door) and asked about what kind she would recommend, and she gave me a mechanical one that she said was pretty harsh, but it works. I put that on her the next time I rode, and she head bobbed the whole time and started being a royal pain. The second I used the reins for anything, she would throw her head around and sidestep all over the place. She did a gorgeous side pass across the arena..but thats not what I asked for :rolleyes: . I'm not totally sure what kind of hackamore this is, but it has a metal bar that comes up into the chin when you pull the reins, and a braided rawhide noseband. After a little bit of this, I got off and switched hackamores and she did a bit better, but she still seemed annoyed. I examined her chin area afterwards and it seemed swollen.

What kind of hackamore would you recommend for her? Or is there a way to get her to respond better to the side pull?:confused: Thanks for any responses.

[No_Angel]

what kind of sidepull did you use? if you want something similar, but with a few more brakes a rope nose sidepull with a sheepskin noseband on it can be usefull (im using one on my just broken welsh cob).
A differnt approach may be a dr cooks bridle (www.bitlessbridle.com), it tightens around the head and hugs the head.

[areias]

I'm not 100% sure what kind of sidepull I have...it has a rope noseband, and two rings at either side, I attach the reins to the rings right off the noseband. I suppose I could put a chain on the other rings? Tell me if thats a big no-no. I just picked it up for no reason out of a friends old tack that she didn't want, its possible it could be from 20 years ago, lol.

I'll look into the bitless bridle...maybe there is another version that is cheaper, perhaps made of nylon?

[No_Angel]

i wouldnt put a chain on, its not really going to do much anyway.
sounds like a rope nose sidepull to me. The dr cook actually comes in a cheaper nylon version:) my lot didnt like the dr cook, but it may work for your horse, i know plently of people who think its great.

[Bay Mare]

You could try and English Hackamore. Like anything the problems are in the hands but as hackamores go this is one of the gentler ones.

I used it for Saff for a while without incident :) She actually quite liked it but you do have to make sure that it fits correctly and that your hands are reasonable :)

[BeachRiding]

I use a rope side-pull, and my horse goes well in it.

I also use a Dr.cook, and it works fab!

[fishiz3434]

What ever you do don't use that one again, i hate most hackamores and i rarly use them (only one i use is my arab gelding which cant have a metal bit cos of olserse. They put so much pressure on the horse's nasal bone and pole that if used by someone with hard hands it can really hurt the horse. I wont let n e one eles ride my boy with the hackamore because they treat it as a bit bridel. You may find he's misbehaving because your being too harsh on his nose expecially if u havn't got soft hands, an english hackamore would be good but you still have to have soft hands.