Considering The California Hackamore
By
Gabriel Denison
The rise of interest in natural horsemanship in the last 25 years has brought an old art into the limelight: the delicate subtleties of Hackmore Reinsmanship, and the makings of bridle horses.
When the early vaqueros traveled into California during the Spanish colonization of that area, they brought a training method designed to create riding horses that worked off the bit, were collected, supple, and so responsive they moved to a whisper touch on the reins. They began their training with a device called a jacima, or hackamore. This was a combination of items. The entire hackamore, still in use today in its original form, is comprised of a bosal, a teardrop shaped noseband with rawhide intricately woven rawhide strips around a rope or rawhide core, (some cheaply made bosals have a cable core, which causes nerve damage of the horse’s head, and are too be avoided) a mecate, originally a horse hair rope, a headstall to hold the bosal around the horses’ nose, and a fiador, a smaller cord harness, to hold the assembled hackamore in place.
Hackmore reining is a long-term investment, as it takes several years of training for a horse to achieve the finished level of training. This level was originally referred too as “straight up in the bridle,” and earned that description due to the extreme vertical position the horse carried his head when working. This position, in which he carries his ornate Spanish bit as opposed to being restrained by it, is highly desired, and the mark of a finished bridle horse.
However, old timers and younger trainers alike will quickly warn a new hackamore enthusiast that all horses cannot be bridle horses, although all horses will benefit from good bridle horse training. There must be an aptitude within the horse for quick footwork and attention to the rider, and a certain conformation that will allow the horse to complete his schooling. It will take a long succession of smaller and smaller hackmores, bosal/bit combinations and greater and greater equine responsiveness to achieve the title of finished bridle horse.
However, hackamore training remains a desirable discipline for even the most solid, backyard trail horse, whose owner holds no aspirations for the flashy vaquero style. The progression of the hackamores will make any horse light on the bit, more responsive to his rider’s cues, and travel in a more collected manner.
Collection, of course, is not the speed at which the horse moves, but the way he carries himself at any gait. Collection causes the horse to raise his back, tighten his stomach muscles, and move from the core of his body. This enables him to move lightly, quickly, and in a completely balanced manner. The rider experiences greater ease, and a safer ride, as they are riding an equine athlete who uses his body to its greatest capacity.
The basis of Spanish riding styles can be traced back to the great warrior and horseman, Xenophon, who trained war horses for the Greek Army around 450 B.C., advocating collection and work from the haunches as the most powerful positioning. Xenophon’s teachings filtered down into the training methods of Spain, branching off into Europe and developing into the well known art of Dressage, but the Vaqueros took their horsemanship to colonize Mexico and California, developing their own training traditions beside the windswept Pacific. Both disciplines advocate collection, sensitivity, greater physical training and performance from their mounts, while both horse and rider benefit from the work.
It may be refreshing for the committed Western enthusiast to learn that true hackamore work is the “cowboy dressage” and even 60 days of accurate training can improve your horse’s receptiveness and your riding ability. However, be sure your trainer is knowledgeable, as there are many western trainers that use hackamores, but this does not classify them as a professional hackamore reinsman, nor does having successful reining horses indicate the trainer adheres to classic form. Good trainers train at the speed of the horse, for as Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt and Buck Brannaman advocate, “The horse has something to say about this.”