I know there was a thread on here recently discussing some kind of rope halter/sidepull deal. I’ve seriously considered switching my mare over to a hackamore as she rides very well in the arena in a rope halter and rode wonderfully in a bosal when I showed her as a junior horse. My main concerns are that I am not interested in a long-shanked mechanical hackamore and I’m worried about rubbing her hair off with a rope noseband. What types of bitless equipment do you use on your horses and why?
I use what is called an english jumping hackamore on my mare. It has fleece on the inside of the leather noseband. It is a little shorter shanked than some of the mechanical hacks I have seen. She loves it.
I like my bitless bridle a lot. It’s nice because when you’re trail riding, it can be used as a halter also.
Maria
The best rope sidepull I bought was from http://Handcrafted Jewelscalled the Aurthur Burris sidepull. The rein attachment just worked best for my horses. And they come in every color. that said I just purchased a Hackamore from Taylored Tack that is sweet-very spendy but looks like the Little S Hack but no rope nose band so much gentler.
Country,
Your link doesn’t seem to work and for those that want to do a search it’s Arthur Burris.
I’ve tried Dr. Cook’s Bitless Bridle and it didn’t work for my QH. He hated the thing. And this is a horse that I can ride in a regular halter with no problem.
I’d really like something that has more lateral leverage than a bosal or a rope halter, but my mare’s a pretty fine-skinned thing and many of the hackamore out there have a little bit more bang for the buck than I’m looking for.
Go bitless
[QUOTE=SweetLatte;3658526]
I’d really like something that has more lateral leverage than a bosal or a rope halter, but my mare’s a pretty fine-skinned thing and many of the hackamore out there have a little bit more bang for the buck than I’m looking for.[/QUOTE]
I’ve had very good luck with a bitless bridle on my mare. She goes quite nicely in it, even jumping. We put some fancy buckles and a nice browband on it to pretty it up again. Without a bit they are a bit drab. It does work more on lateral pressure than just her nose. I like it much more than a hackmore for that reason. Also very gentle to the skin.There are several different price levels too.
Check it out here:Bitless Bridle
If you wanted to stick to a mechanical hackamore, but have small shanks, I’d suggest:
Little S Hackamore - Very popular with the endurance crowd, fits little arab faces well. You can order one with a leather noseband, or just get a fleece noseband for a halter and put that over the rope like I’ve done. Works like a charm. 
Beetle Hackamore - Pretty much same as above, has rope nose but just slap a fleecy on it and you’re good to go.
English Hackamore - Fleece lined, so you don’t have to worry about adding fleece to it. If you wanted to make it even gentler, replace the curb chain with a leather curb strap.
If you don’t wanna go the mech hack route, I suggest -
Sidepull - If your horse is light in the face anyways, this is a nice option. They go from a $20 nylon one to a $120 fancy leather and rawhide one, so lots of options. Rope noses, leather noses, rawhide noses, even seen cotton noses. You can also add a fleece noseband to these.
Bitless Bridle - Some horses love them, some don’t. They are selling a nylon version of it now that’s pretty reasonably priced, if you wanted to try it without spending a ton of money.
Rope Halter with reins - Sometimes the simplest solution works the best! :lol:
My guy goes great in a sidepull. I’ll cover the rope nose with vet wrap and it makes it very soft and lots of cushion… We can do everything from trail ride to barrel race… he loves it. [edit]
Rope Hackamore (Rope Halter with reins). Actually made to be use for riding. It is tied so it has 9’ reins with a 12’ lead rope.The nose piece is a lot bigger so the reins can be tied into it with the special hackamore rein knot.
I changed not because I am against using a bit. I tried it and started making great progress with our horses. It made sense because our horses were developed first on the ground using a rope halter and it made a lots of sense to them.
We ride all of them now, even trail riding, with the hackamore.
Here are my experiences
I’ve tried several bitless options and wrote about them in my blog.
Here are links to my articles:
Dr. Cook’s
LG Bridle
Micklem Multibridle Part I, Part II
Bitless Bridle Comparison
Hope they help!
Thanks for all of the suggestions! I’ve thought about a bitless Bridle, and while I really do like the idea, I’m not quite sure this is what I’m looking for. I do a fair ammount of packing in the summer and a hackamore that I can ride one-handed is probably best
I really do like the looks of the Little “S” Leather Noseband
http://www.mcdiamond.com/bits/reinsman/combination/bb757.htm
I’m on my second order from CrazyRopes.com.
I use the bitless bridle with the fiador (sp?). I also use her reins and love the quality and feel. Her prices are reasonable too.
Beware that I don’t think the cross under has a good enough release, so I hook my reins thru the ring attached to the nose band. Also, measure your horse, because the “horse” size is almost to small for my QH.
I ride both of my horses bitless. My Standardbred I ride in the Dr Cooks Bitless Bridle, he is wonderful in it. I ride him with two hands though. I just bought a little Quarter horse mare, neck reins like a charm, and the little S Hackamore works better for her, I wrapped the noseband in some vetwrap, that’s all. Love going bitless on the trailrides, definitely a plus
Any of the cross under the jaw dealies, esp the rope ones, won’t turn loose fast enough for me. I want a whisper of a cue and instant release…not a horse waiting to chew or wiggle his jaws to get it looser, nope.
and the only thing I wonder about with the leather nosed Little S…is stiffening from sweat, snorkeling horses at water/creeks, etc…the plain old rope nose is fine on most horses…never wrapped one, don’t see the need to. I don’t bother the face enough to need to. If you aren’t sawing on it, it won’t rub/gall,etc…two QHs and one TWH who is very thin skinned (his mane feels like human hair, no lie) do just fine. There are super thin skinned critters that it will bother…but that would be the exception, not the norm. See my thread on Extreme Cowboy type competitions…me and my walker loving that Little S…There is very little ‘crank’ to it…just not much at all, and seemingly no or terribly little poll pressure…but tons of lateral if you wanted to flex one, direct reining…but the release is instant, it won’t catch limbs/vines/briers/bucket edges …it sits really close to the face. Used to could get 'em for 26 bucks at Sipsey Supply…but the word is out and the price is nearly 40. Should have stocked up!
[QUOTE=katarine;3678944]
Used to could get 'em for 26 bucks at Sipsey Supply…but the word is out and the price is nearly 40. Should have stocked up![/QUOTE]
Just an FYI… I recently got an s-hack at Horses Dacor for $29. Best price I could find. Made by Bighorn, I think.
I’d like to try something like this Indian Hackamore one day. Looks like it would be easy to make and perhaps less likely to shift than a regular sidepull.
I use Dr. Cook’s Bitless Bridle on Miles and Paddy (love it!), and an english hackamore on Mr. PoPo’s horse.
I got a new sidepull from Crazy Ropes I love it, it’s beautiful and adjustable. It didn’t take long for her to get it to me. She hand makes each one to order. I got the fancy bitless sidepull and matching reins. The reins are HUGE and have a nice weight to them. I’m happy with it and so is Keno. He’s much happier with a little freedom on the trail.
Not much for leverage (I am not a fan of mechanical hacks) but in the winter, I sometimes use a jumping hack (http://www.horsetackco.com/jumping-hackamore.html) and my gelding goes very well in it.
