I have a mare in a Little S hackamore who strongly prefers to be bit-less. She understands commands and works fairly well off seat and leg, but isn’t really in shape, so it’s difficult to truly assess what she knows and where her problem areas are. I’d like to pick out a nicer bosal and mecate for her, but am not sure what to avoid in the cheaper category. I’ve gone through all the high end and custom ones and will get her one at some point, but really can’t afford that now. Are there any nice sets that are under $100 that anyone can direct me towards for now? I don’t want to pick out a poor quality bosal for her and have it hurt or irritate her nose.
About all you can hope for at that price range is something used. Make sure to avoid anything with a metal core. New, the good ones are $250-400+ for the bosal alone.
[QUOTE=Candle;8012025]
I have a mare in a Little S hackamore who strongly prefers to be bit-less. She understands commands and works fairly well off seat and leg, but isn’t really in shape, so it’s difficult to truly assess what she knows and where her problem areas are. I’d like to pick out a nicer bosal and mecate for her, but am not sure what to avoid in the cheaper category. I’ve gone through all the high end and custom ones and will get her one at some point, but really can’t afford that now. Are there any nice sets that are under $100 that anyone can direct me towards for now? I don’t want to pick out a poor quality bosal for her and have it hurt or irritate her nose.[/QUOTE]
I’ve found with this type of tack that nicer and cheaper don’t belong in the same sentence. A nice, quality bosal and mecate will be hand made with expertise and finesse. I agree with aktill that you’d be best trying to find one that is used (but still, finding a nice set used could cost a couple hundred bucks). I think that any combination of bosal and mecate that you can get for $100 is going to be a waste of money and you might as well save your pennies now and get the quality when you can afford it.
Why not just stick with your hackamore if she likes it?
This is on the cheap end: http://traditionalrawhidebraiders.com/shop/bosals/16-plait-58-bosal-natural-chauca/
Or the 5/8 here http://www.buckaroobusinesses.net/bosalspg1.html
I’ve seen cheaper in tack stores, but badly designed and not nearly as nice in the horse (rough, unbalanced etc).
This isn’t a method of training that lends itself to casually seeing what happens, or doing it on the cheap.
Steve Guitron makes some pretty nice hackamores and you can get a complete set with 5/8 bosal, hanger and mecate for $195. http://www.customrawhide.com/cgi-bin/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=5831875.18650*Un8Q13&xm=on&product=BHH Some folks don’t like Steve’s hackamores because they’re braided to be flat on the inside of the nose. That may make them more comfortable for the horse when they’re just hanging there on the face, or it may provide a bit of an edge that bites when the reins are picked up and the noseband rotates. It depends on who you ask. We ride with a few of Steve’s hackamores and the horses seem to like them.
[QUOTE=BayRoan;8017040]
Steve Guitron makes some pretty nice hackamores and you can get a complete set with 5/8 bosal, hanger and mecate for $195. Some folks don’t like Steve’s hackamores because they’re braided to be flat on the inside of the nose. That may make them more comfortable for the horse when they’re just hanging there on the face, or it may provide a bit of an edge that bites when the reins are picked up and the noseband rotates.[/QUOTE]I also ride in one; last year was my mare’s hackamore year. She did great and we loved Steve’s Bosal!
Ok, this is great. Thank you all. I want more finess and comfort for her than the Little S, I think she’s going to work better if she’s getting more precise cues. She’s trying really hard to please and I can tell someone did a good job teaching her seat and leg cues as well. I can save up for a $200 set, but the ones I was finding were all either $80 or $500 and I just don’t know enough of the brands to be able to tell what’s good and what’s not. What brands would I be looking for in the used category? Out of curiosity, can anyone explain what kind of training I’d be doing if I needed a fiodor on it as well?
A fiador can be used at any time, but its effects vary based on its construction. They limit the drop of the bosal, and are most often used to:
- prevent the hackamore from coming off if a person leads from the front on the ground
- help stabilize a bosal, oftentimes one that doesn’t really fit very well (too long).
Heavy fiadors can slow the dropoff of the bosal and are bulky (and ugly, IMHO), but light ones even on a nicely fitted bosal can make a more defined center position for a horse to hunt. They also stop a bosal from clunking hte horse on the chin, which can be inviting the horse to raise its chin. Generally they’re only used on heavier bosals (5/8"+)
I use a very fine custom fiador made out of 1/8" leather cord on my 5/8 that adds next to no weight. I’m still messing with the look because I don’t like the cosmetics, but I like the changes I’ve seen since starting to use one.
Net result, some pluses, some minuses, same training.
I have this one for my gelding, though I switched the particular reins to my mare’s bosal and added a mecate set to this one:
http://www.bigbendsaddlery.com/images/LG_4-12.JPG
I prefer to use fiadors, simply because that’s what I was taught to do decades ago, for better or worse- mainly for the issue of needing to lead in rugged country now and then. Though I don’t have one for the mare, instead I simply have a piece of baling twine running to the throatlatch, cheap but it works.
I remember using fiadors on the hackamore setups we used when I was a kid. They mostly kept the heel knot from dropping and hitting the chin, either when the pick up from the mecate was released or just when the horse was walking along on a loose rein. Those old bosals were bigger, probably made for bigger headed horses. None of the bosals we’ve picked up in the last 10 years have needed a fiador to balance properly on the nose and not hit the chin. It likely has a good bit to do with balance, too. A too long bosal can be made to fit by taking more wraps with the mecate when tying it on, but every wrap adds weight, and too many wraps will make it want to drop forward and hit the chin, thus the need for a fiador.
I do, however, still have a lunging setup of a smaller diameter stiff bosal and sturdy fiador, used back when I was training a few horses, for ones that showed up having learned to wheel and bolt on the lunge line. I never had to worry about it getting pulled around the face like a chain on a halter and they learned pretty quickly that they wanted to go around nicely in the middle of that bosal. So, a fiador can be a spectacularly effective stabilization device for a variety of forces, if needed for remedial purposes.
