I am curious if it is difficult to signal to turn your horse in an english hackamore. Most english riders are using direct reins for riding, It made me wonder if signalling the horse is possible. Does the horse understand what you are asking?
I can only speak of my own experience. After spending $$$ trying to find a bit my bit-hater was truly accepting of, I threw up my hands and bought a hackamore. Yes, there has been a significant learning curve when it came to steering. We still haven’t conquered it. I’m really working on getting him to respond better - and especially more promptly - to seat, legs, and weight shifts with minimal rein input. It’s a work in progress.
But, I persist in my belief that it’s simply a matter of teaching him different cues and not an impossible task.
The direct rein may be part of it, but the seat and leg aids are just as - if not more - important.
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An instructor of mine used to say, “Turn the saddle, not the horse.” It was a great image as a reminder that most of any turn is effected with the rider’s body, not hands.
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I ride my horse in snaffle for dressage training and mechanical hackamore for trail rides.
You cannot really ride on contact in a hackamore. And we cannot school our repertoire of flexions and lateral work in the same way in a hackamore.
But actually most of our turn is from my thigh plus neck rein unless maresy is being naughty! That’s true in both snaffle and hackamore.
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I generally get more use out of my hackamore in the winter, because my tack is stored in a non-climate controlled shed and I don’t want to keep my nice bridle + bit out in below freezing temps (plus who wants a cold bit in their mouth?)… so I swap to a hackamore for most of the crew. It’s a good break of pace since I’m mostly just walking/hacking around the property, not schooling dressage or doing any sort of jumping. I’ve had zero issues converting my horses to the hackamore - if they understand a rope halter (which they do), I find that it makes the transition easier.
One thing though, and I may be cheating - I’m a big stickler for teaching my TBs seat aids and indirect rein aids before I ever work on things like contact/going on the bit. For that reason I think the transition to hackamore is easier for them since they already understand that the majority of my steering comes from my seat/legs and/or opening of the rein.
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I’ve found most horses happily follow a leading/opening rein when using a hackamore.
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From what I understand, a direct rein is pulling back. I would very much disagree that most English riders rely on a direct rein, at least not those taught any degree of proper flatwork.
the horse should mainly turn from your body cues – are your seat and reins allowing the shoulder a direction to go? What are your legs telling the horse to do?
I personally find it not much different than riding in a bit on a well-trained horse. I used to ride my pony in a fleece-covered noseband with reins in the jumpers, and she was a speed demon and very competitive. You can ride in a light contact and train the horse to respond to nose pressure exactly like it would a bit, bending around your leg inside leg to outside rein, and all of it. She liked the delicacy of the commands with her setup as she was a spicy little chestnut mare and preferred little interference. Pic below.
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I grew up primarily riding my ponies in a halter with a leadrope as a rein, and have ridden pretty much everything I’ve had that way at some point. Some horses are more respectful of it/responsive to it than others but I’ve never felt that any of them didn’t understand what they were being asked.
I ride my jumper in a hackamore. Turns are no big deal. Pulling on one rein in a hackamore gives the same signal as pulling on one rein in a bit does; it puts pressure on one side. The only difference is the pressure is on the nose instead of in the mouth. Any horse who as been halter broke will understand the cue.
Riding “on contact” with a mechanical hackamore is simply taking up the slack so that a tiny squeeze of a finger is felt precisely by the horse. A heavier contact that applies pressure generally results in head tossing.
I can, and regularly have ridden dressage with my horse in his hackamore. WTC, collection, lengthening, stretchy trot, SI, HI, LY, HP, flying changes (including 3 tempis), walk pirouettes, beginning canter pirouettes, etc. This degree of communication did take time and training, of course.
This work in a mechanical hackamore on contact helps with the rider balance/contact on left vs right rein. Drop one rein, even a little, and bye bye effective contact in a more abrupt, obvious fashion than with a bit.
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The classic English hackamore is more like a “side pull”, it is not a mechanical hackamore. That being said, you can ride in the jumpers with a mechanical hackamore, and you can trail ride in it too. Yes, the steering is not as fine tuned when using a mechanical hackamore as it is with a bit, but with an opening hand, it’s OK. Using an English jumping hackamore or side pull, the steering is more like riding in a halter, you don’t have the confusion of the leverage that you have with the mechanical hackamore, but you have less stopping power. This is why lots of jumper riders who are using a mechanical hackamore ALSO use a snaffle bit underneath it, so that they still have the finesse of the bit in steering. Or, you can go without, rider’s (and horse’s) choice. With a small S hackamore, for better steering, I added a “snaffle” rein onto the top of the S for steering without leverage, so that it would act more like a non-mechanical hackamore, and that worked OK too. The key was to pad the nose piece well, and replace the curb chain with a leather curb strap, to reduce the mechanical hackamore’s power, with my mare. Then I switched to a side pull hackamore, and she likes that even better. Haven’t jumped in it though. She likes both hackamores better than a bit… it’s been my job to try to find something that she approves of, and I’ve tried plenty, and she lets me know how she feels, no doubt. Just make the adjustments that your horse directs you to make, and everyone will be happy!
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Thanks for the replies. This is very helpful. I have not tried it, and i wonder if my trail pony would do alright. I might find a used one and see.
I just read all the replies and I want to expand on my initial response. There is a difference between casual turning, as in the kind of turning you need to do out on the trail or making big arcs in an arena, and serious, balanced turning with proper bending, as in trotting serpentines, making square circles, or maneuvering around a tight jump course.
The first is easy to get. Switching to a hackamore is pretty simple if that’s all you’re going for. The second is a much bigger deal, especially when you’re riding a horse that is still learning. The degree of contact you can maintain is entirely different with a hackamore and a bit.
My Morgan mare goes in a Little-S. I do most of my steering by my seat and legs but when needed I use a very subtle direct rein. I don’t find any difference in the quality of her steering in a bit vrs the s hack. Most of the time, I keep a very loose rein on her but she can be a handful sometimes, so I ride with more contact then.
@NoSuchPerson you can absolutely have your second degree of steering with a hackmore and yes, trail riding can certainly require that type of steering- esp moving at speed on a technical trail. Think about it this way, one misstep and rider and horse are over the cliff and dead, one misstep in a jumper round and probably the most issue you are going to get is a refusal.
I have never had a problem steering/turning, even for small circles in serpentines, in a hack vs a bit. Turning should come largely from the seat and legs. Even on a sharp turn in a jumper round. The number of low-level jumpers you see flying around, trying to get a tight turn with a huge opening rein and zero leg help, causing a bulging shoulder and missed distance, is quite a lot at many shows. Bit or not.
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Turning is accomplished with seat, weight and legs.
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I use a mechanical hackamore on my field hunter when we are just trail riding and she turns just fine. We even do some lateral work in it from time to time.
Before I found my magic bit for her, I tried hacks and side pulls and found that in a hack, she turns fairly “normally” but in a side pull, it’s a bit like turning a battleship. You have to ask early and expect it to take a while to get to the stern. 
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I have no problems with any sort of directional steering in a hackamore. I think it would be fine for jumping, a little like jumping in a curb or Pelham which is certainly done.
What I can’t do is dressage lateral flexions or getting the horse to give the poll or getting the bend for halfpass. I can however do lateral work cowboy style including opening gates on horseback.
Interestingly when I showed up at cow penning lessons with a mechanical hackamore they said I really needed a snaffle to get the horse turning fast and stopping fast. All that movement gets taught in a little Western snaffle, sliding stops and spins in a high energy environment.
I didn’t want to do that snaffle work with my mare because she had enough dressage training to expect a different relationship with the bit but not enough to have the spins and turns developed through dressage.
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Eons ago, I evented a hot, sensitive mare.
cross country worked well will a schleister mechanical hackamore over a mild snaffle.
the snaffle was for some steering, bending - normal riding.
The hackamore worked like a curb, and was the emergency breaks…without hurting her.
The contact was with the snaffle, the hackamore stayed out of the picture except for short periods of theme, and I was able to use the snaffle to assist with the bend.
