Art of Hackamore Training: A Time-Honored Step In The Bridle-Horse Tradition

by Al Dunning, Benny Guitron

Overview

To understand the hackamore and its use is to understand its history, origin and development, as well as the equipment itself, including the bosal, mecate, fiador and such. From groundwork to key points under saddle, the authors provide drills to improve such skills as “connecting the horse’s face to his feet,” turnarounds, stops and fencing, as well as how to use these skills in handling cattle. A final chapter addresses the quarto riendas, or four-rein, which uses both snaffle and hackamore, and dos riendas, or two-rein, the finishing touch from hackamore to full bridle horse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762790456
Publisher:	Morris Communications Corporation NJ
Publication date:	10/02/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	136
File size:	46 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Benny Guitron is the fifth of Felix Guitron Sr.’s six children. Young Guitron, inspired as a youth by the great horsemen of his day—Jimmy Williams, Harold Farren, Red Neal, Don Dodge and perhaps most significantly, vaquero trainer, Tony Amaral Sr.—became fired by a dream. Determined to achieve his dream, Guitron set out to be like those horsemen and to train horses in ways honorable to tradition.

Al Dunning is credited with 32 world-championship and reserve-championship titles. The knowledge and passion he shares in his clinics, videos, and lessons have molded not only average students, but also some of today's most successful professional horse trainers.

Dunning’s ability to reach people comes from his love of horses and out of respect to the mentors in his own life.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

 

            The sun sets over the lush grazing grounds of early 1800s California, bathing herds of cattle numbering greater than 400,000 head in the last of its warm light. A horseman astride a fine, responsive mount rides away. His wide-brimmed hat casts a distinctive shadow over his floral bandana and the shoulders of his bolero jacket. He wears fitted pants, unbuttoned from the knee down, showing his leather botas, or leggings, and large-roweled spurs, which display his status as a horseman who walks only should circumstance require. The bright sash he’s donned boasts of his tradition and of loyalty to his Spanish roots.

            The rider’s hands work a horsehair mecate rein with skill and precision, communicating concise cues to his young jaquima (hackamore) horse. The horse feels the pull and release of the braided hackamore on his nose and jaw, and moves his body and feet willingly with swift athleticism—the vaquero’s pride. Man and horse are a team.

            This mount is not only a working partner who allows the vaquero to drive the herds and throw his reata, but also is an advertisement for the vaquero’s skills as a horseman. As he draws a rein, the quick-footed horse gives his nose and spins or slides to a halt in a show even more eye-catching than the flashy Spanish clothing. To the native Indians the vaquero is a skilled tradesman—one to be revered.

            The vaquero, however, is much more than a showy horseman; he is the product of secrets and traditions passed from fathers to sons for generations. He understands the patient progression of training a young horse and knows that the time required can no more be hurried than the change of seasons. The horseman takes equal pride in his equipment, in the fine, smooth braid of the hackamore, the fit of the fiador and feel of the mecate. These tools are not only a means of making his living, but also tools for displaying the very artistry born into him, as much so as the blood in his veins.

            With his saddle horse turned loose in the corral for the night, the vaquero wipes down his tack and takes a round stick to the inside of the nose button of his hackamore, smoothing the sweat and dirt to a flat polish. Though tired from the long day, he kneels down to finish braiding the heel knot of the thin, quarter-inch bosalito, the light bosal he needs as he advances his hackamore horse through the evolution of a finished bridle horse, the same way his father did and his father’s father before him.

            Now those days and many of the vaquero ways are long gone, having given way to the steam engine, the Model T and the airplane. Today the luxury of unlimited tack to aid in training horses is available at the click of a button on high-speed Internet connections. Fast-paced generations have carried us far from our history and the time-honored customs of our founding horsemen-fathers. This loss of tradition and knowledge has left many ignorant of the old-time culture that colors the tightly braided hackamore still in use today.

            In the following pages, we wish to share with you the art of training in la jaquima, the hackamore. Let us take you beneath the exercises and training drills to discover the true art of this mechanism, a process rich with heritage and patience. The hackamore, by design, cannot be manipulated by thoughtless hands to achieve any fine result. Only the skillful pull-and-release of a savvy trainer can coax a horse to give and move with the coveted softness.

            Armed with such time-tested knowledge and one-foot-in-front-of-the-other diligence, you can develop a new skill set that opens doors of communication and trust with your horse, as well as build a solid foundation for all the training to come. These old practices are timeless, enabling fluid progression in horse training and heightened levels of performance.

            With a better understanding of the hackamore’s colorful history—how, why and by whom it was created, used and perfected—you can take the importance of this piece of equipment to heart in your own training program. The many different types and sizes of hackamores, coupled with the education of how and when to use each of them, can broaden your perspective and ability as a trainer, from that all-important first ride on a fresh colt through the entire journey of finishing your bridle horse.

            These proven practices, once passed down from fathers to sons, have been dying out in recent generations. However, laid out in this book are those secrets—the methods and means of making a responsive, willing horse through proper gear, skilled hands, and sound training theory.

            The lifestyle that birthed the venerated reined cow horse has faded into a dusty memory. But if you look closely, you can see that history woven into the patterns of the rawhide. Look closer still, and you find the salt of the vaquero’s sweat, the calluses of his hands, and the red of his blood in the details …in the very art of the hackamore.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: History of the Hackamore 

[braiding origins, early Californios and dons, preparing hides, cutting and beveling strands, braiding considerations]

                

Chapter 2: Hackamores and Mecates  

[hackamore construction, hackamore artistry, the hackamore blueprint, training considerations, the mecate]

Chapter 3: Tying the Mecate

[tying method one, Benny’s tying method, Al’s tying method, considering the horse when tying mecate]

Chapter 4: Training in the Hackamore

[practical application, training psychology, why use the hackamore, fitting the hackamore, understanding the fiador, grasping the mecate]

Chapter 5: Introducing Your Horse to the Hackamore

[checking-up laterally, longeing and giving, vertical flexion on the line, the hard-set, ground-driving]

Chapter 6: Key Points Under Saddle

[prepare to ride, hitch mecate to horn or tie coils to saddle, lateral flexion and “slow-riding,” vertical flexion, the headset, connecting the horse’s feet to his face, elevating the heav Key Points Under Saddle

[prepare to ride, hitch mecate to horn or tie coils to saddle, lateral flexion and “slow-riding,” vertical flexion, the headset, connecting the horse’s feet to his face, elevating the heavy horse, the big release, introduce neck-reining]

Chapter 7: Build Your Horse’s Hackamore Skills

[athletic circles, in-and-out circle exercise, teach the turnaround, sliding stops, the one-rein stop, fencing your horse, developing the slide, stopping in the open]

Chapter 8: Overcoming Challenges

[the lead rope as a training aid, give your horse purpose, horseback longeing]

Chapter 9: Working Cattle

[Introducing horse to cattle, pushing and rating cattle, turning cattle on fence, common problems, focus on goals]

Chapter 10: Vaquero Methods: Snaffle, Hackamore, Bridle and Variations

[quatro riendas or four-rein riding, los dos riendas or riding with the two-rein, spins.