Ever wonder if your hackamore is really made for ranch or performance work ? How do you even tell? How can a hackamore not be made for work!
Firstly, working bosals will have a nice, heavy body string, no more than 16 plaits of beveled leather or rawhide. The reason behind thick body string is because when the horse sweats all over their bosal, the strings soak up the sweat and become fatter and weaker. This is especially true for rawhide bosals. Because of this compromise of strength, having a thick leather string prevents complete absorption into the bosal, thereby keeping each string strong and resisting breakage. I have seen many bosals imported primarily from South America with a crazy amount of plaits, some even exceeding 60. These bosals are beautiful displays of art, but I argue that is all they are. Strings that are that small, less than 3mm are susceptible to breakage with the slightest little bit of moisture off your horse, or even on a humid day. If you plan to work your horse and double into the fence a couple times (as hackamore training demands) one bump on the fence is enough to weaken 10 strings. In addition, many of the South American bosals with 40,50 plaits are made with goat rawhide. This rawhide is very susceptible to breakage, good bosals are made with cow or horse rawhide, and or kangaroo or latigo leather. There is also a school of thought that the more strings there are, the more edges there are…over time with sweat, those ends curl up and act as a fine rasp. This is in stark contrast to nice fat body string that will likely resist curling up so easily, and it won’t ever be as harsh on the horse’s skin as the many plait bosal. The last point regarding thick body string is that the strings provide a lot of the feel to the bosal. With 50 plait bosals, the life of the bosal and the feel of it is entirely dependent on the core…once that dies, you’re left with a pretty piece of useless leather. With 16 or less plaits, the life of the bosal is influenced and often increased by the thick plaits going around the core. Some rawhide bosals are even sold coreless, a true testament to body strings lending to the life of the bosal.
Secondly, a good hackamore must have a pliable core. Whether that core be leather, rawhide, or rope it must be shaped to fit the horse for long days on the ranch or showpen. Poor fit can be equated to running a marathon in dollar store shoes that are a size too small. Needless to say, it is paramount that the bosal be able to shape. Steel cable cores are not shapeable and are therefore, in my opinion, trash. Some cores I have seen are made from two pieces of stitched rawhide meaning they can bend to conform to the horse’s face but they won’t bend when you pull the mecates. I don’t see the purpose for these, I feel as though they have too similar a feel to steel cable cores. Some people like them like with that core, to each their own I suppose.
Thirdly, the nosebutton is appropriate in length. There are quite a few schools of thought regarding nose button length. Natural Horsemanship pioneer Ray Hunt liked nose buttons of 9 inches because he believed they provided the horse with a more comfortable fit on long days. In contrast to Ray Hunt, legendary 15 time world time champion, Les Vogt preferred a 6.5 inch nose button. He believed that it provided better release and broke the horse at the pole; the longer the nose button is, the further down the neck the horse is broke. Many reputable braiders, such as Bill Black tend to make nose buttons of 7-7.5 inches. Luis Ortega typically made 7-7.5 inch nose buttons as well. I personally like 6-7 inch nose buttons because of the quicker release, quieter ride, and the fact that the further back the hanger is set, the more the nose button moves with each pull. This increase in action will sore a horse’s nose really fast. By having a shorter nose button and more weight thus behind the hanger on the chin, the bosal sits in a resting position easier. With real long nose buttons the bosal can sort of seesaw. Many cheap, mass produced bosals have these 9.5 inch, poorly braided nose buttons that aren’t even made over a foundation. It is obvious to see that the nose button is not proportional to the bosal and that the nosebutton is not 1 continuous knot. I tend to see what looks like a braid and two loosely tied knots on the end of the nose button to make it look like nerve knots. A good bosal will have one continuous nose button, always over a foundation. The foundation is also a very important element for how the feel of the bosal’s nose comes out. Ideally the nose button is quite a bit stiffer and preshaped, some have nerve knots, and some have swells. The shape and quality of the foundation is huge as far as the overall feel of the bosal. The nose buttons should have a smooth feel to them. I try to put a light bevel on my nose button string to help it sit better on the nose of the horse without taking so much strength from the string. In my bosals, I typically go between 24-36 plaits. Some bosals will have a hard, flat spot on the inside of the nose button. Some braiders believe this to be a closer fit, because of how different each horse’s face is, I don’t 100% subscribe to this idea. I do, however, try to shape my nose button with a flatter part in the middle.
The hanger. A good working bosal will have a pliable, thin leather hanger. Some popular designs are slit braided hangers and my original Quick Release hangers. This is because the bosal has to fall, without it falling…the horse is never being released. This means he will never learn. To accelerate your training, having a good release is of the utmost importance. By employing a hanger made to help the bosal fall quickly, the hanger and bosal work together. Some tack store bosals are sold with fancy headstalls with rhinestones and fancy tooling. These are bridle headstalls. If you want to honor your horse with a nice adornment, hire a braider to put braided buttons on the headstall. This was the traditional way to honor a good hackamore horse in old Spanish California. Good hangers are typically only a crown piece but sometimes come with a sliding ear or a browband and fiador. Fiadors are used to suspend the bosal to help the horse tuck more. I find they don’t really work on downward built horses all that well. They were also used to keep the hackamore on the horse should it set back or be pulled by the owner on the ground. They were and are typically a stallion accessory.
The heel knot. The final part of your bosal to tell if it is a good quality working bosal! Heel knots have to be proportional to the bosal, cheap mass produced bosals have little tiny heel knots, and some have what looks like a baseball. It's all about balance. A good heel knot will have a uniform, tight braid around it with or without some interweaves. Most good heels knot will have a piece of leather on the bottom with a maker’s mark.
Most American made bosals have this trait although there are some exceptions. Good heel knots also have a proportional weight. Some bosals have heal knots with super heavy bits of lead or metal to make it heavy. The idea behind this is to quicken the release. This is fundamentally wrong. It actually defies the laws of physics. If you were to remove air resistance, a bowling ball and feather dropped from the same height would hit the ground at exactly the same time. Therefore, making the bosal’s heel knot weighted does not help it. It actually makes the bosal bounce around more because of the extra weight it's carrying. Bosals are made to softly bounce around on the horse’s face to help them find their balance and tuck. Heavy heel knots bounce too much with the action of the bosal, thus negating this and being a nuisance.
Written by Johnny Flores of Johnny Flores Horses
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