Mechanical Hackamore?

[Bunnylady]

Last night, I was watching a kid riding (or rather, trying to ride) a pony with a mechanical hackamore. It isn't a piece of tack that I am familiar with, but the child wasn't having much success, so clearly something was wrong.

The thing that had me confused, is that it had no strap, chain, or anything else under the jaw. The noseband itself was well up the pony's face, almost bumping the cheekbones, but even sitting there, the arch of the noseband was at least an inch wider than the pony's face.

Am I wrong, or is this a disaster just waiting to happen? I have no idea why the child's father chose that particular item over a more conventional bit for this pony, and I hesitated to say anything without more information. Dad was "elsewhere" at that particular moment, and when the kid appealed to me, I wasn't able to be much help. Advice?

 

[goodhors]

Did the mechanical hackamore have any kind of mouthpiece? If no mouthpiece, no chinstrap, then it was kid muscle against horse nosebone. And as you say, kid didn't have any real control. For me, that is a poor choice. If the hack had a mouthpiece, perhaps the father thought horse would obey without the chinstrap pressure. There are MANY new mechanical hackamore designs, which involve all sorts of leverage pressures. Don't work like the old, no-mouthpiece designs which applied nose and chin pressure only.

My kids used a mechanical hackamore, no mouthpiece, snug chinstrap in leather, so kid was not banging the old horse in the mouth. No need to punish the old horse for kid's lack of coordination! Leverage action helped SMALLER child manage the horse without pain or horse taking advantage of small strength in her arms. For my situation, it worked very well, horse did as asked by the child.

I would not dream of putting these new designs of mechanical hackamore on a horse of mine, any pull of strength would have them flipping over backwards to escape the severe leverage pressure. And my horses DON'T rear in any normal situation!

Scares me what some folks do to their kids. Can make the kid tough, but too many end up hurt.

 

[Bunnylady]

Nope, no mouthpiece. This particular design has a metal noseband covered in rubber, and long shanks that attach to the noseband with a sort of hinge. I can see how this rig could create quite a bit of pressure at the poll, as well as under the jaw (at least when set up as I assume it is intended to be). As it was, it seemed to me the kid had no leverage at all. Other than the fact that the noseband was metal, he might as well have been riding with a halter and two lead lines. Any pull on the reins just made the noseband rock and slide up the pony's face a little bit.

 

[mydakota]

Well, without the chinstrap/chain it was pretty much useless. Not sure what they were thinking--or if they were thinking at all.

 

[rascal]

Well, without the chinstrap/chain it was pretty much useless.

Very true. However if the critter had a ruined mouth a hack is a great way to go. Used an old "dino stopper" on my barrel horse in H.S. It worked great for giving his mouth a rest for trails.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Well, without the chinstrap/chain it was pretty much useless. Not sure what they were thinking--or if they were thinking at all.

Also not a whole lot of lateral flex in a mechanical hackamore. A horse should be trained well to neck rein before using one