How to Train a Horse with a Hackmore

A hackamore is often used to begin training a young horse or a horse that had no training. A hackamore is a headstall that does not have a bit; it relies on the pressure of a nose band, also called a bosal, on the horse's nose and chin. It is intended to be gentle on the horse's mouth and head. Hackamore training also can be effective for horses that are resistant to a bit or were treated harshly by previous riders.

Things You'll Need

  • Enclosed arena
  • Longe line
  • Long lines
  • Surcingle
  • Saddle
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Instructions

  1. Starting Out

    • 1

      Train with a longe line first. Begin training by longeing in a halter on the ground before introducing your horse to the hackamore. The horse should understand the basic commands of forward, back and stop on the longe line before you train with the hackamore.

    • 2

      Verify that the hackamore fits the horse's head properly. It should be placed near the soft cartilage of the nose but should never press on that area. The bosal, which is the nose piece, should be snug enough to make constant contact with the nose without sliding up and down on the horse's head.

    • 3

      Teach the horse to accept the hackamore on the ground by placing pressure from the bosal on its nose, gently asking it to back up. Do this multiple times so the horse becomes accustomed to the feel of the hackamore on its head and begins to understand how to respond to pressure on its nose.

    • 4

      Attach long lines to the hackamore, and run them through a surcingle to begin ground driving the horse. While working on ground driving, focus on teaching your horse to respond to your cues to go forward and to stop. These lessons will help the horse further learn to respond to pressure from the bosal.

    Riding with a Hackamore

    • 5

      Introduce your horse to a saddle while continuing to use the hackamore. As he becomes accustomed to having a rider on its back during the first few riding lessons, it may be helpful to have an assistant on the ground lead the horse with a lead rope.

    • 6

      Hold a rein in each hand. Your horse needs to learn to respond to pressure from each side, as well as direct pressure from the front of its nose. Gently pulling back on the horse's nose at a walk will help it to learn the "stop" command. Pull on the reins to ask for a response, and then release quickly. Do not continue pulling back because the horse will just resist the pressure.

    • 7

      Teach the horse to back up once it has a good response to the "stop" command. Use leg pressure to let the horse know it should begin moving, and pull back gently to show it which direction to move.

    • 8

      Learn to turn and neck rein. For a right turn, pull gently on the right rein and lay the left rein across the horse's neck. In the beginning, you may want to exaggerate this motion so that the horse can see the right rein out of its right eye, which will help understand what you want. Practice asking for left and right turns at a walk before moving on to the other gaits.