Unfortunately, there are very few hackamore horsemen in Ontario. Since the popularity of the Buck Brannaman movie “Buck” and the spin off DVD Series “7 Clinics” interest has grown in the development of a Californio (Vaquero) Bridle Horse. Trainers have started wearing flat hats, armitas and putting bosals around the noses of their horses.
I can tell you from my own journey, developing an understanding of how to properly use a bosal takes years, it’s not just one or two rides around the arena on a snaffle bit broke horse. Dress how you want, but it’s not what you look like but what you do that determines if you are a hackamore horseman.
There is a very significant difference in how you develop a hackamore horse compared with a snaffle bit or shank bit horse. There’s also a difference in the way the horse carries itself and the way the rider handles the reins. People are jumping on the bandwagon for many of the right reasons but if they don’t take their time to find a well qualified mentor their efforts will not bear the right fruit, they’ll get frustrated with the lack of progress and may go right back to pulling and gouging their horses.
Let me be absolutely clear, I do not profess to be an expert in this style of horsemanship, I am still learning and studying. Nonetheless, I can tell the difference between a hackamore horse and a hackamore horseman and a horse that is just being ridden in a hackamore. I can also demonstrate some of the basics of this amazing art of horsemanship with some accuracy.
I have yet to see another dedicated hackamore horseman in the Southwestern Ontario region. But hope, through this site, to be able to make connections that will help those interested to find help in developing in this style.