As many of you will know I've become interested
in the vaquero tradition. As a result I've been riding our horse Bonitao
in a 5/8 bosal and mecate for nearly two years now. With Filly being
able to be ridden more it was time to buy a new bosal so we can both
ride together. Bonitao is getting to the stage where we probably need to
go down a size in mecate, if not bosal, to the 1/2". As a result I've
spent some time on the internet researching who produces nice bosals.
I've certainly discovered that not all bosals are created equally during this search and so refined my search to hand braided bosals made in the USA by people who understand their use and ride with them. Preferably from the California tradition of vaquero as that is the style I am particularly interested in.
This search lead me to the website California Classics. Scared that I was going to sound a total fool I rang them and the phone was answered by Dorothy. She started with an explanation as to why she couldn't supply a bosal just at the moment as Aaron has torn the ligaments in his arm and can't braid until next year. But then we started talking about vaquero. And, boy, did we talk. 58 minutes later we hung up (which was lucky as I have free international calls for 1 hour). We talked about all things vaquero. She seemed really excited that here was someone from the UK interested in her heritage.
We spoke about the folks she has known well. Folks you probably never heard of like Tom and Bill Dorrance (she was going to be the co-author of Bills book), Ray Hunt etc. I quickly realised I was talking to someone who "knew" vaquero. She reckoned she had managed to produce 2 good bridle horses herself in her life, but unfortunately could no longer ride.
Some of the information was interesting. There is a style "vaquero" and a person with the title Vaquero. There were actually very few Vaqueros as this was a title bestowed by the elders of the area and only bestowed on the very best horsemen. So many who describe themselves as vaquero maybe riding in that style but may not be worthy of the title.
We discussed Pat Parelli briefly. I explained that that was were I started my horsemanship education and learned that vaqueros even existed. She agreed that it was a good place to start but wasn't sure were Pat was going with his horsemanship now.
The upshot of all this is that we have been emailing a bit and she says she'll answer my questions as they come up but be patient about the reply.
Her website does have a lot of good information on it and I can recommend a read http://www.calclassics.net/index.php . I can particularly recommend the following page for general interest
http://www.calclassics.net/php/learn/index.php
I've certainly discovered that not all bosals are created equally during this search and so refined my search to hand braided bosals made in the USA by people who understand their use and ride with them. Preferably from the California tradition of vaquero as that is the style I am particularly interested in.
This search lead me to the website California Classics. Scared that I was going to sound a total fool I rang them and the phone was answered by Dorothy. She started with an explanation as to why she couldn't supply a bosal just at the moment as Aaron has torn the ligaments in his arm and can't braid until next year. But then we started talking about vaquero. And, boy, did we talk. 58 minutes later we hung up (which was lucky as I have free international calls for 1 hour). We talked about all things vaquero. She seemed really excited that here was someone from the UK interested in her heritage.
We spoke about the folks she has known well. Folks you probably never heard of like Tom and Bill Dorrance (she was going to be the co-author of Bills book), Ray Hunt etc. I quickly realised I was talking to someone who "knew" vaquero. She reckoned she had managed to produce 2 good bridle horses herself in her life, but unfortunately could no longer ride.
Some of the information was interesting. There is a style "vaquero" and a person with the title Vaquero. There were actually very few Vaqueros as this was a title bestowed by the elders of the area and only bestowed on the very best horsemen. So many who describe themselves as vaquero maybe riding in that style but may not be worthy of the title.
We discussed Pat Parelli briefly. I explained that that was were I started my horsemanship education and learned that vaqueros even existed. She agreed that it was a good place to start but wasn't sure were Pat was going with his horsemanship now.
The upshot of all this is that we have been emailing a bit and she says she'll answer my questions as they come up but be patient about the reply.
Her website does have a lot of good information on it and I can recommend a read http://www.calclassics.net/index.php . I can particularly recommend the following page for general interest
http://www.calclassics.net/php/learn/index.php
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