Inside the bosal

Now I'm back to riding properly by enthusiasm for studying has increased. So the other night I watched the Mike Bridges DVD on hackemore riding again.

I picked up on several ideas that make more sense to me now. One of the key ones is the idea of riding inside the bosal.

The bosal is a raw hide "hoop" that encircles the horses nose and hangs from a piece of leather that goes over the poll. If the horses face is vertical there is little or no contact from the bosal on the horses face. If the face is not vertical and the nose is sticking out then the bosal rests on the horses nose and provide pressure there. The pressure is supplied by the weight of the bosal and the weight of the heel knot that ties the reins to the bosal. Thus if the horse is flexed vertically then his nose is on the inside of a ring. The rider can use the reins to move that ring around. So if we want the horse to laterally flex to the right the rider applies a little right rein and the left cheek bar of the bosal comes into contact with the horses left cheek/jawbone. If they move there head correctly then the contact comes off and the bosal hangs loose again. Thus they remain "inside" the bosal.


This is what makes the bosal so effective for teaching the horse how to carry there head compared with using a bit. With a bit there is constant contact to ask for the flexion so there is never true release of the entire signal. With the bosal if the horse moves correctly then the bosal is hanging free again and all signal is removed. Thus the horse can search for this spot of complete release and be rewarded when they find it.

Of course this is in the ideal world. In practise they can take to leaning on the bosal, which is a pretty mild feeling. Milder than a rope halter anyway. The rider must not let this happen, but using steady pressure will not be a strong enough signal to get the horse to come of the pressure.
Thus when riding in a bosal it is important to never accept steady pressure from the horse. The signal can be applied with a nice soft feel but if the horse pushes into that feel then the reply should be bumps from the rider proportionate to the pressure the horse is applying. The bumps start light and increase in frequency and intensity until the horse comes of the pressure when they should cease instantly.

This instant release of pressure is a part of the function of a well set up hackemore. To get this to happen reliably and quickly the size and weight of the mecate rein must be correct for the size and weight of the bosal. So for a 5/8" bosal the best is to use a 5/8" 22 foot mecate. As the horse gets lighter in this set up then the mecate can reduce in size and weight to the 1/2" with the 5/8" bosal. When this is light then the horse is ready for the 1/2" bosal.... and so on down the sizes to the 3/8" bosal and mecate.

I've found this image of being inside the bosal has suddenly opened a new door to effectiveness for me. At the moment I'm awaiting a new bosal for Filly so I'm riding her in the rope halter.  The snag with a rope halter is that there is never a total release of course, it's too flexible and is always in contact with the face. Even so this image has had a powerful effect actually making me lighter and more precise with my handling of the reins.
Ritchie was using the image today when riding Bonitao in a true bosal and also reports that it helped her feel.

Can't wait for my new bosal to arrive so I can explore this concept further with Filly.

Here's a picture of a bosal for those who aren't familiar with them. With the nose in this position it is easy to understand what I mean by being "inside the bosal" 

Vaquero

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

A lovely ride

I've missed the horses for the last few days as I've been joint director of the local gliding regional championship. That was over 9 days, though I did manage to make a fleeting visit to Filly a couple of times.
The championship ended last night and I had made sure to have today off to get some chores done and see the horses.

Filly is living out at the moment so I had to collect her from her field. As the track to her field is stony and hard this gave me a chance to asses how she was walking. I'm pleased to say she was pretty good. She still has the odd miss step as she treads on an uncomfortable stone but has generally learnt to avoid those. The trick is to leave the lead rope very very loose and let her find her own way down.

We did all the usual "prepare to ride" routine, but I put an emphasis on a soft feel on the halter. To do this we did falling leaf pattern where I walk forwards while she trots half circles back and forwards in front of me. To get her to keep her distance from me I just swing the stick and string around in friendly fashion. Not trying to tag her but not avoiding it either. The game for her was to work out how to avoid the stick and string. The solution was nice neat turns and a change in her body arc as she changed direction. She got frustrated at one point but then worked it out and really relaxed and chilled about the whole idea. Lots of licking and chewing later and she was ready to ride.

I mount up outside the yard as I don't want to ride her on the rocky track. At this stage that wouldn't be fair on her. Once mounted we rode up the bridleway, which though steep, is not rocky to the carpark at the top. It only takes around 15 minutes which at her stage is ideal. I got off there and let her graze for a while before mounting and riding her back down.

I know for many folks this is a "so what" moment. "You rode your horse to a carpark and back".
But for me it was a big deal for the following reasons
Only once did she get tense and I had to let her relax before asking her forwards. That was the only time on the entire ride I had to use my lower leg. To start walking other than that occasion was just a shift in my intention and a light squeeze with my thighs. During the rest of the ride I actually worked on my own riding by trying to keep me legs and feet soft and still.
At no point did I have to use the reins, though I held them at a length just short of a contact to start with. By the end it was one handed and loose.
I kept stroking and reassuring her that I was still there by talking a load of nonsense.

We met some hikers on the way home which she was a little nervous about. So I gave them some treats to feed Filly and they soon made friends.

It wasn't so much the ride as the feeling of total contentment. She was not lame at all, even coming down a fairly steep hill which just heightened my feeling of well being. I think this transferred onto Filly and made the ride even better.

Back to work tomorrow unfortunately with no time to ride which is deeply frustrating after today. Only two days working then two off. Can't wait !!