# Question about rawhide bosals?



## mbender (Jul 22, 2009)

What do you mean start? I am not sure about them myself but asked this question earlier. But I have a two year old and was told to go with a sidepull as it is not harsh. 
She is good also with a rope halter and lead. Doing flexion side to side and very good with responsiveness. 
You should get the same response out of a bosal as you are with a rope halter. It will be a different feel for her, so go easy. Someone here probably has better advice but I hope I helped a bit.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Rosalle X (Oct 31, 2010)

By start i mean break, shes partialy broke, like go, stop, left, right, at a walk but ive left her for a while so she can grow, im going to carry on after xmas. lol

i was thinking of getting one and doing lots of gound work with it first, and get her super responsive to it first, 

but as a long term bitless bridle how does it do ?


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

If you have never used one and you don't have someone that is really good to help you then you would be better off not using it. If you ride English it would be even less wise because if you keep contact with a bosal your horse will soon start to ignore it. I'm not a fan of "going bitless" but if you're going to ride english then use english tack.


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## Rosalle X (Oct 31, 2010)

... harsh .. sure when im at college i ride 'english' and ive trained dressage, but over the years ive developed my own 'style' with my horses and i dont ride them with much contact, and in a bitless bridle i ride with loose rein, just cues, leg aids and such, i DO know what im doing, i was just asking about the bosal, a bosal cant be any harsher than a rope halter, so dont act like its an evil training device for pro's only.

just because i ride with a english saddle it dosent mean that i murder my horses mouth all of the time and it dosent mean that i havnt taght our horses to neck rein ... i ride HORSES!!


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

It wasn'tmeant to be harsh just realistic. A bosal can be a lot "harsher" than a rope halter. It's made out of rawhide and has a twisted raqwhide or rope core that gives it a lot of rigidity. I know many fine horseman that don't use a bosal because they don't know the intricacies of how to use it correctly.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I am going to have to agree with Kevin. Unless you have someone to help you that is experienced with training horses using a bosal, then you would be better off looking at other options. A bosal is really easy to either hurt a horse with or teach them to ignore it and it must be used properly or you risk one or both of those problems.


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## TKButtermilk (May 20, 2010)

I moved my mare from a bit to a rope halter and it made a MASSIVE difference. After awile I wasn't getting the finess I wanted with the halter and bought a bosal. HUGE difference! Smrobs and Kevin are right about it being harsher, however if your careful and have it adjusted properly they're wonderful. Don't let them discourage you, they are just trying to help. However do be aware that they come in different amounts of stiffness, mine was bendable and not very harsh whereas we have others that are hard as a rock. I wrapped mine in vet wrap to make it softer and evetually bought a fleece cover to prevent rubbing. Good luck with whatever you choose! 
_Posted via Mobile Device_

ETA: I also taught the beginnins of collection and began rounding my mare using a bosal and never had a problem with her learning to ignore. However I also gave her plenty of release and she was always insanely soft and sensitive.


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## xXEventerXx (Nov 27, 2010)

IM all for BITLES !!! my horse never really liked bits ever since i got him and every trainer i went to told me to try this bit, or try this bit.. blah blah blah and none worked so a month ago i tried using a mechanical hackamore on my TB and he loves it!! way more responsive, better at jumping... its worth the try


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## shesinthebarn (Aug 1, 2009)

If you have never used one and do not have an trainer experienced with them, than stay away and stick with the side-pull. It's not just about light contact etc; there are many intricacies that go along with the hackamore. A bosal can be much more severe than a rope halter as well. If a rope halter or side-pull is working for you, maybe stick with that.


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## Rosalle X (Oct 31, 2010)

im not discoraged and i dont mean to sound like a spoilt brat, but i didnt ask permission to use one lol , i asked how they work and peoples experiances with them, im going to get one, not a cheap one, as ive heard the cheap ones cut, and if it dosent work for my girly i will sell it, simples. 

anyway i will let you know if you guys who said dont do it are right.


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## Fort fireman (Mar 5, 2011)

If you are determined to try one there are a few things to remember. Buy the absolute best you can afford. Not the most expensive one but the best you can afford. The reason I say this is not all bosals are created equal. Some have rope core which are fine. There are some out there that have a wire inside to give it shape. These are the ones that have given some of the bad rep for the rawhide bosal. Also when looking you will see some that are 8 plait.12plait, 16 , 18. Basically the more plaits you have the smoother the outer surface will be because they are smaller strands and the edges are thinner. The smoother the bosal the less rubbing you get. You also need to shape the bosal to fit the horses face. A horses nose is not perfectly round, the bosal; comes pretty darn round. Ussually to shape it you get a peice of wood shaped similar to a horses face. Kida squarish and tie the bosal around the wood to give it a bit of squarness to go over the nose. There are also different sizes of diameter. Usuall from 5/8th down to about 1/4 inch. Start with the big one and work down to a smaller size. If you try to start a horse with the 1/4 inch he'll pobably just ingnore it. The weight and feel of the bigger one will be where you cues and feel will come from.
One big thing to remember about a bosal is it really shows what not to do with your hands. A rider can not be heavy handed with one at all. A horse will learn to walk through it very quickly if he can. You will ride a horse with body positioning much more than your hands with a bosal or you'll get run away with. One way to not get heavy handed with it is to never pull with both reins at the same time. To stop the horse start with the body position. That is you initial cue, then bring in a one rein stop. It's when people start pulling with both reins that you'll start seeing problems. Of course that can go for bits as well.
This is just some things I have picked up about bosals but I am no hackamore man by any means. I'm just trying to work my way up to it.


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