Riding with a Halter under the Bridle or Using a Get Down Rope

CJ, who I have previously known for working with him and his horse, dropped me an e-mail asking about the 'properness' of riding with a halter under the headstall so he would of course have method to lead his horse on the ground without using his reins. He rides with split reins and a broken bit with shanks, sometimes called an Argentine snaffle.

I wrote CJ back with pretty much the following: I don't know the properness of riding with a halter underneath your bridle but of course I have seen it done many times. In fact, about 15-20 years ago I was riding in a competition where a young lady carrying a clip board was going around to each competitor and asking them if they carried a halter and lead with them. I was sitting on my horse and riding in a hackamore and mecate reins, so I replied "No Ma'am, I don't need to carry a halter and lead as I have a built in lead rope" lifting the lead portion of my mecate up so she could see. She continued "So you don't have a halter and lead?" I gave her the same response a second time. She walked off and apparently I did not get 'extra points' for having the foresight to carry a halter and lead.

The photo above is my horse Hays with the snaffle bit outfit with slobber straps and mecate reins. The lead end of the mecate, as you can see is drapped around the saddle horn until I tuck a bit of it underneath my belt so it's readily accessible when I dismount. If I come off the horse unintentionally (always a possibility) I have a chance to grab that lead tucked under my belt before a horse has a chance of running off. By the way, I sometimes free lunge my horse or put him in a pen while saddled and bridled up, by tying the lead end of the mecate around the saddle horn using a clove hitch. Go to this previous article to see how I tie up up the mecate lead using a clove hitch.



You likely have a bigger chance of seeing that (halter under the headstall) with recreational trail riders and even competitive trail events. I do not have a negative opinion of it, it's just unnecesary for me as I ride in hackamore or snaffle bits with slobber straps and always mecate reins. Mecate reins are, of course, a continious rein usually 22 foot long, but I have ridden with as short as 19 feet on short necked and smaller horses. The mecate is connected to the right side of the bosal heel knot or snaffle/slobber strap then goes around the horses neck, coming back through the left side and continuing on to provide a 8-10 foot lead rope that the rider secures to his/her saddle or loops the end through their belt loop or a ring on their leggings. When I dismount or otherwise lead my horse on the ground I can use the trailing or lead end of the mecate just like a halter lead rope. I also sometimes tie up the snaffle bit and slobber straps so there is no chance of having the snaffle bit banging on the horse's mouth, with is the reason that riders will ride with a halter underneath the bridle, so they can dismount and lead the horse without having to lead with the reins and exposing the chance of banging the bit around the horse's mouth. By the way, something I do have a negative opinion on is hard tying your horse with a bit by using the reins. If a horse pulls back, the bit can cut his mouth or damage his teeth.

If I was going to ride in anything other than hackamore or snaffle with a mecate, say using rommel reins, or with one piece roper or split reins, I would use a small diameter bosal, called a bosalito, with a smaller diameter (maybe 1/4 inch) lead rope as a get down rope. If had no other option then maybe a 1/4 inch halter under the headstall, I've just never ridden with halter under a bridle as I have always had a bosalito with a small diameter lead available.

The photo above shows a bosalito using a hanger (think saddle string) connected to a 10 foot 1/4 inch diameter paracord or other rope, as a lead or get down rope. You can use any smaller diamter rope. Having having placed this on my horse, I could now bridle him. Another, option is to take a section of paracord r other smaller diameter rope, maybe 10-12 feet, and tie a bowline around the horse's neck behind the poll and secure the running end of the paracord to your saddle or tuck it in your belt as you would a mecate. And lastly, if you do use a separate get down rope to lead your bridled horse from the ground, make sure you tie the reins up so they won't get loose, drop on the ground where your horse could step on them and have the bit cut up his mouth or damage his teeth, and potentialy tear up your gear which is a secondary consideration to the horse in my view.

Go to his previous article to see how to tie a bowline (same link as the one above).

Desensitizing Horses or letting them Learn

If you asked a dozen people about desensitizing a horse, their description would be alot closer to each other than if you asked the same people how does a horse learn. I realized this as I had a fairly long phone conversation with a lady named Marti about desensitization. She contacted me on email then we had a phone conversation discussing desensitization as she said she was (in my words) casting about to get many opinions on desensitization as someone advised her that desensitization would make a dull and unresponsive horse. I told Marti I would followup our phone call with some written comments about what we talked about, so here it is.

Desensitization, certainly had a bad name in some circles, but it is much like riding with a leverage bit (or any bit for that matter) - it's all about how you use it. And when I use the term desensitization, I am meaning getting a horse not to be scared, to accept a situation or stimulus. Much like using pressure and release to get a horse to understand what we are asking with cues, be it using the reins, our seat or legs, or really any kind of pressure, and providing a release of that pressure when the horse responds even just a bit - then building on that. We also come to understand that the horse needs time to process his response to the pressure that gains a release in order to figure out what he did that gained that release. The time or pause after the release is kind of understood by the handler, but to be clear about it I tell riders in clinics that we use 'pressure, release and pause' so it is understood that the horse needs that time after the release to understand. People will sometimes ask "How much time? How long should the pause be?" Well, I don't know,......more than a couple seconds, usually less than a minute, but the horse's posture and body language, head and ears, and position should give you an idea when he is ready again.

So, in being redundant (I'm not to insult anyone's intelligence) but we use pressure, release and pause when exposing the horse to a stimuli such as a flag, tarp or an obstacle. So, the most common error is to take the stimulus away or to take the horse away from an obstacle when the horse gets scared. Then he learns that he was justified in being scared of that object. I suppose we can expose a horse to a stimuli, an example would again be a flag, where we overuse the flag - don't use it in a meaningful or accurate way - and the it becomes not much of a signal anymore. I just don't think that happens much, at least not what I've seen. What I think is more likely is confusing a horse with a lack of use of cues and a lack of accurate timing of the release.

What Craig Cameron said over 20 years ago was one of our major responsibilities was to create a brave horse. I think about this practically daily. I try to apply the concept of letting a horse figure out the situation when he shows anxiety or fear. The latest example is that I had a horse tied to a trailer and I pulled out a metal tape measure to measure the length of a rear cinch I need to replace. My horse did not like the noise the tape measure made being extended or the crinkling sound that the metal tape made when bending. He did not pull back, just stepped back a couple steps as was very alert on the tape measure. So I extended the tape measure and laid it on the trailer fender. He was not about to approach it anytime soon. So I just left the tape measure there on the trailer fender, brushed him, got the saddle and bridle ready and let the horse generally get used to the tape measure being there. A few minutes later, I asked him to take a step forward and he did. I let him settle for a bit then asked him again to step forward. I finished saddling, got his snaffle bit in place and rode off. Coming back, we did it all over again. I also sat on the step to my trailer, held the extended tape measure in my hand and asked my horse to step forward to me. Soon I was touching him with the tape measure then using it to measure the circumference of his nose when a bosal would go - I really didn't need to do that, just wanted him to accept what he was skeptical of earlier. This is simply giving the horse think to think without alot of pressure. I can't tell you how a horse reasons, but it is obvious that they can learn to accept things as a non threat given adequate time. This is desensitization and learning at it's root.

When we are riding or even leading a horse in hand we have all experienced a horse stopping and tensing up, alert to some item or obstacle be it a trash can, a bucket or whatever. We have also all experienced the same when we have rode or led a horse to or through an area time and time again only for the horse to stop because there is something new. There is actually a term for this - coherant change detection - it comes from the military comparing imagery of terrain and things over a period of time to detect, even minutely, what has changed which could indicate enemy preparations of capabiities. In fact, this is what the horse looks at too.....what is changed and what threat does it present. So if we give the horse some time on such an obstacle, are we desensitizing him or giving him time to think and learn to figure things out?

I think we have all been successful at some point, whether intentional or not, when the horse stops at some perceived threat, and we don't get all worked up about it and give him some time, he'll move forward again towards that object. If we force him to move forward too soon then we build on that anxiety.  Just keep him straight. Give him some time and we're usually talking about a minute or two, the horse will figure it out and we now have a braver horse.                      

Texas Wildfires devasting Families, Ranches and Livestock - How you can help

The largest wildfire in Texas state history has scorched close to one million acres of land, burned hundreds of homes, barns and other buildings as well as killing tens of thousands head of cattle. To date, at least two Texans have lost their lives. All this on top of hundreds of people and families trying to find a path to recovery after losing everything. Texans and people throughout the United States are coming together to help but much is needed. If you are of a mind to help there are many avenues to do so.

Panhandle Disaster Relief Fund. You can mail a check to the Amarillo Area Foundation administering the fund to Panhandle Disaster Relief Fund, 919 S. Polk, Amarillo, TX 79101. Or you can donate online at this link Panhandle Disaster Relief Fund.

Texas A&M University Agrilife Extension is working the Disaster Assessment & Recovery Unit and County Extension Agents to help the residents of the Texas Panhandle who sustained wildfire related losses and has an online page devoted to Panhandle Wildfire Relief Resources listing livestock supply collection points and information on monetary donations.

The Working Ranch Cowboys Association are collecting donations for the WRCA Foundation Natural Disaster Relief Fund, which will help livestock producers who have been devasted by these historic wildfires. Donations can be made at this link WRCA Foundation Natural Disaster Relief Fund.