Sage Horsemanship The Hackamore Primer A Pictorial About My Understanding of Some Gear of the Californio Traditions by R. J. Sagely

A pictorial walkthrough of one progression of using the bosal to make a bridle horse in the Old Californio tradition. The names applied to the equipment in the process are as best I understand and the way I refer to them. Understand that regional and generational differences may mean slightly or major differences in use of terms to describe this gear at various points in a horse's progress toward the bridle. It is not cast in stone and mine is a distillation of many years of trying to understand how to "make a bridle horse". This tradition comes from Europe but evolved in many related forms throughout both Americas of the New World. My study is most focused on the methods and traditions of Old Californio times as they have sort of survived into modern times.

A nice selection of bosals showing a four step progression, from left to right - a colt starting hackamore to a two rein bosal rig. None of these have a fiador, and that is a personal preference from one person to another. I prefer the fiador as explained below. The second one from the right has a neat metal shaping tool. I usually use a wooden block or now make leather ones as the faces can be tooled and carved to "fancy" them up. Shaping block in a colt size bosal. This is fully rigged, meaning a fiador and mecate are attached. The whole thing goes by the handle "hackamore", but the story is more convoluted than that.
The Jaquima or Hackamore - When rigged fully, this outfit goes often by these names. It typically indicates a bosal that is anywhere from 3/4" up to one inch or more in diameter of the branches and roughly 12", give or take, from nosebutton to heel knot. This depth allows a mecate of about the same diameter of the branches to be used by taking wraps around the bottom of the bosal and build a closed rein and lead out of around twenty two to twenty four feet or rope. It also allows for variety in muzzles size and for there to be room left so that when the rein is cued the horsehair will not drag along the horse's jaw and cause painful abrasions. This is a  3/4" branch bosal in a traditional hackamore setup, including the fiador or throatlatch. Notice that the fiador rides in the throat groove, behind the jawbone. There are sensitive nerves that lie across the face of the horse's jaw and so a jaquima or rope halter should always be put on properly behind the jaw like this so as not to risk damaging these nerves, should the horse pull back. If he should, this throatlatch will act behind his jawbone encouraging him to step up into the feel of the pull instead of continuing to pull away. Of note is how the fiador

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