hackamore help:) -getting him rounded on a hackamore?

Hey, I have a welsh D for loan at the moment:) he's currently rode in a hackamore - I am an english style rider. This is what he was use to before the women I loan him from brought him. When you round a horse and get him 'on the bit' and his back end working there head normally becomes more rounded. Is this possible in a hackamore becuase I have no contact with his mouth :) thanks in advance

I ride my horse in a hackamore, and when I first start riding him flat I ride loose, then I shorten my reins and have contact on his nose. It takes me a few minutes to get his head down but what I do with him is keep my inside leg on and pull slightly with my outside rein. Basically do the same thing I would with a bit. My horse knows what it means when I do those aids.

Heres a cool video I found

What kind of hackamore are we talking about?

In general they are not meant to be ridden with much contact. Bitless Bridles on the other hand I believe are different. I havent used one much.

The head should not be your concern. When you ride the horse back to front, the head tends to fall into place with little ease and not much need to adjust via his face.

The hackamore in the video is the kind I use and they can be used with more contact

This is in response to the video, not the OP question.

What makes bitless so much "kinder" than bitted? I personally would rather see the rider keep constant contact with a mild snaffle than a hackamore with leverage.

While that is a fairly mild hackamore, I kind of had to cringe to see it ridden with so much contact. To me it looked like the horse's head was in a vice, because it had NO relief to the constant rein pressure. I like hackamores. I like bits. But, generally speaking, I try not to ride with constant, solid contact. It kind of makes me cringe when people do that.

Yes, there are times when you have to pull more than you want to, like when the horse isn't in control. But that wasn't the case with the dressage horse in the video. To me he looked like his head was in a vice with no relief in sight. It did not look like soft contact to me. But that is just my opinion.

PS. Look how the curb strap is constantly pulled tight and the leverage is engaged the entire length of the video. I don't think the horse ever got a break from it.

The hackmore he is ridden in is the same as the one it the video but the strap over the nose is all fluffy and soft:L thanks for the video, shows he might be able to make his head fall rounder with the right work on him :) and the reason we don't use a bit is because we trailed it for a few months, we had a really mild snaffle but what he did was just grab the bit and pull you around. I have a video of when I cantered him in it and all the way around his mouth is open and I was hardly touching his mouth. He found it extremely uncomfortable and whenever you got the bridal out he would snap the rope and run off which we weren't 100% on why he did it because it all fit him perfectly so we think it was the bit where as when I had him on the hackamore he took perfect stides, never pulls in the head and you can controll his speeds by the sound of your voice which he didnt respond to as well in the bridal because his focus was on getting it under his tounge. Please don't get me wrong, I understand where you are coming from with the whole contact because I was the reason we trailed him in a bit but I guess because he wsant use to it and haa never used it in 10 or so years in riding he didnt find it as comfortable. I am like you and try to ride by not always having such a tight contact as I expect the horses don't like the pulling:) thanks guys :)

I agree with trailhorserider- it's like riding in a shanked bit with constant contact, but worse because there's the pressure over the nose.

Pressure over the nose I think is these severe than a bit having full contact in a mouth, that's my opinion. I've seen many horses ruined from constant contact in the mouth and a hackamore doesnt seem to bother my horses. And I know in the video it looks like the horse is being held in that spot but if the horse didnt like it he would throw his head up, same with a bit I know. When my horse is nice and round in a hackamore I relieve pressure and he learns THEN if he goes round he gets rewarded.