Hackamore

Really am starting to like riding in the hackamore- I have one mare that responds especially well= it doesnt scare her but she respects it, The Bozal helps her keep her shoulders up.

Fencing

I try to fence my horses almost every time I ride them now because it teaches them to run straight. It also teaches them to run. When they are far enough along I speed them up. It does lots of good things. When you can speed them up its like blowing the carbon out of them. When you stop them at speed it makes them pay attention and want to go slow. So it takes more effort to get them to speed up, which makes them even want to stop more. If you have one that stops hard but isnt free in the front end, like the Jac Daniels Neat three year old I'm riding, fencing, all the way to the fence will get them thinking about running and the more you do it and they get used to it the more relaxed they will become and that frees up the front end to.

Another thing that helps is something Doug Phipps used to do when I rode with him twenty years ago or so. When I run down and ask for a stop and the horse jams his front feet in the ground I just instantaneously trot forward to the fence or sometimes lope off again. I try to get him so when I pull on the reins he slows down and keeps going forward, - doesnt slam into the ground. That there, combined with the fencing will really help to keep them mobile up front when you do say the word Whoa!