New Hackamore

So, I need more whoa on the trail, but I don't want to have to haul back really hard on Ivan's mouth. So at Robin's suggestion (my farrier), I went and got one of these:

Little S Hackamore

According to Robin, she's never had a horse pull through one of these out on the trail. The commercial description on most retail website describes it as not having as much whoa , Robin says she laughs whenever she reads that description. After checking out reviews on a discussion forum of AHA's website, a lot of Arabian endurance riders were sharing their anecdotes on how well it has worked for them.

So that gives me a bit more confidence of trying it out. Hopefully, this will give me the control I need with a super strong ex-racehorse on the trail. He's a doll baby in the arena or when we're doing flatwork in the pasture, but he gets really strong when excited about the up and down of hills on a trail. I think I'll start him in this in the roundpen, then try it in a smaller paddock, then up to a larger paddock, and I'm going to have to test him at a canter or gallop to make sure that it can bring him back down to speed if that's what he decides to try to do on a trail ride.