The first I ever started I rode in a traditional Californio bosal with that extra (on mine soft cotton) long lead goody that went to the saddle. It's the only time I've ever used one and the whole process actually went beautifully. I never did put her in a bit. I think probably for a beginning trainer it was a good choice.
As for not riding gaited horses in a hackamore, the one we use has a soft biothane piece over the nose and very short s-curved shanks, so it's not the awful Western roping type hackamore. No one knew to tell me it wouldn't work on gaited horses. Hunter does his entire range of gaits, whatever the heck they are. We tried several mild bits on him. He was never happy in anything. He became much less fussy in every way after we threw the bit back in the tackroom. Nancy
