The Mission of Sierra Horse Halter is to see an end to old and hurtful methods of training, and in turn create a cooperative, and trust building experience both horse and handler can enjoy. We seek to provide each trainer, handler, and rider with the tool to effectively communicate with their horse, ultimately reigniting the ancient bond between human and horse.
Our Story
Experience and Necessity.
These are the two words that describe how the Sierra Horse Halter came to be. However, the true origins of the SHH begin in 1965 Colombia. Our founder, Alberto Sierra at the age of 10 begins learning the 3 generations of horse training knowledge from his grand father. At this moment he begins truly understanding the intricacies and wonders held within the equine mind.
Fast forward 10 years and Alberto has become one of the most renowned Paso Fino Horse trainers in all of Colombia. Through his multiple Fuera de Concurso championship victories he demonstrated a special knowledge and understanding of equine training. In the following years this ability and success would bring him to the United States to be among the first individuals to introduce the Paso Fino breed to the country.
While in the United States, Alberto found himself with the opportunity to purchase the largest Paso Fino breeding and training program in the country at the time. 350 horses with 50 mares expecting to foal resulted in a 400 head purchase forcing Alberto to move his family and his life to the US permanently. It was this opportunity that would lead Alberto the defining moment which would result in the Sierra Horse Halter.
These 400, largely untrained horses, presented a challenge to Alberto. How do you train hundreds of horse without taking months at a time on each individual once? This question remained in his head as he started the grueling process of training each individual horse.
One stallion presented particular difficulty. The horse would rear and pull back aggressively and dangerously, each time risking injury from all his weight resting on his poll. In an attempt to solve this, Alberto tied a stronger, safer rope with a non-sliding knot around the horses neck. Surprisingly, after attempting to pull back one more time, the stallion stopped. After days of investigation, Alberto found that the pressure on the horse poll was causing him pain, and the resulting fear manifested itself as panicked rearing. Furthermore, the resulting pressure transferred from the poll to the mid neck, where the weight is more evenly distributed. This provided a balance for the horse. A balance between enough resistance to prompt cooperation from the horse and gentle handling communicating that trusting the handler was much more comfortable and enjoyable.
From this point forward, Alberto used this new found discovery to perfect his training technique. However, he still pondered in the back of his mind if this discovery could be improved. As the years moved on, he and his now older son tinkered with ideas on how to implement this discovery. It wasn’t until a 2010 summer evening where the break through happened.
The evening before a horse show, Alberto’s son, Daniel was no where to be found. When he went to look for him, Alberto found him in the stalls with one of the stallions on the property. On the stallions head was a pieced together halter. Daniel had found a way for the lead rope of the halter to redirect pressure exerted into the horses neck, and to a lesser extend its nose. Simultaniously this design released all pressure from the poll.
Alberto saw the benefits of the design, and in the following weeks he perfected it. Using knot tying techniques taught to him by his father, he was able to make the halter out of a single length of rope. He then perfect the measurements used to optimize the pressure/release balance that the halter manages. He then finalized the design by adding safety features to the halter to give each handler piece of mind.
This is the starting point of the beloved Sierra Horse Halter that has been used by trainers, owners, and handlers all around the world. Today it is manufactured using premium quality materials, and are still all made by hand. We at Sierra Horse Halter aim to deliver this tool to every horse lover out there. We truly believe it can change the world of horse training and create a more intimate bond between human and horse.
