I have a pair of beta reins for my bridle and I love the feel of them - heavy, soft, grippy. I’m concerned though because if my horse and I part ways and the reins fly under him they won’t break, right? I was wondering if I could find a cheap thin leather dog collar and cut it to a couple inches and punch a hole and then use that in between where they buckle together, is that a good idea? Do they already make a ‘safety fuse’ type of thing for them? Anyone ever had an issue?
I won’t use them because of this issue.
I would think that the fuse needs to be at the bit end, since the bit is what would do the damage in case of an accident. If the horse steps on the reins, the fuse at the buckle won’t do a thing…
Ack, true… I hadn’t actually considered that 
Years ago there was a story that went around about an endurance horse with a biothane bridle and reins drowning because he got caught with his head down in water with unbreakable equipment. I don’t really know if it is true, but riding horses in things that don’t break doesn’t seem like a very good idea to me.
If it has buckles it would not stress me, but personally I’ve never gotten the panic about nylon halters either. A rope halter is unbreakable, but a web halter or a bridle made from tough material still has 5 cent Chinese made metal buckles at each join. Those things break pretty easily.
I’d add an Irish martingale before I messed around with bits of dog collar.
Comparing nylon halter to a nylon bridle/reins is not an equitable comparison. One is connected to a metal bar in a mouth. One is not.
It has chicago screws on the bit ends, not buckles.
You could make up a couple slobber straps out of some scrap leather.
I know, but it kinda takes all the fun out of it to have to put slobber straps on english reins. Guess I’ll just buy some leather ones :sigh:
Anybody reasonably handy with a knife and a leather punch should be able to throw together a set of safety fuses for you out of a scrap of leather. Added bonus, if you get a scrap of tooling leather to use you could even dye them to match your Biothane tack and you’d never even know they were there unless you were looking for them.
The small brass clips are the solution. They will break.
I have beta driving harness and I can assure you that it can tear and break.
AHA! Thank you katarine!
[QUOTE=katarine;7600791]
The small brass clips are the solution. They will break.[/QUOTE]
they also come apart easier than you think! Was in a creek watering my horse at a ride, when I heard a group coming. Wanted to get going before the group showed up. My horse was sweaty and vigorously scratching his face on his legs; when I asked him to exit the water we came up with no reins. He had rubbed them both hard enough to make the scissor snaps come open. A woohoo moment when I saw my reins hanging by my feet as he trotted out of the water!
i think the slobber/ fuse idea is brilliant!
I don’t like the scissors for that reason.
http://www.buckleguy.com/3001a-1-2-natural-brass-swivel-bolt-snap-solid-brass/
Ok my horse got his biothane bridle caught on a no freeze water pipe while getting a drink from a bucket . He jerked his head up and the 5 foot pipe came shooting out of the groundcaght on the bridle. The biothane bridle DID NOT BRAKE and it was ten yrs old. Luckily he is a sane boy and just stood there while i got off and took the bridle off and threw it away.
Trainer friend also had bad wreck with biothene harness.
I have a biothane bridle with brass hardware. I’ve watched him break brass hardware on a leather halter before so the bridle does have multiple fail points in it. The reins have scissor snaps that do pop off if they get yanked on (he’s stepped on them a couple times and jerked his head up and they’ve popped off). I assume they’re also breakable as they’re cheap stainless. I’ve never had him rub them off and he’s a huge face rubber when its hot. Even if he did undo one or both, I’m not that worried about it with him. I probably wouldn’t use them on my old mare, as she’s kind of a bolty lunatic, but the worst thing my gelding will do is either keep up with our group on the trail or wander to the nearest patch of grass.
I don’t attach them directly to the bit or sidepull rings (he’s normally bitless on trails) because of the unbreakable factor, but with the scissor snaps as a fail point, I’m less worried about it. Furthermore, the bit is attached to the bridle with brass snaps clipped to brass D’s and the sidepull rings are brass so there are multiple fail points if he gets tangled up in the reins.
I use a leather turnout halter and it’s always the hardware that breaks, not the leather. So I ride with biothane reins and don’t worry too much.
Do your reins buckle ? If so, get a leather shoelace. Remove the little metal tongue in the buckle (either cut it with wire nippers or bend the loop to pull it off). Then feed the end of the rein through the buckle, and wrap the leather lace in a figure 8 on either side of the buckle and tie off close. This will pop with enough pressure. You will need to check and replace this pretty often.
[QUOTE=Mosey_2003;7600650]
It has chicago screws on the bit ends, not buckles.[/QUOTE]
What about replacing the chicago screws with some leather ties like they use on some western bridles? That way the leather tie would break (and it will break easier than a brass snap!) and you won’t have the same dangers that you have with snaps (horse rubbing head and getting stuck to something etc). And if the leather did break, it would be very easy to replace.
I am thinking something like this:
www.rods.com/schutz-brothers-5-8-x-8-waterloop-reins.html
Could you just make some waterloops? They are the small leather loop that attaches the bit to the rein.
