Breastplates affect jump trajectory

[vineyridge]

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/…h-finds-644546

Granted the research was done by a tack manufacturer and probably not to demanding standards as far as variable control, but is interesting anyhow. They used a very fast action camera and took photographs of the horses jumping with and without breastplates, using very experienced and good riders. I’d sort of like to see the same thing done with free jumping, but they may be onto something. It is also promotion for an upcoming breastplate introduction by the tack company.

Still. . .

[Equibrit]

To be precise; the tack manufacturer commissioned the study to be done by an independent research firm. They then took the results and designed a breatsplate. What is illegitimate about that ?

[Feliz]

That is a really interesting study. I’m pleased that I already own (& love) this breastplate which looks like it provides the same effect: https://www.ffequestrian.com.au/breastplates/modified-bridge-breastplate-black.html

I chose it because I thought it looked like the design that was most likely to not restrict the shoulders

[snowrider]

Very interesting study and something I’ve always suspected, thanks for posting it!

[poltroon]

This is a pretty cool effort. I’m excited about people bringing science into horse equipment.

[Heinz_57]

Hmm. Looks basically like a breast collar attached to the girth instead of the dees, with a wither strap added over the top. Similar to a tripping collar in the western world.

I would assume a running martingale isn’t compatible unless you add a strap to the girth (which would cause the shoulder blockage discussed in the study!) to anchor it.

[Outyougo]

I use the Flexible Fit bridge breast plate. Fits well. I attach to d-rings on my girth and also use strap to girth. The positioning of the “bridge” is in front of withers allows for convient grab strap over drops.

[Blugal]

£260… everything Fairfax is expensive. But if your horse jumped cleaner, maybe worth it?

[JER]

Looking at that expensive bit of leather, I have my doubts that it actually helps keep the saddle in place.

When I used to hunt, the collar-type breast things seemed to do a good job of holding onto the girth but had little - if any - effect on the saddle.

[Mango20]

I’m not too surprised at the findings - it makes sense that a strap across the shoulders would limit movement somewhat (and I think it would probably vary from horse to horse as far as how much they are bothered by it or just push through it).
How many actually NEED a breastplate? Have your saddles actually slipped?

[retreadeventer]

I cringe when I see greenies out XC schooling without a breastplate, or breaststrap, or neck strap of some sort, because i’ts CROSS COUNTRY, you go up and down the hills and your horse jumps up and down banks, across ditches, over obstacles and drops, etc. Saddles that fit in a nice flat arena are suddenly sliding back or sideways when your horse moves on cross country. A rider needs to have a saddle stay on the horse’s back in the center of their balance whereever the heck that is and its different for every horse and sometimes different from start to finish depending upon the horse. At Fair Hill, we have to hack down and up a short trail to get to XC field. I cannot tell you how many times I have been on that trail with people who should know better, i.e., professionals and not riding the horse Novice either, with no breastplate or collar of any kind and as they descend the trail the saddle is on the wither and as they climb the hill on the other side of the crick, the saddle slips back and there they are, top of the hill, as they get into the field, having to get off and hold a goofy horse looking at all the activity in the field, adjusting the saddle and pads which have slipped back to the flanks…I saw this study and thought it was great initially, but I think they were jumping big jumps and if you took a look at the big name riders they were using it was all about high levels. I don’t think the study means much to anyone jumping under 3’ . And I wish it would not stop people from using breastplates/collars at the lower levels because folks you NEED one.

[Janet]

I cringe when I see greenies out XC schooling without a breastplate, or breaststrap, or neck strap of some sort,

Depends on the horse.

I rarely use a breastplate, unless I need a martingale, and have NOT had a problem with the saddle slipping. I think I had ONE horse (back in the early 80s) that needed a breastplate to keep the saddle from slipping.

[Mango20]

I don’t have a breastplate on my Training level horse, and the saddle has never slipped at all. I do routinely tighten the girth more after mounting, which I don’t see a whole lot of people do these days. I didn’t use one on the horse before that, either.

[vineyridge]

I don’t see why a breastplate is needed at all if the saddle fits well, and the girth is tight. I foxhunted for many years with no breastplate, and my saddle never slipped if I remembered to tighten it. Horses will blow up when the girth is first put on, and it may need two or three or even more tightenings before it’s right.

I always used a neck strap, though. And I rarely had to drop into water.

[sherian]

my neck strap clips back to the breastplate (keeps it from sliding forward or spinning)

[vineyridge]

@sherian

my neck strap clips back to the breastplate (keeps it from sliding forward or spinning)

My hunting saddle had D rings on both sides, and I used baling twine to tie the neck strap to them. My neck strap was an old stirrup leather.

[Jealoushe]

Fascinating. I always have hoped they track what tack horses were wearing in falls…this looks like something to make note of.

[kt-rose]

Very interesting! My young TB jumped better and dropped a lot fewer rails this past year when his rider removed his breastplate for show jumping. Did not seem to affect him so much XC as his easy gallop led to an almost always excellent effort. But in the SJ ring it made the difference and resulted in a number of primary colored ribbons !

[subk]

Interesting concept, but I’m not impressed at all with the photo evidence they show in the article. They have the horse at the same take off position in both photos, but if you will look at the rider he is definitely in a different position in the two photos as it relates to loading the shoulders.

A few years ago Wofford after Rolex went back and studied all the XC video available and found that when a rider waits a nano second longer with his upper body at take off (as exampled by the best European riders at the event) that the horses were able to bring both front legs up together to the top of the bascule, whereas when the rider moves slightly sooner (as was exampled by the American riders) the horse brings up one leg slightly following the other. The point being that minuscule differences in upper body position in the moment of takeoff can have significant and noticeable impact on how the horse uses his forearms. If you don’t adjust for that I don’t see how you can determine other outside interference to the shoulders.

[Blugal]

It wasn’t a blind study - riders knew when a breastplate was worn and when it wasn’t.