I know many eventers are using colorful C4 belts as neck grab straps, but are they proven safe for this? I know they’re a flexible rubber belt, but is the buckle strong enough if you really need it? Stirrup leathers are thick usually with triple stitching at a heavy SS buckle meant to carry a rider’s weight. Just looking for reassurance and/or if C4 endorses this use?
C4 would have to be crazy to endorse using a garment strength belt for any type of safety related equine purpose.
They are not advertised as neck straps or as a piece of safety equipment for riding. You should always use whatever piece of safety equipment that makes you feel safest. I would not worry about what others do.
Why would one every think of asking a BELT company to endorse it as a safety device? Unless it was being marketed as a chastity belt? 
Or pay for it to be so?
Whether you use it or not is up to you…but to ask if there is an endorsement is a very odd question, and that’s coming from me.
If you are concerned, I would stick with a stirrup strap, a new one, as at least that is designed to take BODY weight, but on the flip side, think how many of those have broken?
Why would one every think of asking a BELT company to endorse it as a safety device? Unless it was being marketed as a chastity belt?
Huh?? I don’t think I asked any sexual/religious morals re: the C4.
Whether you use it or not is up to you…but to ask if there is an endorsement is a very odd question, and that’s coming from me.
Well, I don’t know who you are, but I was asking around as this seems to be a popular use for these belts. I use a leather grab strap, so obviously I know it’s up to me whether I want to use a C4 belt…that’s what I’m asking other’s who’ve actually used it. But thanks anyway…
Thanks to the others who posted their common sense based opinions! Think I’ll stick with what I’ve got.
I had a friend braid me an awesome grab strap out of 550 cord, in my colors. It’s a tiny bit wider and thicker than a stirrup leather and has a leather “fuse” just in case, for the freak chance the horse would hang a leg in it or something. I love it!
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[QUOTE=cnvh;8559716]
I had a friend braid me an awesome grab strap out of 550 cord, in my colors. It’s a tiny bit wider and thicker than a stirrup leather and has a leather “fuse” just in case, for the freak chance the horse would hang a leg in it or something. I love it![/QUOTE]
Ohhh, do you have pictures? Does your friend want to start a new business?!?
What do you mean by safe? If I were to use one (and I use the mane, thanks), I’d WANT one that broke pretty easily. Someone locally had a very bad fall after her horse put his head down, stuck a foot through his neck strap, and flipped. She’s no beginner, either.
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I’m with Saskatoonian…I think I"d want a neckstrap to break in case of an emergency.
Can I just say that I don’t get the C4 craze at all? Not as neckstraps, but just as belts? It seems overpriced for a cheap-feeling plastic belt with plastic buckle. I know they are “the rage” with colors and whatnot…but at the risk of sounding like a traditional curmudgeon, I’ll stick with a simple leather belt and brass or stainless buckle, thanks. (Does it count that I admit to using a spare stirrup leather as a belt at a PC Rally?)
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[QUOTE=talkofthetown;8559766]
Ohhh, do you have pictures? Does your friend want to start a new business?!?[/QUOTE]
I looked through my photos and can’t find one… I’ll try to remember to take one when I’m out at the barn this weekend.
Yeah, I don’t see the need for a neck strap to be all that heavy duty. It’s not a seat belt that needs to withstand a high impact collision! Your hands will release it long before this becomes a huge issue. But I don’t really want one to be stretchy.
that said I am not a fan of bright colored neck straps…I prefer discretion in my Hail Mary safety devices. “LOOK, I’VE GOT A NAUGHTY PONY!” was never on the top of my list of things I love to advertise to the world, as much as I love neck straps.
I don’t see the need to waste a new stirrup leather on this. I have a set of old 3/4 inch stirrup leathers that are perfect neck straps, they aren’t so thick.
I don’t think it’s realistic to expect a plastic belt to be as strong as well made stirrup leather. That said, I think you’d have to be pulling REALLY REALLY HARD to break a neckstrap.
I like my C4’s. I like the little touch of color, they’re economical, I get to direct some of my purchase money to a good cause, they’re very easy to clean, and even easier to size. Of course, I almost never grab onto the neck strap… more often it’s a reminder of where my hands (that like to creep down into my lap if given their druthers) need to stay. If I really wanted something heavy duty I’d be more inclined to buy a leather neck strap or use a stirrup leather. Nylon for a neckstrap scares me specifically because I’m afraid it wouldn’t break if something happened and the horse or rider ended up tangled in it.
So are you saying that all of WFP’s horses are “NAUGHTY PONIES” or just that it’s okay to use a neckstrap as long as you can’t see it?
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AJ I am with you - don’t get it either.
I have seen a lot of neckstraps incorrectly buckled around the neck and to be honest a lot of people who SHOULD use them actually don’t when they are in the air over a jump. The reins just are EASIER to hang onto (gaugghhhhhhhh).
I’m an experienced, older rider who’s returning to eventing after a loong hiatus. I mainly use my neck strap as a tactile reminder to not pull my hands. Also, I’m bringing up a young horse, and I never want to punish her mouth if I make an error. I see it indicating respect for the horse - not a sign of a naughty one!
After seeing so many upper level riders at Rolex using neck straps last year, I see no shame in it. While I don’t see myself ever putting my whopping 100 lbs force against it, I just wanted to hear what people think of C4s cuz I thought it might be fun. My 3/4 TB doesn’t have much mane to grab. I was a bit leery of the plastic buckle.
I keep my neckstrap connected to the martingale so if my horse puts her head down, it won’t slip down.
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[QUOTE=Lusoluv;8560595]
I’m an experienced, older rider who’s returning to eventing after a loong hiatus. I mainly use my neck strap as a tactile reminder to not pull my hands. Also, I’m bringing up a young horse, and I never want to punish her mouth if I make an error. I see it indicating respect for the horse - not a sign of a naughty one!
After seeing so many upper level riders at Rolex using neck straps last year, I see no shame in it. While I don’t see myself ever putting my whopping 100 lbs force against it, I just wanted to hear what people think of C4s cuz I thought it might be fun. My 3/4 TB doesn’t have much mane to grab. I was a bit leery of the plastic buckle.
I keep my neckstrap connected to the martingale so if my horse puts her head down, it won’t slip down.[/QUOTE]
I don’t have a C4 or stirrup leather neckstrap solely because I want to be able to loop just one or two fingers through it instead of grabbing it with my whole hand. Mine is a thin strap about the width of a flash noseband strap, I bought it from an amish saddler eons ago - but it’s small enough not to get caught on anything and it would break easily if it needed to, and I can easily just catch it with my two middle fingers if I need it.
I used a C4 as a neckstrap for a while (it was free and the right color). I grabbed it only once, during an “oh s***” moment where I had lost my reins in a coffin combination… and ripped it right off my horse’s neck! It broke at the plastic buckle, and while C4 replaced the buckle for free, I use a leather neckstrap now.
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I use an elastic leg strap off of my horse’s cooler. He is very green and prone to catleaping, so I just hold on to it like a curb rein while I’m riding at the moment. It has enough give that it doesn’t really hinder me but it keeps my hands down if he shoots off or tries to leap. I’ve never seen anyone use a C4 for a neckstrap but that just seems like a bad idea to me. I’ve broken buckles by accidentally stepping on them while taking my breeches off. As far as belts go though, the C4 is the most comfortable one I’ve ever had.
[QUOTE=Equisis;8560881]
I used a C4 as a neckstrap for a while (it was free and the right color). I grabbed it only once, during an “oh s***” moment where I had lost my reins in a coffin combination… and ripped it right off my horse’s neck! It broke at the plastic buckle, and while C4 replaced the buckle for free, I use a leather neckstrap now.[/QUOTE]
Good to know. I was thinking of ordering one to use as a neckstrap to match my belt. I will stick to my Bartville harness one!
My first thought was that it might not be strong enough to hold you if you really hauled on it, in which case it would be dangerous - when it let go, you’d go flying because you were balancing on it.
There’s a big difference in the amount of pressure a rider can exert in an oh-shit moment, and the amount a horse can put on it should they get stuck in it. You’d want it to break under that pressure, but not just with the rider.
I find it totally depends on the horse as to what I need for a handle - for some, a breastplate strap is in the right place, for others, that’s way too low and a neck strap is the right choice. Sometimes your martingale works. No shame in needing to grab something once in a while to keep from hauling on his mouth.
But whatever you use, don’t let it slide down the horse’s neck if he puts his head down. Unless it’s a C4 belt which would break if he stepped on it…
