Can we please talk about (okay, well, you guys talk, and I’ll listen) about the when & why of cruppers with harness?
Keeps the saddle from sliding forward onto the shoulders when a vehicle is being stopped or going downhill. Also keep the backstrap in place by holding it directly along the spine so that your breaching is equal on both sides of the hindquarters. It should never be tight when not employed, but should normally rest about 1/4 - 1/2" below the tail bone when the horse/pony is pulling the vehicle forward.
Yes, it is an important, integral part of a driving harness.
Keeps the saddle from sliding forward onto the shoulders. Also keep the backstrap in place by holding it directly along the spine so that your breaching is equal on both sides of the hindquarters.
I agree with GoTheDistance, but you will see people that do not use it, and these people are advanced and skilled drivers, (usually multiples pairs and 4 in hands) not using breeching, or backstraps/cruppers.
They are using carriages with rear and front brakes. This is why they can get away without these pieces of harness.
just so you know
Cruppers must be kept scrupuliousl clean for the comfort of your horse. Many a horse has had hot scalds under the tail on that sensitive bald skin due to a too tight, chafing, filthy crupper. Keep the leather on the crupper clean and very perfectly conditioned so that it is supple and comfy for your horse.
Make sure the crupper fits your horse. Some cruppers have an hourglass type shape that is very uncomfy around the rather fat tail bone of big butted equines. I have found that the cheap nylon harness cruppers are the most abbrassive and least forgiving material for cruppers.
When in training use, one can wrap soft cloth such as an old track bandage or ace bandage around the crupper for extra padding and comfort to the horse. This is easily removed and washed frequently. Watch though, as too much padding can make a crupper not seat properly under and around the base of the tail, allowing the fractious horse to buck and dislodge the crupper easily.
I prefer a crupper with buckles over one that must be threaded up the tail. I find the closed crupper more dificult to use. It tends to catch the fine side hairs moreso than the buckle ones.
Always inspect the underside of the tail visually after every drive. Chafing happens quickly and without care can cause a panicked and pained horse to bolt, buck and cause a terrible wreck. All because todays crupper is rubbing yesterdays scabs.
Thanks, all.
So are there certain styles of harness that generally don’t have cruppers, or is their use a personal choice?
Does the style of the breeching determine whether or not a crupper should be used?
Harness in the USA comes with cruppers, but you can choose to take them off if you like. Offhand, I can’t think of any competitive CDE folks not using cruppers in Multiples, which are most often the people not using breeching.
Draft folks use harness with an arrangement called a “Spider”, to support the breeching. They may not have a crupper on that set up. Some of the common docked tails on Drafts don’t stay in a crupper well. Spider is a ring on the top of the hips, with straps coming down to the breeching to hold it up. I have heard Spiders can move around too much, get uneven, with no crupper to hold it in place with the backstrap.
CDE Multiples often go without breeching because their vehicles have brakes to stop them. Horses are not the only way to halt the vehicle. No breeching allows freer movement when going for the “wow” in Dressage.
I think the crupper holds the harness saddle in place better, keeps things more stable. Harness is a system, where each part depends on other parts to prevent or limit movement, allow horse to control his load. When you start removing parts, then the WHOLE system changes. You lose the control horse has with fixed harness parts. I can see the harness saddle moving around A LOT with no crupper. Depending on what you do as a driving activity, that could hurt you. Saddle could turn over, slide sideways in a cart, with one wheel dropping sharply, to pull shaft down, with no crupper to help saddle stay in place. I would think no crupper would be VERY dangerous in a 4-wheeler with independent shafts. Nothing to resist that saddle turning, same reason sliding back band is unsafe on independent shafts! No stop to the movement. You have removed the “stopping/holding” feature with no crupper.
Saddle might do a lot MORE forward and back, rocking or moving with a cart, trying to hold the load back for stops or turns.
With the current driving harness designs, removing the crupper just doesn’t seem like a good idea.
We may take the breeching off our Multiples, but the cruppers stay on. I wouldn’t consider taking the crupper off a single horse for driving. Plus you have lost the solid backstrap anchor for your breeching support.
Unless I found a very different style of harness, saw unique ideas from another nation perhaps, the cruppers will be staying on in our harness uses for driving.
[QUOTE=goodhors;6258544]
Draft folks use harness with an arrangement called a “Spider”, to support the breeching. They may not have a crupper on that set up. Some of the common docked tails on Drafts don’t stay in a crupper well. Spider is a ring on the top of the hips, with straps coming down to the breeching to hold it up. I have heard Spiders can move around too much, get uneven, with no crupper to hold it in place with the backstrap.[/QUOTE]
That’s what Clinic Guy uses on his drafts.
I did notice at one point that one had slipped to the side a bit, but for the most part, they stayed in place. Then again, all we were doing was walking/trotting along the roads.
Thanks for the explanation.
