Question on yokes/bibs.
Now, my background is hunter/jumper & stb’s, so please excuse the intro questions.
Why are yokes/bibs used instead of running martingales? Is it a safety reason?
I think you are not allowed to race a horse in one(?). Why is that?
Thanks so much.
Yes, it’s for safety. It’s way too easy for a horse to get a martingale strap caught in his mouth. Also they can help a little with steering.
You seldom race in anything that might be restricting so no one would want to race in one.
The yokes are closed to keep a horse (usually a baby) from grabbing one with their mouths and getting caught in it. At least that’s what I’ve been told. 
I think a yoke is the same as a running martingale function wise it is just configured a little differently.
Also a yoke/bib during a race would give a rider more of a means to change the outcome of the race, as he/she would be able to much more easily pull the horse back.
During a race, a horse needs more freedom with his head than the martingale will give him, thus they are not used when racing. They are also usually removed for timed workouts in training as well. Only used for galloping.
Besides the risk of getting caught up in a regular running martingale, the bib attachment gives the feel of an irish martingale as well as a regular running martingale, which can be useful in training.
The yoke is the neck strap/girth strap part; the bib, or running, or split, or standing, or drawreins, or whatever, is what you attach to it. I ride just about everything in a breastplate (foxhunters etc.) but a yoke works just as well (as a handhold/grabstrap!)
The bib, which is the triangle the rings are on, clips onto the yoke (neck loop and piece that goes to the girth) because it needs to be easily removable from a morning bridle (ie timed works as NancyM said). Also, the saddle and yoke go on at the same time when tacking up in the morning, but the bridle may not go on for several minutes while the horse stands tied by the halter.
We, and many others with speed horses or horses that leap out of the gate, do sometimes put a loop of leather around their necks for racing. It gives the riders something to hold rather than their heads at the break.
The bib martingale is something that is used to save my butt on a regular basis. 
Thanks all. Appreciated.
I have a yoke (without the bib attachment) I put on Lucky if I’m going to gallop him or if I’m going to work on jumping.
I refer to it as my “Oh sh*t bar”. 
Rarely do I need it, but I’d rather grab it than his mouth if I do.
I noticed some of the jumpers at WIHS wearing bibs…interesting, and have never noticed that before (and I come from a H/J background).
Now, you say you all can grab it if you get into trouble for some stabilization. I never found straps stabilizing as they move. I grab mane as it doesn’t move much. There is a good bit of slack in the yoke, no, and it just gets lifted up?
Someone please explain. Tx.
[QUOTE=danceronice;5937639]
I have a yoke (without the bib attachment) I put on Lucky if I’m going to gallop him or if I’m going to work on jumping.
I refer to it as my “Oh sh*t bar”. Rarely do I need it, but I’d rather grab it than his mouth if I do.[/QUOTE]
LOL the yoke was reffered to as “the chicken strap” by my chinese friend/fellow trainer. Earnestly. Someone had told him that was what it was called. And indeed, it is called that by some. But he was so earnest when he spoke about the chicken strap. He was not a rider himself. Coming from a h/j background previous to the racetrack, I had never heard it called that before, just the yoke. But indeed, it can be used as a chicken strap, the strap you can grab hold of if you are “chicken”. I prefer the mane myself for most circumstances like this. But it all depends on how you were brought up I think.
My chinese trainer friend was killed by one of his horses in Macau years ago now. He was a sweet guy, very funny. I miss him.
'Can’t speak for the others, but I use a hunting breastplate on all my OTTBs because they seem to know to steady/slow down if I pull back on it. Grabbing mane doesn’t have that effect.
The difference between grabbing the yoke or mane is this… the yoke you can hold in your hand along with the rein, the mane, not so much. You can tighten up the yoke so that there is only an inch or so of give, and it can save your butt big time!
I galloped horses for a very long time, in my early years I never touched the yoke, untill a very wise and much better gallop boy asked me why…I was always worried about getting hung up in it if something bad happened. He showed me how to slip one finger through it, and darned if he wasnt right. Helped me alot on some bad horses that made a game of wanting to go everywhere but forward!
LOL, Lucky’s mane is roached. If I really need to grab something other than slam him in the mouth, I don’t have a lot of options.
I always galloped with a finger in the yoke. Kept it tight enough to just be able to easily slip a finger or two in. Saved me several times but one memorable morning at Timonium when both my feet were on the same side of the horse.
I know a paralyzed former jockey/foxhunter that swears if he had had a finger through the yoke the morning he was slammed into a tree, he would have stayed on.
I get it now. Thanks so very much !
[QUOTE=rustbreeches;5939435]
I know a paralyzed former jockey/foxhunter that swears if he had had a finger through the yoke the morning he was slammed into a tree, he would have stayed on.[/QUOTE]
(A bit off topic) Bay is a brilliant man. Love him to death. He’s the one who taught me to put two fingers through the yoke when I went on my first ride with him. I use that out hunting as well as when I gallop. He yelled at me and told me to grab on to the yoke as we were going down to jump my first coop. I thought I was following a mad man, but he’s taught me lots in the years since. He still maintains the above about his accident.
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