From all of the research I did when purchasing a harness for my draft mare, I came away with a very strong push that a properly fitted collar and hames style harness is superior to a breast collar type harness. But now that I am looking into starting CDEs with my large pony, I see that at all levels of competition, from local to international, super-v style collars are by far the most common in marathon. Why is this? Are the super-Vs actually superior to a full collar with the light carriage and speed events?
I’ll give my limited opinion and then the experts can step in here- collars are expensive, and need to be fitted REALLY carefully to avoid any long term issues. They also aren’t as common in some carriage driving cultures (places in Europe). Breastplate style harness is more easily fit to a wider range of horses, less expensive to produce, and for a moderate to light load plenty adequate for the horse to pull comfortably.
It’s actually a little funny, because in CDE (which includes 3 phases, of course) you may be very likely to see collar & hames in use during dressage & cones, but not on marathon, when usually they switch to breast collar.
Even though “technically” the collar would give more surface area to push again, thus making pulling the marathon carriage and people in it along easier, thus maybe making faster times, most people go with the breast collar.
I’m sure it’s due to fit issues, and that a full collar really isn’t going to be as forgiving during the twists & turns of marathon. Maybe people at the lower level can get away with it, but in upper levels, or with doing multiples, just not as forgiving.
I personally have a Euro-collar and I Love it. greatest thing ever. Now I just need a marathon carriage!
[QUOTE=Myta;7470000]
Why is this? Are the super-Vs actually superior to a full collar with the light carriage and speed events?[/QUOTE]
No. The short answer is: because they are cheap(er), and thus better suited for the rough, wet, filthy, grimy, unforgiving, and sweaty phase of the competition. Any driver be more apt to throw away a breast collar from hard use, than an expensive neck collar.
That’s why you see the elegant neck collars in the less strenuous, less sweaty phases of CDEs. And why you almost always see them in pleasure shows when one wants to look REALLY good.
The neck collar is superior for distributing the weight of the pull throughout the entire neck region, and thus superior overall for the drafting of any vehicle, from cart to coach. It is, however, not a one size fits all, and must be fitted to the animal for exclusive use.
The breast collar distribution is only from the shoulder area across the front of the chest - honestly not ideal for anything beyond a light road cart or sulky. But they are cheap, easily replaced, and easy to clean, as well as fit to a variety of animals.
I would think the neck collar would be more dangerous and less forgiving if they got caught up on an obstacle, which I have seen happen
It is a lot easier to hurt a horse, using a full neck collar, than it usually is with a breastcollar. Fit of neck collar is extremely important, along with horse being used to wearing neck collars, to prevent damage to his shoulders. You can burn his shoulders in as little as 15 minutes of driving time, with longer time making MUCH more extensive damage to the horse.
We have used neck collars at times, took the long, slow “get-them-used-to-it” routine, and they were fine for whatever activity we had planned to attend. While other times the horses don’t seem to like them at all, don’t go as expected, so breastcollar is going to make them happier in work.
KEEPING the collar correctly fitted is an effort, checking horses almost daily to keep it “just right” on him. Not paying attention means horse can get sored up, burned, so he is unusable for a while to heal. We have gone thru several collar sizes per horse, when we did use them over a summer. We drive Mulitiples, so it is times 2 or 4 horses, to fit them out in this variety of neck collars. Gets DARN expensive to own so many nice collars!
I have never thought that using neck collars on Marathon would be comfortable to the horse, hard surfaces hitting horse if you should get a rub or hung up in a turn. Neck collars were originally made for straight forward, constant pull of light to heavy loads. No quick turns, changes of gait, direction, as found in Hazards. Neck collars just were not designed for this kind of usage, and I don’t think will be the best choice in harness style to do Marathon with. Uneven pull over rough ground could be quite painful as neck collar is not laying correctly in position to handle the load behind.
I personally, do not find breastcollars to be cheap, nor throw-away harness even if it gets dirty! You must know folks with bigger horse budgets than us. We usually get worn things fixed if possible, lots less expensive than new buys. We have the heavier, padded breastcollars we use for both Dressage and Cones, plus Marathon. Dress-up is leather, while the synthetic is better for Marathon because we can dump water on horses during Vet Check.
I think we are still evolving in harness design, have come a long way since the sport started. We have vehicles, material, ways of doing things that have come a long way from the original antiques and old harness designs. I have not been impressed with the Euro collar or the first Broller designs, but other folks really like them. Could be the difference in breed body styles, since my friends who tried them have horses similar to mine in style.
As mentioned, the majority of CDE Drivers use breastcollars in some form. May be straight or V-shaped, to the deep-V cut. They fit the majority of animals whatever level of fitness the horse is at right then. The folks at the highest levels can afford anything, may get donations of equipment from sponsors, so they use what works BEST for them. I am sure they would not use equipment that sored up their horses, because they can’t compete/play with sore horses. Breastcollars WORK WELL for them, so they keep using them.
Thank you! This makes sense. I was having tons of trouble figuring out why top notch competitors, who should have access to the money to get the BEST equipment for their horses (even if that means 4 collars each), weren’t using full collars in marathon when every document I could find said a well fitted collar is better for the horse. Now I know. My draft mare, that pulls mostly at a walk across paved roads can get the best out of a full collar, where as my Arabian I’d like to do more trail and marathon work with, would need something more forgiving on tight turns and quick speed changes that isn’t going to get a tree branch caught in it.
