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Re: [RC] Using breast collars on flat trails... - Dr. Liz Faletti, DC

I whole heartedly agree. Breast collars help keep the saddle in place on all
terrain.  Especially for those horses without withers.  Before I got
consistent with using my breast collar, my horse spooked big and I fell off,
got tumbled around underneath my horse, stepped on, and sent to the hospital
on a backboard.  Nothing broken.  But i remember seeing that saddle at a 45
degree angle off Meriqa's back because I hadn't tightened the girth and
didn't have a breast collar on.  That fall changed my life as I changed
careers and became a chiropractor after having chiropractic get me riding in
11 weeks!

Liz Faletti, DC
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lucie Hancock" <lbhbhnck@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 3:18 PM
Subject: [RC] Using breast collars on flat trails...


Everyone,
This is an issue that was recently brought home to me in a very personal
and profound way. I am only just finding out the full details.

Most of us use breast collars on hilly terrain. On flat land and easy
trails many of us do not use them. Well, here is one lady that has
learned the hard way to use a breast collar ALL the time.

At the Pyramid Challenge, my plans were to ride for the front. I had
prepared my horse and myself. I knew we were fit. In fact, he was so
"fit" that he bucked at the start of the 50 mile ride, and the saddle
slipped. I came off and he ran off with the saddle underneath him.
Somehow the entire stirrup leather got pulled off the saddle, so we had
to have it repaired. We ended up going out about half an hour after
everyone else. We maintained a steady pace. I knew I couldn't top ten,
but I thought we would ride at his regular "working" pace and ssee what
we could do. At the end of the third loop, with only a couple of miles
left, he quit. He suddenly decided to walk. He had not felt "off" at
all. To me he seemed to be moving just fine. He just decided to walk and
eat grass. He acted very hungry, so we slowed way down and he came in to
the third vet check already pulsed down. At the trot out for the vet, he
was a little off. They wanted me to bring him back before going out for
a re-check. Something told me to stay in camp. I've aleways advised
people to "err on the side of caution" so we did not go back out for the
last ten miles.

The end of the story is that we had travelled together for forty miles
of muddy trail with a saddle with a broken tree.No wonder he was a
little off at the third vet check....

On getting back home I took the saddle to a repair shop in Camden. The
owner of the shop told me that he could put a new tree in it if he knew
what tree to order. Instead I sent it back to the original maker of the
saddle, Marilyn Horstmeyer. She found that it was broken on both one
side and the fork. She has been able to repair it. All this could have
been avoided, IF (what a big word) I had used his breast collar. As many
years as I've been riding, I should have known better. Things happen.
It's Murphy's Law that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. So... I've
learned a valuable lesson. It is costing me the saddle repairs, and
worry over what might have gone wrong  with my horse. It is costing me
time out of the saddle waiting for the one that fits him. (He has a very
wide back) He was fine after he rested at the camp and is moving fine
now. But I am so glad I did not take him back out for that last ten
miles of trail.

I guess what I want everyone to think about is the importance of
preventing problems. We have equipment that is designed to protect us,
and our horses, and a breast collar can even protect a saddle. In my
case hindsight is better than foresight. I hope my experience can
prevent some one else from having a similar problem.
Lucie Hancock and HH Trinity


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Replies
[RC] Using breast collars on flat trails..., Lucie Hancock