Re: [RC] Using breast collars on flat trails... - Heidi Smith
>I still ride with a bit and I still use a breast
plate.
Again, my response was to someone who condemned those who
don't. I don't mean to pick on anyone for using one--was just pointing out
that they can get you into as much trouble as they can get you out of, so it is
a personal call.
But with ALL items of tack, I think a rider SHOULD
ask themselves, WHY do I use this, what does it do for me, and do the benefits
outweigh the risks. It's like anything else you do--you SHOULD ask
yourself those two questions. If you ride a round-bodied horse, or a horse
with poor withers, or a shad-bellied horse, the benefits of a breast collar
outweigh the risks, and one should choose accordingly. If all other
aspects of the back, body, and saddle are in order, at least IMO, the risks
outweigh the benefits, so I choose accordingly.
It's kinda like vaccinations. All
vaccinations have risks. When one vaccinates for a disease that is
prevalent in one's area, the risk of the disease usually far outweighs the risk
of the vaccine, so the benefit of prevention outweighs the risk. Unless
your horse is allergic to the vaccine--then the risk outweighs the
benefit. If you asked me to vaccinate my horse in Idaho for African Horse
Sickness, I'd say heck, no--there is no risk here, so the risk of vaccination
clearly outweighs any benefit I could derive from vaccinating for it.
WNV? Yeah, most places in the continental US, the benefit likely outweighs
the risk. If you lived in a completely mosquitoless environment, then
heck no!
But you should ask yourself this with EVERY piece
of tack that goes on your horse. Does the benefit of a saddle outweigh the
risk? In my case, indubitably! I haven't the balance anymore to
stay on reliably bareback, and I get a heat rash from the horse
sweat. Does the benefit of a breast collar outweigh the risk? Not on
the horse I'm riding at the moment--there is no conceivable benefit from one, so
the risk factor (however small) is the only thing that remains. OTOH, I've
recommended breast collars to people in cases where one would likely solve a
problem. But again, the only reason I replied to this thread in the first
place was not to preach about the evils of breast collars--it was to respond to
the concept that those of us who don't happen to use them on particular horses
where there is nothing to be gained from one are somehow causing some major
safety faux pas. I heartily disagree, and point out the risks only to
illustrate the tradeoff.
