I had a trainer work with my current horse, who was
supposed to be already crupper-broke. I just wanted to make sure all was
OK with the horse before I got on. I used one of my current cruppers, a
tri-fold leather tail-piece model, and the poor horse started bucking on the end
of the lunge line so violently, he did not quit for at least 5 minutes.
When the trainer finally got him settled down enough to remove it, the underside
of his tail and the either side of his anus were ripped to sheds. Poor
boy... I haven't tried one since. So far, I haven't had any saddled
slippage to the forehand and I've been lucky. I just wonder if he would do
the same violent bucking again with a soft neoprene tailpiece, just because he
had such a bad previous experience. Or would he accept a soft, non-chafing
crupper? Any thoughts?
To the person that asked about crupper training, etc. : a word of
warning. Be sure to check under your horse's tail every time you use
whatever crupper you buy. I made the mistake of buying the stiff, U
shaped one that was supposed to "mold to the shape of the horse's tail".
Not only did it not do that, but it caused bloody sores on the underside of my
mare's tail. I think it was a combo of wrong type crupper and using it
too loose so that whenever the mare would crank her tail down it would rub her
(severely). Needless to say the mare was not happy and pretty much tried
to kill me by bucking until I finally figured out she was trying to tell me
it hurt. It was a real DOH! moment for me. We now use
the type that has ultra soft neoprene around it, purchased at Moss Rock
Endurance, and adjust it snugly but with enough room so you can put a
fist under the strap when you are tacking up. Works like a charm!
