Re: Scissors snaps opening unexpectedly

["April" <adlee@bigfoot.com>]

Hi, Cindy,

  I refuse to use scissors snaps anymore.  I thought they'd be a great idea,
so I bought several and fitted my reins with them.  Last week, at Pigeon
Mtn, some friends and I went on a pre-ride ride (Longstreet's Charge was the
next day).  Well, I used my blue bridle with scissors snaps and after the
headstall fell off (unrelated to scissors snaps), I figured my troubles with
tack were over for the day.  Not so.  As I pulled back on the reins to stop
my horse for some reason, I found my left rein dangling merrily from my
hand.  Fortunately we were just walking so I turned Apache in circles for a
min until he stood still.  The scissors snap had not just come undone, it
had broken.  No more scissors snaps for me.  I didn't even put that much
pressure on the thing. Imagine if I'd used that bridle on the ride?  My
horse is good, but at a canter,  sudden release of all pressure results in a
full-out uncontrollable gallop until he tires.  Fortunately, I had a better
black bridle with no snaps and little danger of the headstall coming off
that I used for the actual ride.

What I would like to have are bolt snaps with a square eye suitable for use
with reins, but I haven't seen any of those.  If anybody runs across some,
let me know, I'd love to have several.

Anyway, my point being, that scissors snaps aren't the safest snaps you can
use.   They open too easily and some can break too easily. I'd advise going
with bolt snaps if you can find some that you like that aren't too heavy.  I
don't like the idea of too heavy snaps pulling on my horse's mouth.

April & Apache
Chattanooga, TN

----- Original Message -----
From: C Eyler <eyler@mindspring.com>


> My horse sweats freely, and if he gets the chance, he'll rub his muzzle on
> his foreleg.  Today I ended up with only one end of my reins attached, and
> I *think* that somehow he'd opened the scissors snap while he was rubbing.
>
> Started me thinking that perhaps the same thing could happen if the snap
> got snagged on vegetation.  Very scary thought.
>
> Short of taping the whole thing up with duct tape, how do I make sure that
> a scissors snap stays closed until I open it?  Or do I just replace the
> scissors snaps with bolt snaps?



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