20 Harness and Tack There is considerable confusion surrounding the identification of these pieces of tack. In the British Isles and the Irish Republic, a halter is a rope that passes behind the ears and round the nose, and is also the lead rope; normally, the halter will tighten when the lead rope is pulled. A headcollar, on the other hand, is made of leather or nylon; it is like a bridle but without headband or bit. There are other more sophisticated headcollars designed to train the horse to accept commands when being led. Foals can be trained from the first day of life by fitting a ‘foal slip’, which is usually made of leather and fits closely around the head. As the foal will be growing rapidly it should be constantly adjusted so that it is never too tight. Halters, by their design, always have a length of rope to assist the handler but headcollars do not, and so should always have a lead rope attached whenever the horse is being handled. The horse must never be allowed to get away from the handler but it can, if nervous, be given some headroom before being brought back under control. Although normally used to exert more control on the horse and sometimes very sophisticated, in reality the bridle is quite simple. It consists of a ‘headpiece’ that goes over the poll behind the ears, and has two parts: one runs under the throat to buckle on to the opposite side, and is called the throat latch (this stops the bridle slipping off the front of the head); the other is attached to two lower half-cheekpieces, which attach the headpiece to the bit. The bit can then be attached to a lead rope and the horse led with the added control of a bit in its mouth; an example of a bit used just for this purpose is the Chifney bit, and this is really all that is required for a bridle. Fig. 20.1. An example of elaborate blinkers. Bridles can be made more sophisticated by adding a browband, this running from the upper half-cheekpieces across the forehead, with the further addition of a noseband, which may be a simple band around the nose under the upper cheekpieces with a buckle on the ventral aspect. There is a strap over the poll – the noseband headpiece – to stop the noseband slipping down. More sophisticated nosebands are also available, e.g. the dropped noseband type, which fits below the bit. A flash may also be fitted to the standard noseband, fastened with a buckle below the bit. The reins are fastened to the bit; some bridles will have blinkers attached, which should lie behind and to the side of the horse’s eyes, to prevent the horse being distracted by the cart or other activities (see Fig. 20.1). Five types of bit are available: • snaffle; • pelham; • double bridle; • gag; • bitless bridle. These are the basic types you need to know. You can work out the mechanics of any bit, but you do not need to know the names of all the variations – there are several thousand! All five types put pressure on one or more of seven points on the horse’s head: • commissures of the lips; • bars; • tongue; • chin; • poll; • roof of the mouth; • nose. Applying pressure mainly to the commissures of the lips and the bars, with certain adaptations it can also put pressure on either the poll or tongue. There are many misconceptions surrounding this type of bit: a straight bar is a snaffle, and a snaffle does not have to be jointed; however, if it is, it can put pressure on the tongue through the nutcracker action. It may also have a link, e.g. French link, which is a less severe modification, as it does not have such a marked nutcracker action. The attachment to the bit is through the cheekpieces, which may be loose rings, e.g. the loose ring snaffle; cheekpieces may have a solid, lozenge-shaped attachment, e.g. the eggbutt snaffle, and attachment rings can be multiple. In some instances the rein attachment can be arranged to put pressure on the poll, e.g. the three-ringed snaffle. Further confusion is added by the fact that an alternative name for the snaffle is the bradoon. Although applying pressure mainly to the bars and the chin, like the snaffle this can be constructed by an arrangement of the reins to put pressure on the poll. Basically, it has a bar and chain under the chin (termed a port), the bar capable of being shaped to accommodate the tongue. In reality, this is just a combination of a snaffle and a pelham; when used with double reins this can be used to put varying pressure on the lips, bars, tongue and poll. The main pressure from this bit is on the poll, since the reins run through the attachment of the bit and up to the poll. However, depending on the configuration, there will also be pressure points elsewhere. As the name suggests, there is no bit in the mouth, the main pressure being on the nose. The bitless bridle is often called a hackamore. Practitioners are often asked to check a horse’s mouth, as the handler is experiencing problems with control. A full oral examination should be carried out, as described in Section 9.7. Any relevant dental problems must then be corrected. A good history is taken, since that will often give the practitioner clues as to the source of the problem. Does the horse rear when asked to come into collection or to stop? This is particularly indicative if the horse is said to have ‘no brakes’. Is the horse reluctant to take a rein contact on either or both turns? In my experience a horse that bucks rarely has a problem with the bit. Apart from dental signs, the practitioner should look for any painful sites on the head, particularly the seven points of contact as described earlier. Correct placement of the bit is next on the checklist. With the tack on, tightness of all the bridle straps should be checked; it must be remembered that a normal snaffle bit should only have 1 cm to spare on either side of the mouth. Lastly, the type of bit is checked for severity. If there are any areas of ulceration, these will be re-examined 10 days after completion of any dentistry, to check for adequate healing. When any sores are found on the commissures of the lips, I normally advise twice-daily application of a human preparation called Orabase, which is marketed for chapped lips and oral ulceration. Another type of human medication of which there is a wide selection, used to treat haemorrhoids, can also be applied to affected areas. Aspects of control involving tack can be found in Chapter 3. The harness allows the horse to work by pulling various horse-drawn vehicles or implements, e.g. a plough; horses may also pull logs and even boats (see Fig. 20.2). The harness must fit correctly and not rub or cause any pain. When fitting and examining harness of any sort, the practitioner must always have the horse’s welfare uppermost in his or her mind. There are two types of harness, the first being the breast strap or, as it is sometimes called, the breast collar, which is used for light work such as drawing a small cart, sleigh or carriage. This type places the weight of the load on to the sternum, near to the trachea. Heavy loads must not be drawn by this type of harness, as the sternum is not the strongest part of the skeleton, with resulting pressure on and constriction of the trachea. That might reduce the horse’s air supply or cause long-term damage to the trachea. The breast collar is a padded strap that passes across the breast and is attached to the traces or straps that draw the load. A swingletree can be used, so that each shoulder can pull evenly; this device, known as a singletree in North America, is a wooden or metal bar inserted to balance the drawing forces on each side. In contrast, the second type of harness, called the collar and hames harness, places the weight of the load on to the horse’s shoulders – the trachea is not involved, so the horse can use all its weight and strength. The collar is a padded loop fitting closely around the neck, having a pointed top fitting closely to the crest of the horse’s neck. Because of this shape it has to be passed over the horse’s head the wrong way up before turning in the area of the cranial neck to rest close to the caudal neck. The hames fit on the outside of the collar to take the full weight of the load, while the traces or tugs attach the load to the hames.
20.1 Halter and Headcollar
20.2 Bridle
20.3 Bit
Snaffle
Pelham
Double bridle
Gag
Bitless bridle
Problems with the bit
20.4 Harness
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