# How to fit breeching



## hobbyhorse23 (May 12, 2010)

This was hiding at the end of another thread and got overlooked. By private request I'm responding but thought it was best to open a new thread rather than hijacking the other one.








michele80906 said:


> Leia, I enjoy reading your posts. Couple of questions for you...I guess I should have posted them to this breeching topic...I have read several ways people adjust their breeching like fastening the traces first and pushing the cart back until the traces have no slack in them and setting your breeching to keep the cart there with one hand inbetween the horses body and the breeching. When they say hand, do they mean the flat of the hand or the hand standing on edge? I know where the breeching goes...someone commented almost in a straight line with the stifle, right below the highest part of the muscle..not too high, not too low. Also, I am going to test drive a mare that is older and very expericenced, very broke to the cart and she goes down the roads just beautifully...just what I need. She has been on trail rides and down roads, parades, etc, but it must have been pretty flat as she has never had breeching on. If I purchase her, would you suggest me ground driving her and lunging her with the breeching on then going to the cart? I think the lady just put it on the mare and she didn't react but I have no idea how tight she set it...I sent her a website and some instructions. I live where there is a lot of hills...pretty steep at times and breeching is a must for me. Also a kick strap...I learned that lesson. The mare has never had a kick strap on and never had any bucking and kicking but after what happened to me, I just don't think I will drive without one...you just never know and it's cheap insurance...and if it is on them correctly they move freely and don't really know it's there. Thank you in advance. Michele


So the first question I'm hearing is how much clearance there ought to be between the breeching and the horse's rump. When adjusting the breeching for the first time I will generally do as you've described and push the shafts back until they're at the point of the shoulder and make sure the traces are adjusted to be snug in that position. For a big horse some say there should be almost a full hand (five fingers on edge) between the breeching and the rump when the traces are taut, although I prefer my harness adjusted with a little less play than that depending on the type of vehicle and the fit of the harness. For a mini this is obviously way too much so I downsize those instructions and typically allow two to three fingers width instead of a hand. The important part is that the breeching come into play before the weight of the cart shoves the saddle forward and that all the parts of the harness work smoothly to transfer movement without goosing the horse or causing her discomfort. This will be different for each horse, just as for my horse having the breeching set at the stifle would be way too low but that works perfectly for many. Have the horse walk forward and make a couple of turns and halts while you watch from the ground and see how the initial settings are working. If the shafts are coming too far forward when she tries to turn, tighten the breeching a bit. Be aware of the interplay between harness parts though- sometimes the tugs can be a little too high, the overgirth not adjusted correctly, etc., and those can cause the shaft problems so tightening the breeching will not help. Look at the whole picture!

What I want to see is that as the horse starts off, he or she can step smoothly into the traces and the cart starts forward without a jerk. The breastcollar should have already been touching the chest, just not under pressure unless you were on a hill. As the horse moves forward the shafts should remain at the point of the shoulder, neither rolling forward past that or lagging back with half the pulling power coming from the tugs. The tugs (or shaft loops as some call them) will swing a little back and forth with the movement of the shafts but should remain pretty much vertical as their only real job is to hold the shafts up and keep them close to the body. All pulling should come from the traces and all braking should come from the breeching. As the horse goes to stop the traces should begin to slacken, the tugs will start to swing slightly forward and the breeching should engage smoothly and comfortably to take the weight. You don't want the horse slammed from behind with no warning nor do you want the breeching coming in as an afterthought when the horse has already stopped the cart with the saddle and tugs.



The shafts should remain pretty much level through this; if the tips suddenly swing up you need to adjust a few things.

As for introducing breeching to a horse you aren't sure has worn it, yes, I would absolutely start at the beginning. It doesn't hurt anything and might save you an accident! Let the horse wear it with the rest of the harness and longe her with it. If she doesn't react to it flopping around back there (make sure you have the holdback straps safely secured so she can't catch a foot in them) then attach the holdbacks to the tug loops just tight enough she can feel the breeching and see how she does. Longe both ways and at all three gaits. You may wish to tighten them another notch or two so she feels constant contact and try another few laps. If she is relaxed and happy then praise her and maybe quit for the day depending on her level of training.

You want the horse to get used to not only feeling the breeching touching her but learning to lean into it to stop the cart so if you can I'd get a helper and try one last thing before hitching. With big horses people will usually have a helper walking on each side pull on the breeching as the horse stops, but it's often hard to find three people to help you.



And with a mini it's sort of overkill!



Clay Maier had an idea I really like on one of his instructional videos, and it made perfect sense to me. Attach a spare set of reins or soft rope to the breeching ring on each side and run it up through the tug loops to a helper walking ahead of the horse. As you ground-drive the horse from behind, have the helper slowly and steadily pull and release on the breeching as if the horse was going down an incline. When you ask the horse to whoa, have the helper again put pressure on the breeching "reins." If the horse is accepting this calmly and without fuss than maybe try backing up against slight pressure (assuming the horse already knows how to back up in harness) and see how she does. Set her up for success (after all, we spend a long time teaching them to give to pressure!) but make sure she's working against resistance by the end as she'll have to in the cart. If she's taken all this well then I'd say she's ready to drive with breeching on.

Does that answer your questions?

Leia


----------



## michele80906 (May 12, 2010)

Yes...thank you...very understandable as written. This is such a helpful group; sure wish some of you lived by me. We just don't have very many people around here to take lessons from or get good advice. Everytime someone tells me that driving can't be all that different from riding, I tell them that is certainly not so. I feel bad now as I almost wonder if I set my little mini up for failure because of something I did with the whole harnessing thing. Not that I could have prevented my accident...but I wonder if my breeching was not set properly at the time of the accident and caused even more problems. Thank you Leia for the advice...I thought I should probably do the ground stuff with the new horse if I get her. Maybe what I can do is after some ground work I can take pictures of my harnessing job and you guys can give me a "work" over. That ought to be pretty funny and informative. Gee...I feel like I don't know much of anything...kind of weird for a 51 year old lady who rode horses all her life. Michele, Colorado



hobbyhorse23 said:


> This was hiding at the end of another thread and got overlooked. By private request I'm responding but thought it was best to open a new thread rather than hijacking the other one.


----------



## hobbyhorse23 (May 12, 2010)

michele80906 said:


> Maybe what I can do is after some ground work I can take pictures of my harnessing job and you guys can give me a "work" over. That ought to be pretty funny and informative. Gee...I feel like I don't know much of anything...kind of weird for a 51 year old lady who rode horses all her life.


That's a great idea! It's much easier to tell from photos (especially moving photos, preferably turning and stopping and going uphill or down as well as standing) what may need adjustment with a harness. There's a lot of experienced people on here who are happy to help with that.





Driving is definitely different from riding. It has to be- you've cut off 3/4 of your aids!



But isn't it nice to know that no matter how long you've been in horses, there's always something new to learn? I take great comfort and excitement from that!

Leia


----------

