Having trouble with breastcollar?

Question

I have to use a breastcollar for the trails I ride on. I'm noticing that my mare is starting to chafe from having to wear one.

I use nothing thin. I have tried wider collars, and putting fleece on them. Neoprene rubs worse. Nylon is evil! I've tried them loose...way to loose and that doesn't work either. I've tried hooking them like normal and loosening them a notch at a time during the ride if it looks like it's rubbing her.

I've hooked it to the D rings, the rigging, and even over the pommel.

Any ideas of what to try next?

Answer 1

Bring it up a little tighter on the sides and loosen the  strap to the cinch, I would say so that it does not move as much and rub. Another option is to treat the inside of the brestcollar with lanolin, it will act as a lubricant and wont chaff as much. Luck

Edit- I figured you have tried all the notches on your breast collar but even the best of us miss ever now and then. The lanolin also acts as a moisturizer to the skin(just check your lotion bottle) and it is a great treatment to protect your breast collar from the sweat. My fathers horse has this problem too, we are able to get strait lanolin, once we started treating the leather with that. All the chaffing stopped. Luck

Answer 2

Have you tried this style?

http://horseandmulegear.com/products/ful...

I don't know what they call them but I find they rub less because they are in an area of less movement as compared to the ones that go across the shoulders and attach to the D-rings.

EDIT:  Apparently endurance riders use ones made of biothane (I'm not sure what that is really) to minimize rubbing so maybe you could look into that.  I also found something called a "breast collar protector" that goes where the pieces of the breastcollar join to avoid rubbing at those seams.  Might be worth looking into.  Again, something endurance riders seem to use.

Answer 3

i'm assuming it's only sliding around once she gets sweaty under there? if this is the case try unhooking the breastcollar, wiping away the sweat (from the tack and as best you can from the horse) and apply a thin coat of baby power to the back of the breastcollar. this will reduce friction and (hopefully) prevent the rubbing. of course this is just a temporary fix since her sweat will re-accumulate. also, you might want to look into a different type of saddle pad (don't know what you use now) to help with the slippage and take some of the pressure off the breastcollar. don't worry this is a pretty common problem! changing saddle pad types helped prevent  the breastcollar rubbing on my horse

**edit** i'm a FIRM believer in the tacky tack pads! they help reduce saddle slip to almost none, even up and down hill. also, have you tried an english style breastcollar? it will sit higher on her chest... almost on the base of her neck. the style i'm referring to is the type used with saddleseat horses.. like this

http://www.nationalbridle.com/product-p/...

Answer 4

BB:  Have you tried a breastcollar with a roo hide back?  Exceptionally soft leather...you might contact them at their e-mail address at their website.  

http://www.roohide.net/

Answer 5

well don't loosen the brest collar when you say her chafing that just made it worse. but try a thick breast collar and put it on snug so it doesn't move around a lot when you are standing still but don't put it so sung that it pushes into her skin. but that should help.

Answer 6

Cotton.  They sell breast collars made out of woven cotton - just like a western cinch.  That might help the area breath better, and it should conform more to the movement of the horse than leather.

Answer 7

Sounds like you are adjusting the breast Collar too tight.  It should not be snug, there should be plenty of room for the shoulders to move with the horse.

My breast collars are all leather.  They are about 4 inches thick and have no backing or padding.  I keep then clean and well maintained.  dirty tack rubs worse than clean tack.

The style I prefer is a roping style.  The thick leather piece comes straight across the chest ans attaches to the saddle with two straps, one the the d ring in the saddle, and one to the ring at the cinch.  

I have never had a horse gall-up and I have done more than my share of riding

Answer 8

Unlike almost everyone else on here--- I assume you know what you are doing ;) I'm not going to tell you (without seeing it) that it's too loose or too tight or anything. Sounds like you've tried a few things and they aren't working too well. Maybe it's the breastcollar or maybe your mare is a little thin skinned, I don't know.

Have you ever tried this style? It's what we use (in the Canadian Rockies) and have a great deal of luck with it as it doesn't really go across the horses chest--this is when you get the chafing, it is styled more like a collar in a harness so they can lean into it on the uphill... it lies along their shoulder, not across it. I'll never use anything else :)

http://www.lostbuckaroo.com/proddetail.a...

I'm sure you can find this style cheaper than this site-- I just pulled it up as an example as it had a good picture! Hope this helps.