Poll: Put this to bed for me forever - is it better to do up headcollars using the headpiece buckle or under jaw clip

How do you prefer to fasten headcollars?

  • Total voters
    243
I'm one of those who fastens up by headpiece, but when I'm taking them off, I do tend to undo the jaw clip, because the leather on mine is quite stiff and I'm in danger of punching myself or the horse in the face trying to undo the buckle!! I can't be the only one that does that!
 
The jaw clips are a relatively new and annoying invention which l try to avoid whenever possible. Should the clip break it could become embedded in the skin under the jaw causing all manner of damage to a horses head. A lot of this type of head collar are made very cheaply and in my opinion an accident waiting to happen.
 
Headpiece buckle every time. Can't slip anything over the mare's ears without complete chaos (including bridle which is now completely dismantled and arranged on her head..) so just buckle out of habit now.
 
I only use rope halters. The old fashioned ones, not these ones with knots all over. Dont need to fasten anything and much easier for catching something tricky.
 
It's so weird because the poll says people prefer using the headcollar buckle but from the replies you'd really think it was the other way around :)
 
I also like a buckle on the nose band. Years of children and many ponies which need to stand and be tacked up by small children without the pony wandering off means that a head collar that can be totally threaded under or over and bridle is a must for me. When have lots of different types of ponies, I try to buy head collars in batches, and they are colour coded by size, but being able to adjust one quickly, and not having to rummage through a load of chin hair is a must, to make one fit quickly.
I have lots of old ones, some must be nearly twenty years old, seem to last the longest, but sometimes it's nice to have a modern pretty colour. The two top buckle ones are now a rarity, and the clip one always end up breaking.
 
I like the clips, I find them quicker and easier and I'm another that doesn't always do them up if just putting a out and bringing in.

Some of the nylon headcollars are bulky and fiddly to thread the buckles through leather ones are fine.

Also I have a headcollar with buckles on both sides and having adjusted it perfectly with the buckles level, I don't want this altered. This was especially important in the past when I had a grazing muzzle attached and wanted it exactly fitted on certain holes.

However if you're working on a yard and using the same headcollar on multiple horses, buckle lets you adjust to different heads.

I have one headcollar with clips on both sides which is great for clipping heads.
 
I didnt meet a head collar till I was over 60 and a beginner rider who found it very hard to tell one strap from another.
A headcollar was absolute bliss. There was one very long strap. Totally obvious.
I was doing a BHS course. You went into the horse's box and the horse very kindly let one thread that long strap under her chin and reach for it across the top of her neck. Once you grabbed that strap a circle appeared into which the horse fitted its nose. Then you buckled the head piece, making sure that the nose strap rested at the right height on the horse's nose.
I thanked the mare profusely.

I later learned to use Double Diamond rope halters with no trouble at all.
I now ride on a yard where the staff dont unbuckle the head piece. So I have to re arrange everything. You are right, I dont like ear squishing. Though horsey people tell you it doesnt hurt.
But the real reason, is I get confused. I need to see clearly which strap goes where, and the long neck piece is distinctive.

I was for a long time, very nervous of bridles because of the bit needing to go in the horse's mouth. But as soon as I started to share a horse, I found that the horse knew better than me where the bit went. She leaned down and took it in her mouth and my present share does the same. But after that you do have to squidge their ears.
 
Mrs Jingle said:
Surely only if left on while out in the field, or if tied incorrectly directly to the ring or any other solid tethering point without a breakable bit of string loop or similar? I have only ever used leather for turn out if absolutely necessary to have one on in the field but I agree it does irk me to see a horse turned out in a nylon one. Just in case can often becomes 'Oh damn now he has broken his neck, leg or whatever'.
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Nylon is ok in the field if they're fieldsafe. No different to how muzzles have the velcro attachment. Personally, with how thick some of the leather headcollars are now, I wouldn't use them in the field. I think they're great for safety in general, but I don't personally see how they would easily come off in the same way a fieldsafe nylon would.
 
Buckle and a fixed ring to attach leadrope too. I'm not a fan of the moving rings at all. Proper headcollar with adjustable noseband one are rare these days. Non fluffy ones too!! Fleece just attracts hair and hay.
 
TealHorse said:
Nylon is ok in the field if they're fieldsafe
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Oh absolutely, but in the context I was discussing with Birker2020 a field safe was not mentioned or discussed. I believe that both her/his post and mine was about the usual nylon headcollar, not the field safe. Of course they are safe and an entirely different concept, hence the name. ?
 
Mrs Jingle said:
Oh absolutely, but in the context I was discussing with Birker2020 a field safe was not mentioned or discussed. I believe that both her/his post and mine was about the usual nylon headcollar, not the field safe. Of course they are safe and an entirely different concept, hence the name. ?
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I'm aware, was just replying to your comment regarding leather headcollars in the field.
 
Jaw clip as it’s easier and when I was grooming allowed me to catch quickly. Always leather head collars on my own.

Either way the buckle end not being tucked in really annoys me! It’s like bridle ends not being tucked into keepers aghhh and one way to ruin a nice photo!
 
Ha
Fransurrey said:
I'm one of those who fastens up by headpiece, but when I'm taking them off, I do tend to undo the jaw clip, because the leather on mine is quite stiff and I'm in danger of punching myself or the horse in the face trying to undo the buckle!! I can't be the only one that does that!
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Ha I've done that before now!
 
TealHorse said:
Nylon is ok in the field if they're fieldsafe. No different to how muzzles have the velcro attachment. Personally, with how thick some of the leather headcollars are now, I wouldn't use them in the field. I think they're great for safety in general, but I don't personally see how they would easily come off in the same way a fieldsafe nylon would.
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i can personally attest that the leather ones do break. My brand new one with nameplate was broken in two places when my chestnut twit decided he’d like to barge through it and take off round a horse box park with his saddle I was in the process of doing up under his belly. Headcollar was beyond repair ?.
 
Sussexbythesea said:
i can personally attest that the leather ones do break. My brand new one with nameplate was broken in two places when my chestnut twit decided he’d like to barge through it and take off round a horse box park with his saddle I was in the process of doing up under his belly. Headcollar was beyond repair ?.
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Yes Bailey broke a number of them over the years but when they are left on grass outside the paddock in the rain/snow/wind the stitching rots so they break very easily.
 
Sussexbythesea said:
i can personally attest that the leather ones do break. My brand new one with nameplate was broken in two places when my chestnut twit decided he’d like to barge through it and take off round a horse box park with his saddle I was in the process of doing up under his belly. Headcollar was beyond repair ?.
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That's heartbreaking :( At least we know they work I suppose! Shame the nameplate wasn't salvageable.
 
Sussexbythesea said:
i can personally attest that the leather ones do break. My brand new one with nameplate was broken in two places when my chestnut twit decided he’d like to barge through it and take off round a horse box park with his saddle I was in the process of doing up under his belly. Headcollar was beyond repair ?.
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I deliberately bought an extremely cheap leather headcollar to use for travelling - very thin, poor quality leather that would hopefully snap in an emergency.

I used it to tie my horse up for clipping - leather headcollar, attached to an equi-ping, attached to split baling twine. So many things that should give way if needed.

When the horse spooked and jerked back, do you want to guess what went first?

The headcollar's metal rings.
 
Pippity said:
When the horse spooked and jerked back, do you want to guess what went first?

The headcollar's metal rings.
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Years ago my horse put his nose down to a lorry ramp and caught his headcollar on part of a spring. It was the metal ring at the bottom of the noseband that snapped. It wasn't a cheap headcollar but a Jeffries one. Managed to get a new ring put in though.
 
PurBee said:
A new one for me to even find out theres another option aside from head pice buckle! Jaw clip? Mine dont have them…
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Nor do mine, but it's because I choose only the ones that don't.

I think clips are something that can get caught up in other things, which might not be very likely since I don't turn out with a headcollar on, but just the thought of it worries me enough to never choose that sort of headcollar.
 
Cinnamontoast said:
None of my nylon ones have them, all the leather ones do, throatlatch like a bridle.
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I see a ton of nylon ones with them over here.

jnb said:
For those lamenting you can't buy headcollars with nosebands that open anymore......this one has nose and throatlash with a proper buckle, I have the luxury version with the flat snap at the throat and proper butterfly catch for your leadrope -the leather is beautiful and it's a bargain tbh:

https://www.salamo.co.uk/?product=salamo-fully-adjustable-traditional-leather-headcollar
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They look nice, and a good price if they are as good as they look. BUT... I wonder why they have such short straps (on noseband and headpiece) which make them hard to undo and do up? I'm seeing that a lot in headcollar pictures these days. It puts me off.
 
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