Who uses a neck strap?

Depends on the amount of mane available! My Welshie I used to just use her mane, but that's as much because a neck strap would just get lost in it
Reg we hogged as his mane was a mess, and whilst it was growing back I got into the habit of using his breast plate as he could regularly be a pillock over minor things as it would just help anchor me to him so I was less likely to get left behind!
 
Yep... if its good enough for WFP its good enough for me....

I use the neck strap off a running martingale and find it sits in the right place. I don't always grab it but its nice to know its there.

I took it when I went to try horses to buy as well.
 
My youngster wears her headcollar under her bridle (no noseband) and has a lead rope around her neck as a neckstrap come lead if I need to get off and lead for whatever reason. I also have a monkey grab between the D-Rings on the saddle, but that's been on the saddle forever and never really gets used.

The leadrope/neckstrap is good, I can make it long enough to hold with my reins if it's one of those days, or short enough to keep it out the way save for an emergency grab. I'm working on teaching her that a good pull on it is the emergency 'Oh jesus christ stop STOP' handbrake.
 
I have tried to use one but it just made me feel less stable as I agree with ycbm they are just in the wrong place for my liking. I use a Freejump collar instead or a loose breastplate that I can pick up and carry.
 
It's funny what you get used to. I can happily ride my ponies without a Holy Crap Strap - single or double reins, I can ride my TB's with double reins without one but I get twitchy not having one when I am in a snaffle lol! At work everything is ridden with a running martingale and if a horse is dicking about I loop a finger through it. If the horse really starts having a pop I let it go! I would rather not have my hands locked in one place and not able to pull their heads up! They are handy on horses that snatch as I ride those ones off of the Holy Crap Strap wit the reins baggy.
 
My thinking does go down the route that if it is okay for him it is okay for me. My teenage rider would always whip it off and not be seen dead with it tho!
 
Yep - I'm so used to them that I would probably fall off if it wasn't there to grab! All my horses have been trained to stop when I pull on the neckstrap, so I can leave their mouths alone as much as possible
 
I always have some variation on a neckstrap on. Either a breastplate, or an old stirrup leather.

Personally, I hate the narrow neckstraps you see - on a purely aesthetic level. Don't know why but to me it's like nails on a blackboard for the eyes o_O
 
JFTDWS said:
I always have some variation on a neckstrap on. Either a breastplate, or an old stirrup leather.

Personally, I hate the narrow neckstraps you see - on a purely aesthetic level. Don't know why but to me it's like nails on a blackboard for the eyes o_O
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I have to agree with the skinny neck strap thing - they look so horrid but that’s what I’ve got on!
Martingale neck loop with a spare leather loop to attach to d ring.


saving for a fancy breastplate. My old one doesn’t fit new lad.
 
JFTDWS said:
I always have some variation on a neckstrap on. Either a breastplate, or an old stirrup leather.

Personally, I hate the narrow neckstraps you see - on a purely aesthetic level. Don't know why but to me it's like nails on a blackboard for the eyes o_O
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I’m the opposite, I hate seeing stirrup leathers, makes me cringe, for no real reason at all!

I use a thin rope, but I use it as my main rein a lot of the time, for bridleless riding, rather than just as an emergency measure, so I want something that is no chunkier than a rein to hold.
 
I always ride with neck strap in the school and martingale to grab out hacking. I also have grab handles on both saddles.

Safety first every time.
 
Never with my 23yo when he was ridden, even when I got him as a 5yo. But always with the 7yo in the few months I got to ride him last year, and it will definitely be coming out when I get back on him next month! He is the type to throw a few shapes when you first get on after some time off, it came in very handy when I got on him for the fist time after having him a couple of weeks. 23yo was the sort you could get on after months and months off and he'd be the same as if you had ridden him the day before - oh how I miss riding him, like putting on the comfiest pair of old shoes!
 
I worked for a 5* event rider who insisted everything HAD to have a neckstrap on when ridden even if it had a martingale or breastplate as well! Bit overkill but thats what they liked. I personally like a neckstrap but only a fixed one, have ended up on the floor still holding my neckstrap more then once on a horse who used to spin and shoot backwards. :oops:
 
I am a big fan of them and if you look carefully, lots of the top eventers like William Fox Pitt use them. Better to grab a neck strap than sock the horse in the mouth
 
My balance isn't that good these days so I tend to use the neck strap part of my running martingale rather than yank on the mouth if I get slightly unseated. I hate those little leather things that attach to the saddle Ds just not in the right place for me when it all goes pear shaped.

Interestingly I only noticed several years after owning my mare that I had got in the habit of never using the rein aids to slow her pace out hacking...just a little barely perceptible pull on the martingale neck strap had her back to walk instantly. Probably not quite the correct thing but when you get older and more feeble you just do what you have to keep in the saddle lol!

I am not convinced my new big strong gelding has cottoned on yet so I won't rely on that method for slowing down for a few months yet.:)
 
I use a breastplate rather than a neck strap. The breastplate "handle" is always in the same place, whereas a neck strap can move up or down their neck.
 
Auslander said:
Yep - I'm so used to them that I would probably fall off if it wasn't there to grab! All my horses have been trained to stop when I pull on the neckstrap, so I can leave their mouths alone as much as possible
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I put one on my young horse when I started riding him as he felt small and sharp and discovered that it works as an emergency brake and is generally useful when I am out and about on my own.
 
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