11/09/2023
Good read and advice so I am sharing. I am always looking to learn new things especially when it comes to safety, horses and the why of it.
If I was asked to name the most insignificant piece of gear with the biggest responsibility to my safety, it wouldn’t take me long to come up with an answer.
To those of us who ride a stock saddle, it would have to be the short connector or ‘hobble’ strap running between the front and back cinches.
We ignore these little scraps of leather, at our peril. I can’t tell you the number of wrecks I’ve seen and heard about, when the cinch connector comes under a little pressure—often a rollback turn while working cows, a hill climb, or an innocent gathering stride—and suddenly, all hell breaks loose. The horse, whose core has engaged, is now suddenly bigger. The saddle, on the rounded back, is now forced up. The rear cinch is held back behind the belly, just like a bucking strap.
The result? You’re off to the rodeo!
The answer is NOT to remove the back cinch, entirely. If you’re riding a double-rigged saddle, the rigging is in place to keep the back end from ‘wagging’ and putting pressure on the front tips of the bars. If we remove that rear cinch and if we’re spending enough time in the saddle, we’ll begin to sore up our horse.
Another precaution is to ride with the back cinch snug enough to be safe. It should be touching the horse’s barrel at all times, not hanging down like an empty hammock. A loose cinch does not prepare the horse for the feel of a snugger cinch and worse, it’s a great place to catch up sticks, gate latches or a hind foot, should he kick up at his belly.
The ‘hobble’ strap, itself, is about 5/8” wide and shouldn’t be much longer than 8”, overall. Too short and it’s always under pressure, holding your back cinch at an angle that, unless it is shaped in a shallow curve, will dig into the underbelly of the horse. It should be as thick and dense as a heavy-duty split rein and not a flimsy piece of lighter leather.
As the connector strap is punched with adjustment holes, it becomes perforated like a cheque stub. Lying as it does underneath the horse’s barrel, it collects sweat and mud, making the leather vulnerable to cracking and drying out. Nylon web straps are no safer. They need replacing just as often, for they, too, grow brittle with age.
It’s not a matter of IF a connector strap wears out, but WHEN.
I make a practice of replacing the connector/hobble straps on all my saddles every few years, just to be on the safe side. If your strap is made from a piece with two Conway buckles and a snap on one end, it’s a quick DIY project in front of the television. If there’s a Chicago screw holding the snap, get a new strap. Your life is too precious to trust anything being held with anything so dodgy as a screw stud!
If your connector is on a high-end saddle, where it’s stitched directly to the back cinch with a shaped ‘frog’, as shown here, you may have to take it to your friendly neighbourhood saddlemaker for replacing. That is, if you don’t have the leatherworking chops to do the fix, yourself.
Either way, look after your connector strap. Keep it clean—keep it saddle-soaped—for the fatty acids in the conditioner will counteract the salt in the horse sweat. Just like your latigoes, if the connector strap shows any signs of dry rot or cracking, replace it immediately. Better safe, than sorry, my friends.
