Collars, ComfyFit Harness, From the Pony Princess, Tuesday Tip
When can you use the Euro Style Collar?
Feb
There is a lot of conflicting information out there about Euro style collars. We sell two styles of this type of breast collar, the SuperFlex and the Comfy Collar.
When NOT to use the Euro style collar?
The Euro style collar is NOT appropriate for a low line of draft. This means neither the SuperFlex or the Comfy Collar will hold up well when dragging logs, hauling a sled, dragging tires or a harrow. Neither of these styles of breast collar is meant to be used with heavy vehicles that have the single tree below the height of the horse or pony’s hocks. If you try to use this style of breast collar for that kind of driving, the weight of the vehicle (or the tire drag or the sled or the logs) and the people in it, will be concentrated on the top of your equine’s neck while the bottom part of the breast collar folds up, blocking their wind pipe.
I have written several blogs about why you would choose a collar and hames style collar. You can find those below:
Collars, Line of Draft, Balance of Draft (this is my personal blog)
Here is a video showing the difference between the SuperFlex Collar, the Comfy Collar and the Collar and hames:
Now let’s look at the type of vehicle you CAN use the Euro Style collar with:
I drive Zorro with the SuperFlex collar and the Hyperbike.
The most important thing to look at is the line of draft, where the single tree is located on the front of the vehicle. My rule of thumb is, if the single tree is above hock level then it’s more of a horizontal line of draft and a breast collar is the appropriate collar to use.
Below is a video of one of our customers using a collar and hames with her easy entry that has a low line of draft. She said her pony was so much more forward and free in the shoulders once she switched to the collar and hames. Not all easy entry carts have a horizontal line of draft.
Something to keep in mind when choosing a breast collar and a vehicle is the weight of the vehicle itself and when combined with the driver. The SuperFlex is not the best Euro style collar to choose when your equine is pulling a lot of weight, even if the line of draft is horizontal. In that case I would lean towards the Comfy Collar which is a more stiff version of the Euro style collar.
If you have any questions about collar please email me at mindy@chimacumtack.com
Hi Mindy
I’ve started taking my miniCooper out for some drives in the country , but all of our roads nearby are gravelled. Can you help me find some boots? Since we are in central East Alberta, the terrain can get really icy in winter and I’d love to extend the driving season by having something non slip.
Hi! The best boots I can suggest are the Equine Fusion Boots. There is a person in Canada that sells them. You can reach out to Bridget Simon. She has a Facebook page you can find here:https://www.facebook.com/bridget.simon and one for her pony called Team Radar that you can find here:https://www.facebook.com/Team-Radar-395383243946828
We have lots of information on both the blog and the website about these boots. There are even several videos!
Thanks so much for reaching out! Mindy~