10/21/2026
Someone asked about our breeching and why we use it. So let's talk about it!!
Mind you, we never used breeching or really even breast collars in Wisconsin. We rarely ever put shoes on a horse before moving to Kentucky. Wisconsin is more flat land than anything. Not real rocky. The "hills" and footing don't compare. But, the land here in Kentucky is different. Many more steep hills with longer inclines and declines. So, we've made some changes to our tack over the years to support that change!
First off, we use all treeless saddles. This is a personal preference. Let's be honest, we have A LOT of horses. Running one of the larger rocky herds in the RMHA. having 10+ saddles, for 2-3 riders, to attempt to accommodate all of our horses is expensive and we find treed saddles to be quite uncomfortable. Treeless saddles, when done right with proper saddle pads providing spinal clearance and well fitting cinch, flex to the horse and can fit MOST horses. Are we saying it's the right thing for everyone, no. There are a lot of factors to decide what saddle is best for YOU and YOUR HORSE. Especially if you have balance problems they can do more harm than good of you can't distribute your weight properly with a good seat in a treeless saddle. We do believe in a good saddle fitter for you and your horse. When you have a herd of our size, cycling through 4-5 young horses in a year, treeless has been more practical. We also have good balance and sense for weight distribution. So it works for us.
A common issue with treeless saddles is slippage. Slippage will happen during mounting and steep inclines/declines. Slippage can cause galling (sores in the cinch area), or you can end up on the shoulders, or further back during the slip. Keep in mind this can/does happen with treed saddles as well depending on the horse's withers. Unfortunately, rockies come in all shapes and sizes when it comes to withers, but there are a lot that are "mutton" withered. Meaning they have lower, wider more round or flat withers that are not as defined and are much harder to fit a saddle to without slippage. Withers keep your saddle in place. If they don't have well defined withers, you're more prone to slippage even with a well fitted saddle. This is where breeching and breast collars come in.
Breast collars or breast plates, will keep the saddle from slipping back on the horse and twisting during mounting/dismounting. Putting less strain on the cinch area and reducing the chance of gall sores.
Breeching or britchen, wrap around the horses rear and will keep the saddle from slipping forward onto the shoulders. Again, putting less strain on the cinch area, reducing gall sores and keeping everything in place. In addition, breeching is a great training aid for a couple reasons. 1 - desensitizing a horse to things around its hind end. 2 - collection and posture by encouraging a horse to engage it's hind end and carry themselves balanced rather than strung out. Something gaited horses can really benefit from in the long run. 3 - our training horses are going to other people, they may benefit from us desensitizing them to these aids ahead of time. You never know what kind of riding they'll be doing in their future! Setting them up for success in the long run is a priority of ours.
Another thing people use instead of breeching is a crupper. Cruppers wrap around the tail and attatch to the back of the saddle. Again, for stability and slippage. However, cruppers can put a lot of strain on the horses tail or even pinch depending on the weight of the load. Over time this can cause strain to the tail/back pain since the tail is part of the spine. So, we opt to breeching over cruppers for the overall health of our horses.
Looking at the two Rockies pictured.... Crimson (silver bay) has higher, more defined withers than Tide (chocolate) and his lower, more rounded and overall flatter withers. Crimson's saddle does not slip nearly as bad as Tide's saddle due to the shape of his withers aiding in stability of the saddle. Tide benefits greatly from the breeching and breast collar on more steep terrain. Crimson will learn to wear the breast collar and breeching, but may not need them as much as Tide may depending on the style of riding he is doing. But they will both be prepared if their new owners decide they want to use or need them in the future!
