Breastplate assembly with elastic tiedown

Abstract

An improved breastplate assembly (10) which is adapted for connection with a saddle (12) and serves as a humane training aid to encourage a horse to travel with its head lowered while avoiding injury to the animal in the event of undue upward movement of the horse's head and neck. The breastplate assembly (10) includes a breastplate (14) having a pair of interconnected straps (24, 26) adapted for connection to the saddle (12), together with a depending central strap (16) coupled with the breastplate (14) and extending downwardly for connection with the lower girth strap (22) of saddle (12). The central strap (16) includes an elongated, axially stretchable section (42), which preferably forms the lowermost section of the strap (16). A tiedown strap (18) is secured to the central strap (16) and extends upwardly for coupling with the horse's bridle to provide yieldable, axially stretching of the central strap (16) in response to upward movement of the horse's head.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.