Letters, plus 100 Horseworld Objects

The essential piece of kit, without which no rider should ever leave the yard, advises Catherine Austen

IT’S 6.17am on a September morning, the Smashington Vale hounds are hunting a trail and Bouncer, the four-year-old Janey is riding, is about to have his first canter with other horses.

Wise Janey doesn’t shorten her reins and increase the pressure on Bouncer’s mouth; she slips two fingers of each hand into the neck strap. One little hump of the back, two little humps, and now they are cantering forward sweetly.

Janey cannot understand why the neck strap isn’t viewed in the same way as a bridle and saddle; you just don’t go riding without one. Even good riders sometimes find themselves a trifle out of balance over a fence — and most of us do most of the time, if we are honest. It is not an “oh s*** strap” — that would imply it is only useful in dire emergencies.

Actually, there are few circumstances in which it isn’t helpful, and your horses will thank you for it, thinks Janey. She believes they should be compulsory for children; much better to find your balance by holding on to a neck strap than by hanging off your pony’s teeth.

No, a breastplate isn’t at all the same thing. It’s in a totally different place and clenches your hands low on the horse’s withers. A neck strap is higher up, and can be shortened or lengthened accordingly. Janey owns four — one lives in the car, one in the lorry and two in the tack room — and never gets on a horse without one.