FINDING A BREAKING POINT

As part of his research, Dr David Marlin constructed a rig and set about systematically testing a wide range of headcollars. Each one was tested six times, and the point at which they broke recorded. Breaking points varied massively — up to an enormous 600kg.

“To put it into context, 600kg is an average 16hh horse suspended in the air and that headcollar still hasn’t broken,” points out Equilibrium’s Laura Szuca. “That is why horses are being injured. At the bottom end, they’re potentially breaking too low.”

The study found that webbing and nylon could withstand more force than any other material. Leather performed better, taking between 210kg and 220kg of force before breaking, but Laura argued that this is still too high.

“One thing that made me feel uncomfortable as a horse owner was the foal slip, which took 120kgs of force to break. If you think how small a foal is, 120kg of force is a huge amount for that foal to be able to put down on that headcollar before it breaks,” she adds.

The researchers concluded that horses were being injured and headcollars were breaking at too high a breaking point. But there also needs to be a balance, because a headcollar breaking at too low a pressure will lead to a lot of unnecessarily loose horses.

“You have to find that balance, and that was done through a series of testing and field trials to work out how we come up with that magic number,” explains Laura.

It led to the development of Equilibrium’s Stellar Safety Headcollar, which has a release mechanism of press stud fasteners on the side and releases at 83kg.

■ Find out more at equilibriumproducts.com