Breeching (tack)

Breeching (/ˈbrɪtʃɪŋ/ "britching") is a strap around the haunches of a draft, pack or riding animal. Both under saddle and in harness, breeching engages when an animal slows down or travels downhill and is used to brake or stabilize a load.

When a horse, mule, or other animal is in harness, harness breeching (also known as full breeching) helps the animal to slow or control the forward movement of a vehicle. Animal-drawn vehicles have either a pair of shafts or a single pole projecting forwards for about the length of one animal. An animal between shafts wears harness breeching, which attaches forward to the shafts. As the animal slows, the vehicle runs forward, and the shafts pull the breeching forward against the haunches of the animal, which can thus slow the vehicle. A vehicle with a pole has a pair of animals either side of it – their breeching works in a similar way, attaching forward to the pole either directly or by way of their collars. In a larger team, the leaders are in front of the shafts or pole and thus cannot slow the vehicle; nevertheless, they sometimes wear breeching for show.

Breeching may be omitted where the animal does not need to provide substantial braking. For example, in very light harness, such as in a sulky used for harness racing or in a light cart used with fine harness, the weight of the vehicle and passenger is little enough that the girth and crupper of the harness provide sufficient braking support. Breeching may also be omitted if the vehicle has efficient brakes on the wheels – examples include larger carriages and modern vehicles with disk brakes. Similarly, breeching and the requisite shafts or pole are not needed for a dragged load such as a plow or a log that will not move on its own, nor for a canal boat, which is towed by a long rope from the bank.

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Wikipedia