WO2008093365A1

WO2008093365A1 - Halter with elastic effect for training and controlling animals

Info

Publication number: WO2008093365A1
Application number: PCT/IT2007/000055
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andrea Sellitti
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-01-29
Filing date: 2007-01-29
Publication date: 2008-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 2009-07-29
Also published as: ATE469544T1; DE602007006994D1; EP2120537A1; EP2120537B1

Abstract

A halter (1) with elastic effect id described for training and controlling an animal, comprising at least one noseband and reins (19), and traction means interposed between such noseband and such reins (19), such traction means being adapted to channel at least one reaction force (FR) opposing at least one elastic force (FE) generated by the animal neck (13) depending on at least one traction force (FT) exerted along the reins (19).

Description

HALTER WITH ELASTIC EFFECT FOR TRAINING AND CONTROLLING ANIMALS

The present invention refers to a halter with elastic effect for training and controlling animals, in particular horses.

As known, the prior art provides for means for training and controlling animals, in particular horses, that usually operate by imposing coercing methods on the animal itself. In particular, for communicating with an animal and for controlling it, a harness is used that is called bridle (^■"testiera") , that is adapted around the horse head, and whose purpose is generally supporting a mouthpiece connected to reins. The bridle is then composed of bands made of leather, nylon or new synthetic composite materials (such as Beta) and various buckles that allow adjusting the length of various elements, in order to make them perfectly suited to the horse head measures; other buckles, on the ends of the various segments, allow closing its loop and connecting the bridle to the mouthpiece.

The generic bridle parts are: noseband ("capezzina") : it is composed of a loop passing around the horse neck back, that goes on laterally downwards down to about two fingers below the jaw bone projection, and of a nose strap ("nasierina") , that surrounds the horse muzzle. In general, it has two buckles for adjusting the loop length and one buckle for closing the nose strap; cheek-pieces ("montanti") and throatlatch ("sottogola") : it is a loop that passes around the horse neck back, overlapping to the noseband (crownpiece or "sopratesta") ; it is laterally divided on each side into two bands, two of which

(the cheek-pieces) have a length that can be adjusted with buckles and are connected to the mouthpiece, two of which

(throatlatch) are mutually joined passing below the horse throat;

- front-piece: it is an horizontal loop, not adjustable, that passes as a bridge on the horse forehead, and terms with two loops into which noseband and crownpiece pass;

- reins: they are bands that are connected to the mouthpiece and are gripped by the horse-rider.

It is however also known that the use of the bridle, above all in animal training steps, due to the mouthpiece, can cause damages to the mouth area of the animal to which it is applied.

A modern bridle, once it has been freed from the mouthpiece, can also be used as a halter, in order to then manually lead or fasten the horse through a shank ("longhina") connected thereto. In general, the traditional halter is composed of bands made of leather, or more frequently sturdy nylon, mutually connected through metal rings; in the lower part of the halter, there further is a sturdy metal ring used for fastening the shank, when the horse must be fastened or manually led.

The halter, such as for example the one of the ^Mhackamore" type, can also be used for training young horses, or for saving the mouth of a trained horse. However, the horse control from the saddle only with the halter, by using one or two reins connected to side halter rings or to its lower ring, requires, since it lacks the mouthpiece, a high degree of confidence between horse-rider and animal, and the communication fineness is anyway limited: the known halter therefore, though avoiding injuries to the animal mouth, is scarcely efficient in its control, above all when training.

Another technical training report, called "Pat Parelli", provides for the use of a particular halter, obtained from a single piece of small rope, suitably knotted for realising a rather loose ring around the horse muzzle, and ends in its lower part with a ball knot from which a double rope loop projects. A rather heavy snap link is fastened to such loop, of the rope used both for ground working and for leading the mounted horse. The snap link weight, the diameter of the rope of which the halter is made and the knots position realise, as a whole, a communication tool with the horse. Also in this case, however, an adequate animal leading can occur only after a specific training both of the animal and of the horse-rider.

Object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems by ,providing a halter that, exploiting an elastic reaction generated by the animal neck, allows naturally and instinctively controlling the animal.

A further object of the present invention is providing a halter that allows an efficient animal training without having to use coercing and offensive elements, such as for example the mouthpiece.

Another object of the present invention is providing a halter that can be simply and economically realised by knotting a single segment of rope.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will result from the following description, are obtained with a halter with elastic effect for training and controlling animals like the one described in claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims .

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a vector diagram showing a general operating principle of the halter with elastic effect according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 shows a side perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the halter with elastic effect according to the present invention worn by a horse.

According to what is known from classical physics, a spring accumulates potential energy by stretching the inter- molecular links of the material of which it is made. The dynamics of such phenomenon is defined by the following Hooke ' s Law (of which, for easiness, the vector notation is omitted) :

F = k • χ that states that the elongation of an elastic body χ is directly proportional to the applied traction force F through a constant k, this latter one defined as elastic constant; in other words, the elastic distortion of a spring is proportional to the applied force F, whose measure is indirectly obtained through a measure of the elongation _χ. Coherently, the spring contraction is proportional to the compression force. This is valid, obviously, within the elastic strain limit, defined as the maximum applied force limit within which the elastic body, when released, goes back to its dimensions before having applied the force.

In the present invention, the animal can be interpreted as a vector force defined by quantities such as direction, sense and module or intensity, in which the head is the sense, the neck is the direction, together the module or intensity; in particular, with reference to FIG. 1, the neck 13 of an animal can be considered as a spring defined by its own elastic constant k: when the animal tends to lift its head 10, for example under the impulse of a traction force F_τ on some reins, if such movement is elastically constrained, the consequent yielding or elongation ^ of the neck 13 itself generates an elastic force F_E, and a consequent reaction force F_R that, suitably channelled, can oppose the elastic force F_E in order to bring back the animal head 10 to its starting position. The halter 1 according to the present invention is therefore conceived in order to channel such reaction force F_a.

With reference to the Figures, the following description will refer, for briefness, to components of the halter 1 according to the present invention as present, visible and shown as an example on the left side of the head of the animal by which it is worn (in the present case, the head 10 of a horse) : which similar components of the halter 1 are symmetrically present also on the right side of the head 10 are however clear for any skilled person in the art.

The halter 1 according to the present invention therefore comprises a noseband composed of a first loop 3 passing around a horse neck back connected in each one of the two sides of the head 10 to a nose strap 5, that surrounds the animal muzzle 10a, through at least one cheek-piece 7, such cheek- piece 7 being preferably transmitted by a first transmission element 9 integral with such nose strap 5 in order to form at least one throatlatch 11, this latter one preferably analogously connecting to the other cheek-piece on the opposite side of the head 10.

In order to realise the above operating principle, between noseband and reins 19, there are traction means adapted to channel at least the reaction force F_R opposing at least the elastic force F_E generated by the animal neck 13 depending on at least the traction force F_τ exerted along the reins 19. The sensitivity of the halter 1 will depend on the elastic constant located in the animal neck 13: in particular, with small values of k, there will be a more sensible operation of the halter 1, while with higher values of k, the halter 1 operation will be less sensible.

The traction means can be realised, preferably symmetrically on both sides of the head 10, as at least one tie rod 15, preferably arranged substantially in parallel with the cheek-piece 7 and connected thereto in at least one point 23 next to the animal neck back. Alternatively, the tie rod 15 could be part of a second loop 8, also passing around the horse neck back, in parallel with or overlapping the first loop 3. Preferably, the first loop 3 and the second loop 8 can be mutually connected, preferably symmetrically on both sides of the head 10, next to at least the point 23 upstream of the respective cheek-piece 7 and tie rod 15.

In a section included between the first transmission element 9 and the throatlatch 11, the cheek-piece 7 is equipped with at least one second transmission element 17 adapted to slidingly transmit the tie rod 15 in order to connect it to the at least one respective rein 19. In order to limit the sliding of the tie rod 15 along the second transmission element 17, downstream of such second element at least one stop element 25 can be arranged along the tie rod 15 itself.

The cheek-piece 7 or throatlatch 11 could also be equipped, preferably symmetrically on both sides of the head 10, with at least one third transmission element 21 adapted to slidingly transmit the rein 19, such third transmission element 21 being arranged downstream of such stop element 25.

In a preferred embodiment thereof like the one shown in FIG. 2, the halter 1 according to the present invention can also be made of a single segment of rope, sturdy and flexible, made of textile and/or synthetic material, suitably knotted by means of a plurality of knots, of the length of about 5 meters and of the thickness of 6 - 7 mm. For an easy and economic production, in this particular embodiment, the various transmission elements 9, 17, 21 can advantageously be loop- type knots within which the respective cheek-pieces 7, tie rods 15 and reins 19, also made of the same segment of rope, slidingly pass and are transmitted. The same stop elements 25 can be made as at least one suitable knot along the respective rope section operating as tie rod 15.

Therefore, by using the halter 1 according to the present invention, when the animal applies, with its head 10, a contrary traction to the traction force F_τ exerted on the reins 19 by a horse-rider, its neck 13 behaves like a spring that tries to go back to its previous dimensions (namely, in the position desired by the horse-rider before the animal reaction) under the action of the reaction force F_R channelled by the traction means: this means that the animal does not go away from the horse-rider control, avoiding the application of further painful coercing forms and of manoeuvres that scarcely respect the animal. Thereby, for example if a horse-rider wishes to stop a horse, it is enough to exert the traction force F_τ by pulling the reins 19, stimulating the horse to react: by so doing, the elastic force F_E is developed, that generates the dynamic reaction F_R and the halter 1 operation.

Going back to classical physics principles, above the elastic strain limit, atomic links are broken and the spring is subjected to an elastic failure set: by using for example the halter 1 according to the present invention when training a horse, a similar phenomenon occurs in the animal, namely the neck 13 yields by going in the correct position in order to be able to ride it, also in this case without using particular painful forms, such as for example the mouthpiece and/or all the elements derived therefrom.

Numerous variations and modifications, such as for example regarding materials that can be used and shape, dimension of various components and/or arrangement of knots composing the halter 1, will immediately be clear for the skilled people in the art, these variations and modifications being functionally equivalent to the previous ones, and therefore falling within the scope of the invention as pointed out by the enclosed claims.

Claims

CIAIMS

1. Halter (1) with elastic effect for training and controlling an animal, comprising at least one noseband and reins (19) , characterised in that it comprises traction means interposed between said noseband and said reins (19), said traction means being adapted to channel at least one reaction force (F_R) opposing at least one elastic force (F_E) generated by the neck (13) of said animal depending on at least one traction force (F_τ) exerted along said reins (19) .

2. Halter (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that said noseband is composed of a first loop (3) passing around the neck back of said animal and being connected in each one of two sides of said head (10) to a nose strap (5) through at least one cheek-piece (7) .

3. Halter (1) according to claim 2, characterised in that said cheek-piece (7) is transmitted by a first transmission element (9) integral with said nose strap (5) in order to form at least one throatlatch (11) .

4. Halter (1) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that said traction means are at least one tie rod (15) .

5. Halter (1) according to claim 4, characterised in that said tie rod (15) is arranged substantially in parallel with said cheek-piece (7) .

6. Halter (1) according to claim 5, characterised in that said tie rod (15) is connected to said cheek-piece (7) in at least one point (23) next to said neck back of said animal.

7. Halter (1) according to claim 4, characterised in that said tie rod (15) is part of a second loop (8) passing around said neck back of said animal in parallel with or overlapping said first loop (3) .

8. Halter (1) according to claim 6, characterised in that said second loop (8) is connected to said first loop (3) in said point (23) .

9. Halter (1) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that, between said first transmission element (9) and said throatlatch (11), said cheek-piece (7) is equipped with at least one second transmission element (17) adapted to slidingly transmit said tie rod (15) in order to connect it to at least one of said reins (19) .

10. Halter (1) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that at least one stop element (25) is arranged along said tie rod (15) and downstream of said second transmission element (17) .

11. Halter (1) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that said cheek-piece (7) or said throatlatch (11) is equipped with at least one third transmission element (21) adapted to slidingly transmit said rein (19) .

12. Halter (1) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that said third transmission element (21) is arranged downstream of said stop element (25) .

13. Halter (1) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that it is made in a single segment of rope by means of a plurality of knots.

14. Halter (1) according to claim 13, characterised in that said first and/or second and/or third transmission element (9, 17, 21) are loop-type knots.

15. Halter (1) according to claim 13, characterised in that said stop element (25) is at least one knot along a section of said rope operating as said tie rod (15) .