If you’ve ever struggled with keeping your hands steady, maintaining a soft connection, or finding your balance in the saddle, a training breastplate can be a valuable tool. But what is a training breastplate, and how does it actually help?

Unlike a traditional breastplate that is primarily designed to help stabilize the saddle, the Correct Connect 3-in-1 Training Breastplate is a training aid designed to improve the rider’s position, balance, and connection with the horse.

From learning to balance while posting the trot to helping riders establish a correct and direct connection to the horse’s mouth, this training breastplate has helped riders worldwide work through common riding faults while encouraging the horse to move in a more balanced, uphill frame.

How Does a Training Breastplate Work?

The Correct Connect 3-in-1 Training Breastplate uses T-Grips attached to the breastplate to guide the rider’s hands into a more correct position.

The T-Grips limit how far the rider can pull their hands backward while encouraging a straight line from the bit through the reins to the rider’s elbow. This helps promote softer elbows, steadier hands, and more consistent contact with the horse’s mouth.

Instead of relying on the reins for balance or pulling backward, riders receive immediate feedback when their hands move out of position. Over time, this can help develop a better feel for correct hand placement and a softer, more independent connection.

The breastplate itself also creates a proprioceptive feel across the horse’s chest. This tactile feedback can encourage the horse to lift through the front end and move in a more balanced, uphill frame. Combined with a rider who is maintaining softer, more correct contact, it can help create a more harmonious connection between horse and rider.

What Riding Problems Can a Training Breastplate Help With?

Many riding problems begin with the rider’s hands, balance, and upper body. The Correct Connect 3-in-1 Training Breastplate can help address common faults including:

• Widening and lowering the hands in an attempt to pull the horse’s head down

• Hanging onto the horse’s mouth for balance

• Catching the horse in the mouth on the backside of a jump

• Pulling excessively on the inside rein to turn

• Riding with locked or stiff elbows

It can also be especially useful for riders who are learning to balance while posting. Instead of using the reins to stabilize themselves during the posting trot, riders can begin developing an independent seat and more consistent hand position.

With improved rider balance, softer contact, and the proprioceptive feedback of the breastplate across the chest, the horse is encouraged to carry itself in a more correct, uphill way.

Who Can Use a Training Breastplate?

The Correct Connect Training Breastplate has helped many riders across different levels and backgrounds. It can be useful for riders who are still learning the fundamentals as well as experienced riders working to correct established habits.

Because many issues can originate from incorrect hand position and balance, this one piece of equipment can help address several parts of the ride at once.

Whether you’re working on posting the trot, developing more independent balance, improving your contact, or trying to stop pulling with your reins, the Correct Connect 3-in-1 Training Breastplate provides feedback to help you build better habits.

Sometimes, You Need to Feel What “Correct” Feels Like

One of the hardest parts of learning to ride is that being told what to do and actually feeling what correct riding feels like are two very different things.

Not every rider has access to a seasoned schoolmaster who can help teach the feeling of steady hands, independent balance, and consistent contact. Sometimes riders need a little extra feedback to understand when everything is starting to click.

That’s where the Correct Connect 3-in-1 Training Breastplate can help. By giving the rider immediate feedback on hand position and connection while creating a proprioceptive feel across the horse’s chest, it helps create those “aha” moments in the saddle.

Once you know what correct feels like, it becomes much easier to recognize it, and recreate it, on your own.