page_title: Crupper
section_title: Riding
hierarchical_section_title: Crupper / Use and safety / Riding
context_page_description: A crupper is a piece of tack used on horses and other equids to keep a saddle, harness or other equipment from sliding forward.
context_section_description: A crupper is used on riding saddles when riding a horse or mule with low withers in steep terrain.  Cruppers are most often used in activities such as endurance riding, mounted orienteering, competitive trail riding, and for recreational trail riding in mountains.  
  When riding, cruppers are particularly useful on animals with low withers, because this conformation allows the saddle to slip forward as the animal travels downhill.   Though not a substitute for a correctly fitted saddle, they are often used on mules, as many saddles, particularly those made for horses, are more likely to slide forward on a flatter-backed mule.
  The crupper strap may be single or double (forked). It usually attaches via a snap or buckle to a crupper ring at the center of the cantle of the saddle, or to a pair of rings (dees) on either side of the cantle. Many riding saddles today are manufactured without properly placed rings, though rings can be added.  Or, in lieu of rings, a design used on English saddles utilizes a t-shaped brace that is inserted under the saddle between the rear panels and the tree.
  Cruppers are not common on western saddles, but some English saddles are designed with crupper rings, particularly those designed to fit mules.
  Cruppers are seen on the saddles of some horses used to work cattle with a lance (such as horses of the buttero in Europe), but not on horses used to work cattle with a lasso.
caption: Traditional attire and tack of a buttero, utilizing a crupper.
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