Improvements in Devices for Preventing Horses from Running Away.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 12th July, 1893-Accepted, 21st Oct., 1893
COMPLETE DIMUITICATION.
Improvements in Devices for Preventing Horses from Running
Away.
I, NORBERT BIRTZ, of No. 80 St. Lawrence Main Street, City of Montreal, in
the District of Montreal and Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada, Club
Steward do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in devices for preventing horses from
running away and has for its object to provide means to enable the driver to arrest.
or check the horse when desired by interfering with the movement of its leg without
alighting from his seat, and it consists of a hopple connected with the usual
retaining strap and moveable up and down the horse's leg, with means for elevating
and lowering the same at will.
For full comprehension however of the invention, reference must be had to the
annexed drawings forming a part of this Specification, in which like symbols.
indicate corresponding parts and wherein―
Figure 1 is a side view of a horse standing still and the hopple lowered to encircle
the fetlock of the fore leg, and
Figure 2 is a side view of a horse trotting and showing the hopple raised to free.
the leg.
My invention as before stated consists essentially of a hopple A, or like retainer,
with retaining strap a aud moveable up and down the horse's leg, and the preferable
means for elevating and lowering same consists of a strap B suitably connected at
one end by branch strips & from a common eye c to the hopple A, and having its
opposite end adjustably attached, as by a buckle d to an endless strap D which
passes through an eye e on the horse's collar e¹ and around a pulley or roller ƒ
suspended from the driving rein g..
In its normal position the hopple is elevated, this being done by pulling on the
upper portion of the endless strap in the direction of the arrow while to lower the
hopple the lower portion of the same strap is pulled in the like direction, frictional
contact being sufficient to hold the parts in place.
It may not be necessary in all cases to lower the hopple more than to the
horse's knee joint and this can be done quite as readily and the hopple held at that
point.
From Figure 2 it will be seen that in its normal position the hopple does not.
interfere in the slightest with the horses action.
I do not wish to be confined to the use of the endless strap as the only means of
controlling the moveable hopple since a single strap or line would be quite
efficacious if taken through the usual free apertures to be found in connection with
harness, and in fact the device can be used with equal advantage in riding, as the
moveable hopple can be applied to the hind leg of the horse and the retaining strap
attached to the saddle or if the fore leg is preferred a breeches and back strap may
be provided in addition to the usual saddle gear in order to afford a point of
attachment for the hopple retaining strap.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of iny said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what. I
claim is :-
1. A device for preventing horses from running away, consisting of a retaining
hopple moveable up and down the horse's leg with means, within handy reach of
the driver. for controlling same substantially as bereinbefore described.

page_text: 2. A device for preventing horses from running away, consisting of a retaining
hopple moveable up and down the horse's leg, and a strap or line attachment
extending from such hopple to within handy reach of the driver for controlling
same, substantially as hereinbefore described and shown in the drawings.
3. A device for preventing horses from running away, consisting of a retaining
hopple (comprising anklet and strap) an endless reciprocal band having sliding
connection with carrying parts of the horse's harness, and a suspending strap con-
nected respectively to said reciprocal band and the hopple, substantially as
herein before described and shown in the drawings.
4. In a device for preventing horses from running away, the combination with
the hopple A, free to be moved up and down the horses leg, and the retaining
strap a of the endless strap D, and points of attachment, as pulley f and eye e,
allowing sliding connection with parts of the horse's harness, and strap B suitably
connected to the hopple and to the strap D substantially as and for the purposes
hereinbefore described and shown in the drawings.
Dated this 11th day of July 1893.
JOHNSONS,
115, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, Applicant's Agent.