Horse Tethering Device

This invention relates to devices for attaching horses to hitching posts. In particular, the invention pertains to horse tethering devices.

Various types of tethering devices have been used in the past to prevent horses from straying far from a hitching post. Typically, one end of a rope is attached to a halter on the horse. The other end of the rope is simply tied to the hitching post. The rope may be fastened with a bull snap in a loop about the hitching post. Should the horse pull on the rope and exceed the rope's breaking point, the horse is likely to become erratic, jump about the neighboring environment and become injured.

A horse tethering device is provided which comprises a cord having a resilient inner core and a surrounding sheath. The sheath is stretchable as is the inner core, however the break point of the core is less than the break point of the sheath.

In a more specific example, the sheath and cord are attached to clasps which engage a halter on the horse, while the other end of the sheath and core are attached to a hitching post. The resulting effect is that should the horse pull on the tethering device, the core will break and snap first while the sheath will remain intact. Thus, the snapping is confined to the interior of the sheath, avoiding injury to the horse. Yet the sheath still remains attached to the hitching post providing that the breaking point of the sheath is not also exceeded.

The nature of the invention described herein may be best understood and appreciated by the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention in which a horse is tethered to a hitching post;

FIG. 2 is a segment of the cord used in the tethering device of FIG. 1 with portions removed and portions exposed;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of a segment of the cord taken along lines 3--3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a representational view of the segment depicted in FIG. 2 in which the cord has been stretched past the breaking point of the core.

With particular reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, a horse tethering device 10 in accordance with this invention generally comprises a cord 12 having a resilient longitudinal central cor 14 having a circular cross-section. Typically the core 14 is three-eighths inch rubber, generally known as rubber round stock. A sheath 16 is disposed over the core 14. Typically the sheath 16 comprises a woven or double braided fabric such as dacron. The woven or braided nature of the sheath allows it to be easily pushed over the core for manufacture, yet it provides for a limited amount of stretching before breaking. Other types of braided fabric 16 which may be used include spandex, nylon or other material which is loose enough to slide over the core 14 yet allows stretching without breaking prior to the breaking length of the core 14. The maximum stretching ratio of the core, that is, the ratio of length of the cord at the break point to the nominal length of the core, is greater than 2:1. A typical cord 12 has a nominal length of 4 feet, and has a core stretchable to a breakpoint of 12 feet. The breaking point of the core to be selected, for example, is 12 feet (3.6 m) for the inside core having a nominal unstretched length of 4 feet (1.2 m) while the outer sheath 16 has a nominal breaking point of in excess of 12 feet. Preferably, the ratio of the breaking length of the sheath 16 to the core 14 is greater than about six to five (6:5) so that even though the center core 14 has stretched beyond the snapping point and snapped, the outer braided sheath may be pulled somewhat further before breaking. To prevent fraying and splintering the outer sheath 16, a loosely fitting outer covering 18 of plastic, as depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 may be applied over a portion of the sheath 16 to enhance the useful life of the sheath 16. The covering 18 is typically 1 1/2 feet in length (0.5 meter). The covering is most appropriate when the sheath 16 comprises materials such as dacron.

With particular reference to FIG. 1, a horse 20 is shown attached to a hitching post 22 by the horse tethering device 10. A bull snap or metal clasp 24 affixed to one end 26 of the horse tethering device 10 may be opened to removably grasp the sheath 16 adjacent the one end 26, looping the sheath 16 about the hitching post or fence 22.

At the opposite end 28 of the device 10, a second clasp 30 for attachment to a halter 32 is affixed to the end 28 of the device 10. The clasp 30 is fixed to gras and hold the core 14 as well as the outer sheath 16, to maintain sufficient breakage tension on the core 14. Similarly the clasp 24 grasps and holds the core 14 as well as the outer sheath 16.

A halter 3 is attached to the horse 20. The halter 32 comprises a neck strap 34 for attaching the halter 32 to the horse's neck 37 and a chin strap 36 affixed to the neck strap 34 for affixing the tethering device to the neck strap 34 away from the neck 37 of the horse 20. The chin strap has a loop 38 or other clasp for receiving the clasp 30 of the tethering device.

In use, the clasp 30 of the tethering device is attached to the chin strap 38 of the halter 32, which is worn by the horse 20. The clasp 24 of the tethering device is looped about a hitching post 22 or fence and the clasp 24 is looped about an end of the sheath 16. If a covering 18 is on the sheath, the covering is moved toward the end 26 of the tethering device 10, away from the horse, so that it is the covering 18 that is directly looped about the hitching post 22 or fence.

If the horse should stray from the hitching post, the sheath will first pull the loop through the clasp 24. Further pulling by the horse will result in the device 10 stretching. As the sheath 16 is stretched, so is the inner core 14. Should the horse pull beyond the breaking point of the inner core 14, the inner core 14 will break, as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 4. However, since the sheath 16 has not yet reached its breaking point, the sheath 16 will still be ready to prevent some degree of further pulling by the horse.

The remaining strength of the sheath 16 is sufficient to prevent the horse 20 from moving from the hitching post 22 to some degree. If the horse 20 pulls further from the hitching post 22, snapping the sheath 16, the danger is not as great as would otherwise occur from the uncontrolled snapping of the inner core 14.

While the invention has been described with reference to specific forms thereof, it will be understood that changes and modifications maybe made within the spirit and scope of this invention.