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Civil War Officer's McClellan Saddle Breaststrap
Price: 650
A very nice black bridle leather officer's breaststrap with martingale and girth tie down strap. In the lower center of the breaststrap is a large, well-formed 3 1/2" x 3 3/4" brass heart on a heart-shaped leather backing. This breaststrap is of the design where the upper portion went around the horse's neck and buckled with two straps to rings on the saddle. Some, like one for sale on this site, buckled to the front of the saddle but did not go around the horse's neck.
Breaststraps appear to have been a standard accessory for officers' saddles and performed the function of keeping the saddle from sliding backward on the horse's back when the horse and rider went up a steep hill. A crupper performed the reverse service: it kept the saddle from sliding forward up the horse's neck when the horse and rider went down a steep hill or stopped quickly.
Breaststraps are quite scarce today since most were used up during and after the War and, of course, deteriorated in poor storage in the decades following. This one is live leather with very little flaking and just normal crazing due to flexing. Good tight stitching.
An excellent addition to a CW McClellan Saddle display and a piece few cavalry collectors ever see.
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