# Finally bought a harness



## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

A while back I was asking all kinds of questions about what harness to buy for my standardbred mare to do a little light work with her around the homestead. Everyone was so helpful, that I wanted to show you a picture of what I finally decided on............. Now I just need to find a wagon, or a forecart or something. 

Now, does anyone have any ideas for building a box or cabinet to store harness in to keep it clean? some pictures and ideas would be great.


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## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

Ooops forgot the pictures


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## goodhors (Sep 6, 2011)

I would not recommend using this harness with a 2-wheeled cart, because there is no tree in the saddle. A tree protects the horse spine from weight on it, which happens with 2-wheeled vehicles, like a forecart. A 4-wheeled vehicle with shafts, puts no weight on the harness saddle or her spine. Bony spine is not made to bear weight, so a tree in the saddle puts the weight on muscled areas on both sides of the spine, with an air space over the spine itself, just like regular riding saddles.

Looks like a solid made harness. Did you get help fitting the collar on her? It looks "big" on her for the way it sits up on her. Can she lower her head without pinching windpipe? Get her nose down to knees if she will for you, since she might need to use her front end enventually for balance with loads. Can't see her chest straight on, but is there a strap from collar bottom to girth, to keep collar down where it belongs when pulling? 

I am having a hard time looking beyond the big collar sitting so high on her shoulders. Fit just doesn't look right to me, which is why I asked if you had help fitting it to her.

The other item might be to remove the sidecheck rein, so horse can lower head easily with a load. She will have a real hard time pulling, if she can't get her head lower than in the photos. I know folks who have them, told me "it came with the harness, so I just use it". Horse doesn't NEED to have it on for correcting anything, but owner wants to use EVERYTHING harness came with so they don't appear unknowledgable.

Harness brackets are available, to put in a cabinet or box you can assemble to hang the harness in to keep it cleaner. Is this a synthetic harness or mixed, leather and synthetic? They are easy to keep looking nice, also pretty strong in work. You want the cabinet wider by several inches on both sides of the collar, no finger pinches when hanging stuff up. Collars hang upside down, with a bracket, rounded cut off log, to hold it up against the rounded lower part of collar, not the pointed end. I really never use the "big harness hooks" sold in catalogs, they are so narrow they put a terrible bend in leather parts and strap goods like reins or traces and the bridle crowns. Leather will crack in time, stored on those hooks, pulled down by it's own weight.


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## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

Yeah the collar is not the right one, it is just one I had and it has one of those collar pads under the top of it to keep it up. I just tried the harness on and line drove her some to get her use to the swinging and jingling. Anyhow, it is granite, which is a dull finished biothane. The shaft loops come off, I just put them on to make sure it could all be adjusted. 

As for the check rein, I have never used a check before on the draft horses, but I put this one on for now because of her racing history. She was raced with a check and a head pole so she couldn't move her head. When she is line driven without the check, she tends to "saw" her head up and down trying to balance against, the pole and check. She doesn't do it with the check on. I am thinking I am going to keep lengthening it until she gets use to not having it. I don't know if that is the right thing to do, but that is what I am thinking.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Congratulations on your purchase!

If the cart were well-balanced and didn't put a lot of weight on the shafts, the lack of internal tree shouldn't harm the horse. If you do use this harness with a 2-wheeled cart, however, I would recommend putting a cushion of some sort under the back pad to keep the edge of the back pad from chafing against the spine. I've seen some ugly sores from this.

I use a sidecheck most of the time - it is loose enough that the horses can bite the neck yoke but not graze. :thumb: If we are in the woods or anywhere the footing might be iffy, I disconnect the check so the horse can catch himself if he stumbles. The pleasure driving people tend to frown on a check - probably because they can easily be abusive if set too tight - , but if you're working, your attention is sometimes divided between the animals and the equipment. The sidecheck can help keep you and the horse out of trouble when you are trying to clear a clog on the mower or the trash out from under the plow beam.


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## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

Well, I don't claim to know a lot about fitting harness. I used horses in the garden and around the farm when I was growing up, but my father and grandfather did the harness fitting. I know that this collar doesn't fit, but I am wondering exactly what you mean when you say it is too high on the shoulders? To me the point of draft on the collar is higher than it should be, and I know that it is a 20" collar with a pad ( I can't think of the name of it) between the collar and the top of her neck. That is problaby what holds it up too high, but otherwise it was about 3 inches open under her throat. I also think that it is a bit too wide, because it is riding out on the shoulders. 

I know it doesn't fit, and it is probably irrelevant exactly where it doesn't fit, but because I am going to have to order one that does fit, I am trying to learn about fitting/measuring/ ordering one. I might be able to get a draft horse guy near here to help me, but I thought I would start by asking questions.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

The collar's too big, so you put a top pad in it. With the pad in, you're getting close. Is it still too big or does it fit okay now....? Well, I wouldn't want to comment on the fit any farther unless I saw it in action. The difference between a collar bouncing around on the shoulders like a Hawaiian lei and the collar fit when under a load can be tremendous. It appears to still be too big in this picture but each horse's anatomy is different. The ideal point of draft for one animal is not necessarily the same for the next. So, it is very hard to judge from a photo of a horse with a collar dangling around her neck.

When you do hook and start using her, get a gallon of hot water and add epsom salts till no more will dissolve. Get a sponge and sponge the hot epsom solution onto her shoulders after work. Rub the hair backwards to make sure the salt water gets down onto the skin. Really soak the area. It will have at least these three benefits.

1.) If she's exerted herself and has tired muscles, the epsom soak will help relieve sore muscles.

2.) If she's started to develop any kind of chafe or sore at the shoulder, the epsom soak will help dry and draw the area. A horse with soft shoulders - unaccustomed to wearing a collar - can easily get a sort of a carpet burn on the shoulder from the friction of the collar or even just the intermittent pressure of the collar. The skin will get damp and weep. You will see wrinkles in the hide, usually at the point of draft but depending on the fit of the collar, it could happen anywhere. Keep an eye on the top of the neck too.

3.) The salt will help toughen up the skin to make it more resistant to the pressure and chafe of the collar.

Then, before you go to harness her again, brush the salted area VERY WELL. Even a few grains of salt trapped under the collar area will entirely un-do the good you've done with the salt water. I often wash the shoulder with fresh water the next morning, while the horse is eating breakfast.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

A good quick harness hook is a big 10" spike driven into the wall with a 12" long piece of 4" PVC pipe dropped over it. Like goodhors said, don't hang the harness from anything with a narrow diameter. Increase the radius of the bend so it doesn't strain the stitching or put a kink in the webbing. If it were leather, it'd be a bigger concern for the health of the leather.

I only put the show harness in a box because it needs to travel to the show and be kept clean between times. Draft horse show harness boxes tend to be long enough to look like coffins, due to the long pointed Scotch collars.










No, those aren't mine. I only take two horses to the fair.

Some show harness boxes are a plain pine box and some are all fancy with velvet and lights inside and glass doors on the front. 

All my work harness gets hung on the wall in the barn, rather than boxed up.

I hang collars upside-down and with the face away from the wall. Up-side down is preferred because the throat of the collar will never (should never) touch the horse - so if the throat gets a little scuffed from hanging, that's okay. The cap of the collar, on the other hand, can bear a tremendous load when used with a team on a tongue, and can wag back and forth a bit on the top of the neck if the fit isn't correct. So the cap of the collar should be kept smooth, as should the face. 

The "face" of a collar is the part that presses against the horse... not the part that you see when the horse is wearing the collar. You want to always keep the face clean and free of scuffs and scrapes. If you wipe it down immediately after you remove it from the horse, the dirt will still be damp with sweat and will come off more easily. 

If you have to lay a collar down, don't ever lay it face-down on a surface. Lay it down the other way. Might scuff up the rim of the collar and make it ugly but better that than to scuff the side the horse has to wear. You want that to always be smooth and buttery-soft.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Lots of Draft Horse harnesses have the snap on piece that holds the cart's pole and they don't have a big padded back piece. So I wouldn't worry about that.

I would want a pair of extra straps, hooked through the big ring at the lower forward part of the britchin. It then hooks through the cart's pole bracket. The chain tugs pull the cart and those straps I mentioned, prevent the cart from rolling forward and allow the cart to back up when the horse backs up.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

haypoint said:


> I would want a pair of extra straps, hooked through the big ring at the lower forward part of the britchin. It then hooks through the cart's pole bracket. The chain tugs pull the cart and those straps I mentioned, prevent the cart from rolling forward and allow the cart to back up when the horse backs up.


When used with a team/pair, those are called quarter straps. When used with a single horse in shafts, those are holdbacks. I see a set of them on his harness. They are clipped up out of the way. They go from the britchen rings to a ring where the market strap (market strap connects the back pad to the girth billet) and the trace intersect.


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## rod44 (Jun 17, 2013)

Don't get too excited about the collar fit until you start pulling something. Then you can see how it comes down on the shoulders and the gap on the bottom. You can adjust your point of draft some with the hames straps once you start pulling something. You may also consider getting an adjustable collar which gives you a few inches to play with as body condition changes. 

Keep the side checks. As someone said it keeps them from trying to graze or doing something else stupid. In a tough and rough pull you can always just unhook them. Good luck, nice horse and harness!


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

The point of draft can be adjusted somewhat if the trace bolt on the hames has the little bushing shim that can be put over or under the trace clip. But I wouldn't use hame straps adjustments as a means to adjust the point of draft. You'll be changing the shape of the collar as well. In a heavy pull and over time, the tendency is for the hame straps to pull taut - straight across from one hame to the other. If you adjust your hame straps to where they go up and over the collar (or down and around) rather than straight across from one hame ratchet to the other, you'll eventually end up squashing your collar shorter.

With buggy hames in pleasure driving you'll often (maybe even usually!) see hames that are a bit shorter than the collar. The hame strap will go up and over the top of the collar, down to the other hame.










As opposed to this picture, where the hames are the "correct" length for the collar.










I put "correct" in quotes because the other day I took a pile of about 18 old buggy hames and tried to make a pair. I found that the height of point of draft on these hames could vary wildly even among hames of the same length. So, I suspect that the choice to use a set of hames that are technically too small for a collar might sometimes have to do with selecting hames more for the height of the draft rather than for their overall length.

But pleasure drivers can get away with this! They are hooked to lightweight wheeled loads. Once the load is moving, there is relatively little resistance when compared with day-long plowing and disking, mowing, raking hay, pulling logs or other such exertions. If you tried to do this with with a field collar and farm hames, you would end up with a collar that is shorter and wider than when you began the season. This is fine when your goal is to adjust the shape of the collar. But sole-ly as a means of adjusting the draft, you will have unintended side effects.


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