I have a Zilco Harness, it is biothane and is very high quality.
You actually probably have a beta harness, at least the Zilco we have is beta. Bio is shiny and plastic like, while beta has more of a matte finish.
Shiny bio might be appropriate for a breed show, but definitely not for a carriage show or a CDE. Bio is also VERY likely to scratch. I have a client that bought one from the Amish guy down their road (they didn't tell me they were going to do that) and they were VERY frustrated that the first time out at a 4-H show, it was scratched in a number of places without even being "hard" on it.
It's probably not so much that synthetic won't break, its that leather can be easier to cut in an emergency than a synthetic. Stitching will usually go in a synthetic before the material. Leather itself will break under certain stresses.
I'm not impressed with beta in cold weather. Adjusting it is a chore. But, I like it for the marathon with a majorly sweaty horse. You can start hosing down the horse and not worry about the harness. Actually, we hose the Zilco harness down on the horse a lot. (It's less "sticky" that way!
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Leather is less likely to chafe than a synthetic, especially a cheap synthetic. Cheap leather can chafe, too, or even good leather not adjusted correctly, but cheap synthetics can have a rough "edge".
I am not impressed with the wear of a synthetic. We are borrowing a Zilco that is no more than 10 years old and it has irreversable damage on wear points where the "guts" of the material is showing through. Leather well cared for has a much longer life. We have some leather harnesses that are 20+ years old and clean up great.
NOTHING wears like really good leather, but then again, I haven't seen too many REALLY good leather mini harnesses, either. I mean, we just bought a used Smucker's Super Deluxe harness saddle, just the saddle, for our big horse. It retailed at about 1K new (we got a REALLY good deal on it, I almost felt guilty for what I paid for it.
) We already have a Deluxe saddle in the same model, and the Super Deluxe leather is WONDERFUL even compared to that Deluxe saddle I bought for $400 new (yes, just the saddle, not even the tugs or the girth). But...a REALLY good leather harness is going to run in the multiple thousands. (We don't have one of those... yet
) . In comparing those two saddles you realize that the quality of leather to start with has a lot to do with the price. A lot of leather mini harnesses have a "papery" feeling to them.
You get what you pay for in harnesses (and carts). Both synthetic and leather have their place, but I would opt for beta over bio. I would never get a bio harness.
Myrna
