Harness recommendations

[Specialk]

I am looking to purchase a leather harness for pleasure cross country driving. Any recommendations.

Looking for the following:

- good quality and safe

-simpler design is better

-padded and comfortable for the horse

I have a collar work type harness and it is very heavy and just excessive for what I need.

Suggestions on brands etc. I see all kinds on eBay, should I stay away from those?

 

[Specialk]

I forgot to mention, I live in the country and there are a lot of hills. So I will be driving up and down hills a lot. Any suggestions on hill driving and harnesses.

 

[Specialk]

Does anyone have a harness that can be used as a single and as a double team?

 

[fourluckyhorseshoes]

For the most part stay away from anything on ebay unless it is a good brand name like Lutke that happens to be on there. Most of what I see is garbage. I buy from Star Lake Tack and they have a variety of products and price points. Minitack.com is great too.

 

[Minimor]

I have the carriage harness from ozark mtn and am very satisfied with it. For cross country driving go with the V shaped breast collar

There is also the Camptown harness--it is a super nice harness with more padding. It is more money but worth it.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

IMHO the bridle is so important. You can part out all the harness pieces but the bridle has to work. Some are heavy and bulky. Some have poorly attached blinders. Breeching with double straps is good.

 

[Specialk]

I took a look at star lake's bio thane harness. Would you pick this over the comfy fit?

What do you mean by double breaching straps?

Going down steep hills, is there brakes or anything available or does the horse alone hold the cart back.

Thank you everyone for your help.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Some breeching only have one strap across the rump that attaches to the breeching. That is okay, but one strap that divides and attaches in two places on the breeching is better, imo. The breeching IS the brakes and works amazingly well. I do some pretty steep inclines and my horses have no trouble braking the cart. No road that is used by vehicles will be too steep for your horse.

I have the Camptown V breast collar. I substituted it for the simple breast collar that came with my harness. You can see the double buckle on the breeching, I think, in this photo. This is the Camptown V breast collar.

The back strap is biothane and the girth is biothane. The saddle is leather. The harness is a composite of tweaks from the last 14 years I've owned it. At this point, only the saddle and crupper are original!

There are LOTS of harness topics if you search the Forum.

 

[paintponylvr]

double breeching straps on our work harness

Double breeching strap on one of our pleasure harness's. Yes, while ground driving the traces were run thru the breeching rings and the hold back straps (the brakes for a single horse) aren't on this harness (had to order them - seems they don't come w/ the harness w/ this particular amish harness shop).

home made (braided from recycled haystring) double breeching strap. Buckles recycled, too, and didn't match on this side! After 6 years and 10 different ponies started in it - this breeching set up is getting ready to start the next batch of young ponies. Wearing strong! Wish I had time to complete the 3rd harness w/ all the improvements I'd made to it, but haven't had time and right now not even sure where it all is.

i personally couldn't braid up the "gig saddle" or the shaped breast collar.

Hip spider w/ 3 strap breeching on larger work harness

Love the look of the Carriage harness by Ozark tack, but I probably will never own another leather harness here in NC. I just can't keep the mold and mildew off of it w/o storing it in the house (hubby doesn't want it there).

I started w/ basic work and pleasure harness in Bio and Beta-thane that I've slowly made upgrades to. Very workable for me. Not show quality, but very serviceable for the everyday driving and "farm work" we've done.