Need help buying new harness

[Zoey3]

I need some advice buying a Harness. I want a Harness I can use at home and at shows.Which one is a better ? Ozark Mountain mini tack Mose miller Show Harness or Pleasure Harness. Thank you Debby

 

[Minimor]

I would have to vote neither--I would go with the Ozark carriage harness. The carriage harness is much nicer than the pleasure harness, definitely nice enough to show in, and very functional for every day driving around home too.

The show harness (assuming you mean #MW200) has round lines and traces--round meaning the leather has been pared down to a round shape to look like rolled leather. This is much less sturdy than rolled leather or flat leather; while it might serve the purpose in the show ring, it's not what I would want to use around home. I want good strong lines and traces, thank you! It also does not have breeching, which is something I want to have for every day driving.

If you mean the more expensive rolled leather show harness--that would be my pick for showing but again--I would hate to use it for every day driving. Again, no breeching, and it's just finer than what I want to use for driving around home.

I do have 2 carriage harnesses and 1 pleasure harness, no show harnesses--I'm perfectly satisfied with my carriage harnesses for showing.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

I buy my harnesses from Mini Express, personally I like how they are made. I work in them and I keep them clean and conditioned and they look great for shows. Personally I show western and I wanted a more looking western type harness and instead of buying a $1500 harness from Lutke that I could only use for shows I bought myself a russet harness and put conchos on it so it looked really nice and got lots of nice comments from judges and other competitors and some even thought it was a Lutke harness. My other horse's harness it was a last minute decision to put him in western and wanted that western feel, so I changed the browband and conchos and worked perfectly. So bling it up when you show but you certaintly can buy a $300 harness to work and show.

Had to show off my new western harness from Ozark though, finially an inexpensive actual western show harness!

 

[Zoey3]

I would have to vote neither--I would go with the Ozark carriage harness. The carriage harness is much nicer than the pleasure harness, definitely nice enough to show in, and very functional for every day driving around home too.

The show harness (assuming you mean #MW200) has round lines and traces--round meaning the leather has been pared down to a round shape to look like rolled leather. This is much less sturdy than rolled leather or flat leather; while it might serve the purpose in the show ring, it's not what I would want to use around home. I want good strong lines and traces, thank you! It also does not have breeching, which is something I want to have for every day driving.

If you mean the more expensive rolled leather show harness--that would be my pick for showing but again--I would hate to use it for every day driving. Again, no breeching, and it's just finer than what I want to use for driving around home.

I do have 2 carriage harnesses and 1 pleasure harness, no show harnesses--I'm perfectly satisfied with my carriage harnesses for showing.

I do agree with you on the carriage harness, it is nicer than the pleasure harness. Why is it called a carriage harness? What do you think of the V breast collar option? Thank you for your help. Debby

 

[Minimor]

I'm not entirely sure why it's called a carriage harness; I always assumed it was designed to be marketed to the carriage driving/CDE people. That was my guess, based on the name!

As for the V breastcollar--I like it. It definitely does fit nicer than the regular straight breastcollar. My harnesses all came with the regular breastcollar; I think the V breastcollar came on the market a year after I got my harnesses. I did order one then and am very happy with the way it fits. This spring I have to buy a pony sized breastcollar and it's going to be the V style one.