New Here, New to Driving, New Mini... HELP! :)

[PaintMeFancy]

I recently acquired a 10 year old mini mare. I am hoping my justification for this isn't off... However, as experienced in horses as I am and normally fairly confident - I find myself in a humbled position of knowing little to nothing. I owned a mini about 8 years ago for a short while (a summer) - when an excessive heat wave caused him to colic and after a long battle I lost him. He was a pet and we didn't do much with him except ground work.

2 1/2 years ago I had my daughter and my horse life has been almost nothing. I thought a mini may be something to bring this back. I got an oversized mini - A black and white paint and she comes home on Wednesday. She is well trained to drive (love she knows all her verbal cues) and fairly easy going - they also used her for some basic small kid lead line. I feel she will train me well in driving and be good for my daughter - as she is so attentive and careful with the small kids.

So - Hello - My name is Ashley and while I have LOTS of questions - and little guidance around here - I am located in Northern California -

I have already bought my daughter all her equipment for riding - and a custom easy entry style cart for myself

However - as I have read some previous threads here - harness purchasing has become more challenging then I ever imagined.

My first concern is not knowing proper size - she is 38 inches (maybe a hair more) -- not sure how much these adjust to where if I get a B size I should be fine - or should I look at more pony - spending that type of money on tack - I want to be sure I guess.. however she is too far away right now to measure

My second concern is material - nylon, biothane, betathane, leather, synthetics -- wow - what a whirl wind - while I really don't have $600+ to put toward a harness right now - I would hate to buy something for $200-300 and be unhappy with it to only spend the $600+ later...

I have looked at Comfy Fit, Zilco, harness leather, - and who knows what all - Ozark, Star lakes, ronshorseharness.com, ebay, A&N harness, among others

I think I have decided no on nylon and probably biothane -

I need something easy to clean as sweat will happen!

I plan to be mostly on trails and the country roads around my house (paved), along with maybe some dirt irrigation/side of field farm roads (all dirt)

Any help, pointers, etc would be appreciated...

Thanks

 

[Minimor]

When we first got ours minis we bought a couple of different harnesses that did not fit. I sold those and got a pleasure harness from Ozark. It did indeed fit up to 38". The only thing I had to tweak on it was the breeching--the standard breeching did not really fit anything over 34" so I ordered a larger breeching (technically a pony sized breeching) and then everything was perfect.

Depending in your mare's build you could need a longer girth, and there again it is easy to buy a pony girth and switch it out. I have used my pleasure bridle in a 33" horse and on a bigger headed 37" horse so I would expect the bridle to fit your mare.

That is the most economical harness I know of--and it is good quality leather and a well made harness. I have never minded cleaning leather; I know some people do prefer betathane that can just be hosed off but for me nothing beats leather.

 

[PaintMeFancy]

I LOVE leather - my horse has all custom tack and I am a snob about it - the idea of synthetic makes me cringe - however - when riding I have very few pieces that touch the horse and cleaning frequently isn't necessary - I was told with driving I would be cleaning a leather harness weekly/monthly pending how much I drive.

 

[targetsmom]

I know lots of people have good luck with Ozark but we happened buy our 3 "starter" harnesses from Star Lake and are happy with them. If you talk to Cathy on the phone she can probably fix you up with the parts you need. I know I needed a longer girth for a 34" mini and had it swapped out, no problem. Now, a few years later I do have some nicer harnesses, but still use the "starter" ones for training. I guess maybe I am "lucky" in that my main driving mare has anhydrosis and can't sweat, so the harnesses stay pretty clean. Of course I have to treat her for the anhydrosis and watch her carefully in the heat. And I show often enough that I have to clean the harness anyway.

 

[MajorClementine]

I personally think it's worth the cleaning to go for leather. I clean/oil all my tack every couple of months and I personally enjoy it. I just pop in a movie after my son is in bed and spend that time relaxing, cleaning tack, and watching my movie.

I just ordered my harness from Ozark after painfully shopping every place on the "net". My coworker got one from them a couple of years ago and I went out to her tack room a few weeks ago to have a look. It's a beautiful/simple harness. That's what pushed me to finally order mine. It was great to get to see, in person, exactly what I'd be getting. Mine hasn't arrived yet but I'm sure it will be wonderful. Also, my mini is pretty short as was my coworkers, but Ozark asks for measurements so you are sure to get a good fit.

Congrats on your new addition. This forum is amazing. You'll find answers to all your questions here. I know I have.

 

[WashingtonCowgirl]

We had an Ozark pleasure harness, and it was great. However, I sold it when I adopted out Spanky, and so I will be buying another Ozark pleasure harness. They are good quality and great price!

 

[PaintMeFancy]

Major Clementine - which harness from Ozark did you get?

 

[dreamcatcher]

Hello Ashley and welcome. I too live in Nor Cal and its good to see other mini folks on the board who do as well. I am sure you will find many other friendly folks here with great advise.

Andrea

 

[MajorClementine]

Oh sorry, guess that would help. I got the black pleasure harness. I was really wanting russet BUT was convinced the black would look better with my cart and be more versatile. After looking at the one my coworker had I decided I couldn't find another harness of that quality for the price Ozark has. If I really get into driving (showing, parades, etc) I'll get a fancy custom harness but, from the reviews on here and seeing one in person, the Ozark pleasure harness seems like a great investment. Let us know what you decide to go with in the end

 

[studiowvw]

I have the Ozark carriage harness, which I bought used. My mare is a bit big (ok, fat) for it, but it is nice leather and keeps on looking nice. Couple of detail issues with the bridle.

I have agreed to lease a slightly smaller mare, with lots of experience driving BTW, and I expect this harness will fit her better than Lacey.

I've been looking at online harnesses in beta for Lacey - still cheaping out on actually buying one.

One thing I learned over the years is don't buy a cheap new one, and harnesses should be made to fit the animal you want it for.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Hello Ashley, welcome to the forum I am firmly in the 'leather' group but i know there are a few on here who like betathane. As for cleaning, I keep a container of leather cleaning wipes available and wipe down my harness after every use. Then I give it a thorough cleaning and oiling in winter when I am not using it much and there is very little chance of dirt and sweat. It is almost impossible to know what harness will fit your horse if you can't get measurements of the horse in question. Maybe you should wait to order until after your horse has arrived. Then you can take measurements as needed and use the time while you wait for your harness to get to know your new horse and do a bit of ground work with her so she can get to know you as well.

Good luck finding just the right harness and congratulations on joining the fun of having a mini. We had full sized horses for many years too and once we started with minis there was no going back

 

[Grace67]

Welcome and congrats, great thread to follow! I'm waiting on the arrival of my second mini gelding in the next month and will be ordering a harness for him once he gets to me and I can get him measured, will definitely check out the Ozark harnesses as I'm looking for good quality and sturdy for every day use. I've always been a leather snob as well but did go with betathane for the driving lines that I'm using to ground drive my other gelding as everything seems to get dusty in my arena and I don't fret when they drop in the sand or get stepped on like I might with leather. I'll probably choose an all leather harness though.

 

[PaintMeFancy]

It seems like the two that come highly recommended to me are the Ozark pleasure (seems to run about 300) and the comfy harness seems to run around/just over 600

 

[dreamcatcher]

I have a Betathane and a leather harness. Although I prefer the leather over the beta, with all the dust around here the beta is much easier to clean with everyday use. My harness is a few years old (but never used till now) but if I had a choice I would for sure go with the comfy fit. My harnesses came from Chimacum tack (think they have new name now?) as we were good friends with Janie when her shop was in Chimacum and the price was pretty resonable. Gosh that was so long ago, lol!

 

[Lloydyne]

I am new also....after lots of reading (here) and talking to my trainer I went with the comfy fit from Chimicum tack. I am a little OCD and when I was told they could be thrown in the dishwasher I was sold. Not that I would throw it in the dishwasher but it was my deciding moment. My harness is both black and brown and it looks very rich on my lil silver bay. I have actually driven him only twice (I have only had him 5 days) but I have had the harness for quite a while. You know what they say about getting the cart before the horse? I did both...got the cart and the harness before I decided on the horse. I am very happy with my decisions.

 

[PaintMeFancy]

Thanks for all the input!

I picked up the mini last week, Gypsy, and my new cart.. however - my harness is not here.

Found out the trainer I got her from ordered me the harness we had been talking about and shipped it to her - haven't got it in my possession yet and she lives over 2 hours away.

I think I decided I want the comfy harness but will deal with the "cheap" one for now until everything is settled financially and then sell it and buy the comfy. Not what I wanted to do - but it will work!