Laura,
Thank you for sharing what I'm sure is a horrible incident to relive. I've thought of your story many times, and am so thankful that Mia was not hurt and that your injuries were no more serious than they were. I wish every driver could read your story -- especially those who think that nothing can go wrong with such a small horse.
I have to say, though, that it reaffirms my strong belief that we should never assume that any harness, no matter what the material, will break and ALWAYS carry an appropriate knife for emergencies. I realize that a knife would not have helped in your case, but I'm not sure that a higher quality harness, with its corresponding better hardware, would necessarily have broken.
Every harness (and cart) is a potential danger for driver and horse, and we all would do well by considering what we would do in the worst case scenario.
