Pictures of my Camptown Harness!!

[Chamomile]

I got my new harness today, and of course it was lightning and thundering and blowing and raining, so I couldn't try it out!!! I was soooo bummed. I may get up early and put it on her though

: Anyway, I took some close up photos. Sorry for the blurryness. I'm getting a new fancy camera and will take some really good pictures with that in a week or so :bgrin I can't wait!! This harness is so refined, yet sturdy and soft and comfy feeling. It really is scaled down to the minis so well. Every part of it looks like someone took their time and did the best job they could possibly do. I looked it over very carefully and can't find ANYTHING I don't like!! I think Cammy is really going to appreciate this harness

: Anyway, onto the pictures!

This is an up close of the poll strap. I LOVE how it is curved to fit AROUND the horses ears, just like a big horse bridle!!!

Here are two shots of the noseband. It is VERY padded and the chin area has two buckles and leather lined padding!! I LOVE this caveson!!!

Here is the attachment of the caveson to the bridle. So the caveson can't slide forward... geesh that is sooo annoying when the happens!!

Here are the blinkers. I love the rounded look. I think it shows the horses head so much nicer than big square ones...

Here are my reins. I got the 3/4 inch webbing reins. The first half of the reins, that attaches to the bridle is brown beta and the last half that I will hang onto is nice soft webbing...

Here is the famous Freedom Collar! I wanted to show how it is really a nice size for the minis.

Here is how the traces attach to the collar...

And here is the trace end that attaches to the single tree.

So there it is! All the pictures that I wish I could have seen when I was shopping. I will take some pictures of it on Cammy too. Either tomorrow morning or next week when I get back from Seattle! And then I'll have my new camera too

:

 

[nootka]

I got to see Leia's at the show this last weekend, and I really loved it.

The bridle is beautiful, the freedom collar looks comfy and the saddle, too!

I hope just maybe I could get one for Mousie!

Congratulations. iHope you get to try it on her soon.



Liz M.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Hehe, yes, have I mentioned I got mine in the mail last Thursday and already have pictures driving with it??

: I'm so bad! But since I was packing for Pacific Crown I didn't have time to post them. Those are great pictures Mindy, I'll put them up on the Product ReView page of the cde4vse.com website when I get time. Amy got hers a week or so ago now (matte black with russet trim I believe) and mine is all black but patent with brown SuperGrip reins so we have quite a variety to show. :aktion033: My bridle doesn't quite fit but everything else is perfect and I am VERY happy with it. Kody seemed to like it too and I noticed that there was little impression left in the fur on his back when I took the harness off as opposed to when using my show harness a few days later with a much lighter cart.

: Yay for gig saddles!

I'm also pleased because it has a lot of the same features of my Ozark Mtn. Carriage harness like the blinder shape and cavesson double-buckles as well as roller buckles everywhere. (God bless roller buckles!) I improvised the cheek strap keepers with electrical tape on my leather harness and found that works surprisingly well. I was glad to see a provision made for that on this harness although I need to mess with it a bit in order to get the cavesson as high as I want it on Kody.

Leia

 

[Chamomile]

Hi Leia! You have pictures of it ON a horse!!! No fair!

: What about your bridle doesn't fit? It's going to be a busy day today and it's not very nice out so I'm not sure that I'll get to try it on Cammy today

: Oh geeze if I have to go to Seattle without getting to try it on first, I may go crazy!!!

Also does your Ozark Mountain caveson have all the padding? Even the padding on the back side of the caveson? That's one of my favorite parts

:

I also use electrical tape on my other bridle for my caveson

: It does work well and blends in nicely! I am very interested in seeing Amy's harness as well as yours. The reins in particular, as there are no pictures of the reins on the site, so it was hard to choose without seeing them. If you will wait a week or so I'll take even better pictures with my new fancy camera of all the same things. And if there is anything else you would like pictures of I'll do it! I'm very excited to get my new camera, can you tell :bgrin

 

[Chamomile]

Well I got to put it on Cammy... I didn't have time to drive her too, but at least I got to put it on her!!!

Here are two side shots...

And an up close of the bridle, and how it cups the ear...

And here is a nice front shot of the bridle again and the collar...

An up close picture of the Freedom Collar...

Finally a back view.... I tried to show how much clearance there is under the saddle...

Leia, do you use a pad under the saddle? I tried to put my gator pad under there, but it didn't really seem to work very well...

I'm very happy with the fit and the way it wraps itself around Cammy. We are going to have many many many happy driving hours with this!!!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

What about your bridle doesn't fit?

Considering that the bridle is the only thing on the entire harness that isn't absolutely perfect, I hesitate to complain! LOL. Normally harnesses seem to require quite a bit of adjusting all over no matter how precisely you measured and this one was exactly as I ordered it right down to the height of the tug loops on the horse's side. :aktion033: They got the browband and cavesson just right, but the blinkers sit too low on his face with no room to go up and the crownpiece is too "tall" for lack of a better description. I ended up inserting a folded sponge under it to raise it up so it would fit to test drive him in.

It's going to be a busy day today and it's not very nice out so I'm not sure that I'll get to try it on Cammy today

: Oh geeze if I have to go to Seattle without getting to try it on first, I may go crazy!!!

Hey Mindy, why don't you come see me and Kody while you're over here? :new_shocked: Seriously, I'm about 30 minutes north of Seattle and I'd love to meet you! :aktion033: PM me and I'll send you my cell number.

Also does your Ozark Mountain caveson have all the padding? Even the padding on the back side of the caveson? That's one of my favorite parts

:

No, the padding is one reason I wanted the Camptown harness for trail driving and CDE's. There is a pad of leather on the back of my cavesson keeping the buckles off the horse's chin though.

Leia, do you use a pad under the saddle? I tried to put my gator pad under there, but it didn't really seem to work very well...

I can't see Photobucket pictures here at work but I'll look as soon as I get home. Yes, I used a Pillow Pad on my test drive just to keep the harness clean in case I needed to send any parts back for refitting. I'd ordered them to use with my Ozark harness and then when I started using the Mini Express theraputic pad I still kept the Pillow Pads because I knew they'd fit my Camptown when I eventually gave up and bought one. It seemed like a waste not to use them once I had it! LOL. I don't think the saddle needs any additional padding but using a thin one keeps the saddle from getting all nasty with sweat and the Pillow Pads are sort of grippy so I noticed it stayed in place very comfortably on the horse. Plus I love giving him that extra bit of firm squish under the saddle- I feel like he's completely rigged for comfort in this outfit! :aktion033:

Kody is funny about his stuff. He's actually pretty tolerant of most harness arrangements even if they aren't quite perfect but I'm getting so I can tell how he feels about things. The last synthetic harness I tried he didn't like at all. He didn't bite me or anything but his posture was stiff and irritated and he was clearly letting me put it on him as a personal favor.

: He outright backpedaled when I went to put on the bridle. His leather harness he's familiar with and is always eager to have put on because it means he's going driving but I don't think he particularly likes or dislikes it. I have to be very respectful when bridling him for instance and leave the cavesson unbuckled, etc. I don't think he likes how closely it squeezes his ears so there's always this moment of trying to pull his poll away from me as I slide it over the second ear and then he tries to rub it off on anyone who dares to head him. I'd just figured that was something he did, you know? But I figured out last year he doesn't like the feeling of a buckled cavesson scraping up the bridge of his nose as he's bridled and now I recognize that he doesn't like the way the straight headpiece fits behind his ears. He hated the stiff breastcollar with the synthetic harness and started nipping me when I put it on him after the second drive. (That harness got sent back. I don't believe in arguing with the horse when he says he doesn't like something! :stupid But generally unless he really dislikes something, he is pretty good about it.

The Camptown harness? Well, I got the Freedom Collar before the rest of the harness and he gave me the most comically suspicious look as I put it on him the first time clearly thinking it was the stiffer collar. It was funny watching his expressive face cycle through annoyance to confusion to dawning interest and relief and after the first drive he was clearly sold on it. The next time I put it on he was like "Yes! Yes! Tack me up! Let's go Mom! Put it on!"

: He loves it now and tries to help me do up the martingale if I'm not harnessing fast enough.

: So when I got the full harness and went to put it on him I was watching carefully and he was relaxed and interested, participating cheerfully in the process and helping me with adjustments until everything was just right. (Yes, he actually reaches around and touches parts until they are where he wants them! :new_shocked You could tell that he was enjoying how the saddle sat on his back and liked the soft padding everywhere and I liked how the padding was unobtrusive and in scale. The bridle didn't fit as I mentioned but I went to pull it up and over his ears and he dropped his head softly without pulling away and seemed quite pleased with how the crownpiece fit. Now granted it's looser than it should be, but still. He also didn't try to rub anything but his nose on me after that so I think the curved crown is a definite hit with him. Always remember that when your horse is being obnoxious they are probably trying to tell you something the only way they can!

Leia

 

[Chamomile]

Oh my gosh Leia! That would be great if my husband and I can fit a visit in!! I would LOVE that! I'll PM you :bgrin

I agree about the crown piece. I honestly don't understand why all the bridles don't have this feature. The way it fits gently around the ear is just so wonderful! Cammy didn't mind one bit when I did up her caveson. Coming from a dressage background I like my caveson pretty snug and she never likes it on any other bridle, so I have to drive with it looser than "I" like

: But this bridle!! I LOVE it!!! There isn't anything about it that I don't like. It's just a beautiful piece of work. I'm seriously thinking about trimming a little bit of my other crown piece to make it more comfortable. Hmmmm.... I'm going to look at it. If it looks a little complicated I'll take it to my saddle maker friend. He just "loves" it when I bring him my mini stuff for fixing

:

I'll have to try my pad again. I just couldn't get it settled the way I wanted and it looked so akward under the saddle... I wish it was longer, the saddle pad I mean....

 

[hobbyhorse23]

And here is a nice front shot of the bridle again and the collar...

An up close picture of the Freedom Collar...

Okay, I can finally see the pictures. Cammy looks so cute!! You've invited harness critiqueing in the past so may I offer one or two small suggestions gleaned from my own fitting the other day? (I know you've encouraged my commentary in the past on your Hyperbike threads but please put it in writing here so I don't get in trouble with Mary Lou for unsolicited critiqueing.

1) Consider putting the saddle quite a bit further back. My Ozark saddle always looks too far forward to me in pictures but in person it seemed like I couldn't possibly move it any further back without causing him problems. The Camptown harness however didn't sit at all well in the same spot so I had no choice but to experiment a little. Then I looked at the pictures of him moving and was forced to realize that it really did need to go almost completely off the withers in order to fit right. I moved it back while unharnessing and suddenly the saddle sat smooth and even on his spine instead of tilting back like it's currently doing on Cammy. That also makes the collar and saddle arrangement look much less crowded and eliminates any chance of pinching between the two edges. (I even did that with my Ozark harness at the Pacific Crown show this last weekend and you know it worked fine and looked much better! :aktion033

2) Shorten your backstrap to bring the breeching forward a little on her hip. On this style of breeching that first strap is meant to sit quite far forward in order to keep the breeching level.

If it still doesn't hang level, take up a notch on the rear or let the front out one until it does lie flat.

3) The Freedom Collar: If I'm seeing those pictures right it looks like you've got the collar hanging one hole lower in the front than in the back right now. The collar is actually intended to hang the other way around (higher in the front) and Cammy's built so it would fit her just fine that way. Even with horizontal draft I think I'd experiment with dropping the rear strap at least a notch to see how it fits her. The way you have it now you can see in that last photo how it's sort of sitting on its edge instead of contouring to her shoulder. Remember, this is modeled after the Zilco Empathy collar which is an upside-down W shape, not a deeply cutout straight breastcollar! :bgrin The pull will still be correct with horizontal draft as the short hames will rotate up but it will be distributed better if the collar itself is laying flat on her shoulder.

By the way, you'll find that the Freedom Collar works great with the Hyperbike because it has a lower angle of draft that is very attractive (and effective!) with the FC. Make sure the front is higher than the rear for that vehicle at least.

Again, Cammy looks wonderful! You have a PM too.

Leia

Edited for numbering

:

 

[Chamomile]

Oh yes Leia

: I alway accept any and all critiquing!! I always have more to learn and am eager to do so

: . Thank you for all the suggestions. I really appreciate them and more importantly, Cammy will too

: I'll do as you suggested on everything. It's pouring rain here today and I have a lot of cleaning to do before we leave, not to metion packing for 4 people for a weeks worth of stay!!

: But when I get home I'll be hitching her up and away we will go!!

I forgot to mention that I didn't have time to hitch her, but I took her around ground driving in the harness and she didn't want to go back to her halter! I had to drag her back there to take it off. :bgrin I LOVE that!!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I will never tire of learning about harnessing. Each year, each new harness and cart and horse and application brings new lessons and understanding. Thank you for letting me share and learn from you as well!

Leia