That's interesting! Every mini harness I have seen has had the tug strap attached by a ring. Only the lower-quality synthetic Amish harnesses had a screw and I never knew that could be removed to change the tug strap length. I always thought that was a sign of a poorly made harness as it stressed the tug strap material when the shafts swung forward or back as they will in a wrap strap arrangement like I used to have.
I can see where having the ring would reduce the stress point, but I doubt that it is a sign of lower quality. All of my Driving Essentials saddles are built this way, as well as our Smucker's Better Fit Deluxe saddle. Granted, they are both Amish made, but I also have seen some Freedman's harness built the same way, too.
Hmm. I was going to say that the tugs and shaft loops are not the same (that the strap was the tug) but now that I think about it we have "open tugs" and "French tugs" and such, which means the so-called "shaft loops" must really be the tugs and the strap that holds them up is, as you say, the "tug
bearing strap" rather than being the "tug" itself. You learn something new every day!
I learned the name of that part from Jan at Driving Essentials. I was going to order an extension strap from the tug bearing strap to the girth to replace the tug for tandem. She said that all I needed was longer tug bearing straps that would buckle directly into the overgirth. Although not strictly "correct", we didn't have to buy a completely new saddle to drive tandem in competition. (I only change out the bearing straps for shows, and just use the tugs for practice.) Jan knows all sorts of names of parts I never knew! Scouring (and wishing) the DE catalogs and website also helps me learn my harness parts!
They have them broke out pretty well.
Myrna