[drivingpairs] Harness and Horse Choices
- From: kathy robertson <goodhors@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 12:22:49 -0800 (PST)
Welcome to the group. We have great discussions and a
lot of viewpoints to draw from!
I have a couple of questions for you. Do you have a
certain main goal in your driving? Your later posts
mentioned Combined Driving, but also driving for fun,
maybe some shows? I am just bringing this up because
your horses mentioned, are gaited horses. I like
gaited horses, this is not any kind of critism. Just
bringing to your attention that formal carriage
driving, of any kind, requires a correct trot in gait
requirements. If horse can't do a regular trot, he
cannot compete and expect to place in CDE or Carriage
classes. I have seen a really pretty pair of blue
roan TWH out trail driving, some single TWHs with a
cart on picnic drives. They were nice! Just never at
carriage competitions.
> We have a jet black Sabino Missouri Foxtrotter
> mare who is supposedly trained to drive, (I haven't
tried her out yet) and her coming 2 year old. I know
the Foxtrotters have a good mentality for driving--the
Paso Finos are intelligent and seemingly calm at this
point, LOL. The future should be interesting.
Harness choices are dictated by what you expect from
your horse. A lot of the Recreational Drivers group
go out for many hours, DAYS!, on rough ground. They
expect MUCH more from their animals than most modern
folks would ever ask. A neck collar does give a
bigger surface to pull against, spreads the load over
bigger skin area. Hames can change the leverage
factor horse uses to the vehicle. Actually RED folks
might sometimes be considered EXTREME drivers. Very
specialised in how they have fixed equipment and
harness. Their equipment would be used differently
than the pleasure driver, or for CDE competitions.
It never hurts to do comparisons of styles to use.
Tweaking this or that, makes you more confident in
your choices, knowledge lets you make changes. What
works best for a show, could be a poor choice for the
all day Sunday drive.
All harness styles should have a good leverage angle
to pull with, well fitted to horse and vehicle. Wide
breast collars, shaped throat fitting on the top, is
nice on the horse, allowing head down comfortably.
Full neck collars do not work well on horses bouncing
along at a canter, or perhaps at speed of
cross-country with the spring mounted pole of a modern
vehicle. That kind of movement in full collar, would
probably bruise the horse!
We have both breast collars and full neck collars.
We much prefer the breast collars, to ensure better
fit with constant changing of horses in work. We use
them going down the road, but are often out 3-4 hours
at a time. Horses are thin skinned, rub easily. Not
tolerant of constant pain! Breast collars do a better
job for us. Not really enough load to need full
collars, plus we gallop at times. Full collars also
take skin conditioning to keep from getting sore.
Neck and collar area must be kept very clean to
prevent burns, rubs.
For what most of us do using our animals, the wide
breast collar is a better choice for animals. Pads
are good if they stay in place. A lot of synthetic
harness is very good. Everyone LOVES the ease in
care. Check for quality of fit and buckles. Poor
hardware and fit are the biggest complaints in cheaper
synthetics. Allow your Amish man to COPY the harness
you like. Most use Standardbred horse as harness
model, sizing. Doesn't fit other horses well. Wider
harness saddle for singles, to carry shaft load over
bigger skin area. Buckle-in trace buckles are
recommended, single or Pair, so you just change traces
to suit vehicle. Don't cut holes in the traces that
don't fit! You might like to check out the more
modern harness, with two rings on breast collar chest
of Pair harness. Allows you more options when
harnessing to vehicles. There are a lot of folks here
who can recommend good harness makers, and a couple of
good harness makers here on the group!
Seldom is anyone wrong in harness discussions, but
what you want to do in driving, would focus your
choices in one or another direction. If you have
time, you should view the archives, lots of
information there! Titles are often misleading, so
you have to follow the replies, and things may go off
in totally different directions! Keep asking
questions, someone will try to help you.
Kathy Robertson
> I was actually looking at pairs harness when I
> stumbled across this group. I have two leather horse
and one cob single harness. I am thinking of going
> to Beta for the pairs harness, for the maintenance
> factor. Then a person on
> the Recreational Driving list recommended that I use
> collars--something I have
> avoided because of fit. Since I don't do any "dirt
> work" would it be too bad to
> drive the pair in breast straps instead of collars?
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