DAPNET Forums Archive › Forums › Equipment Category › Equipment › Which is best?
- This topic has 10 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 5 months ago by
Andy Carson.
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- June 8, 2011 at 8:39 pm #42782
Robert MoonShadow
ParticipantI’m looking at the harnesses that St. Paul saddlery offers, and I’ve seen a piece of biothane, but not beta…since both & the leather are all the same price at St P’s, I’m wondering which would be best for my application? I don’t like the backing on the granite, which (I think) is different than the other two? It seems to me that it’s bound to irritate their skin, but people use it, so maybe I’m wrong on that?
I’ll be using the harnesses mostly in single on my donkeys, for all around farm work, as well as driving and snigging firewood logs out of the woods. These are standard/lg standard donks. It gets triple-digit hot around here for most of the summer. Although I don’t intend to work them (or myself) much in the gardens in the heat, that’s also when they’ll be mostly used up in the higher mountains for firewood. So I’d prefer lightness and strength. I’ve heard that the biothane can get very hot in the sun. I’d asked the difference in the materials, but never really asked which would be best. My concerns are mainly to get the harness as light as possible for their comfort in this heat, but the main criteria is to not sacrifice strength {and thus safety} for comfort. Maybe I’m not looking at it right, and harness design might be more of a factor than material for the weight/strength/comfort equation?June 12, 2011 at 4:22 pm #67597J-L
ParticipantI have not seen what they (St. Paul) are backing it with Robert, but the most common stuff I’ve seen backing synthetic harness is the shiny plastic covered nylon. It is what is on two of my harnesses and works good.
Like you I thought that stuff wouldn’t be good for the animals, but doesn’t seem to rub too bad for daily use (we don’t get that kind of heat though, 90 is damn hot here). The nylon its self does rub more than leather in my experience, but is tough as nails. I like the look of that newer granite material. It would make nice harness I think. Hope some one with experience with that material will chime in.
Don’t know if that helps or not.June 12, 2011 at 5:50 pm #67595Rod
ParticipantI have both and like the batathane (it may be granite material) much better. It’s llghter and more flexable. Try Chimacum Tack for your donkey harnesses. I have two harnesses made by them and love them, easy people to work with and they do mule and donkey harnesses as a standard in their on-line catalogue. http://www.chimacumtack.com/horseharness/pleasurehorsedrivingharness.shtml
June 13, 2011 at 12:58 am #67600ParticipantJ-L ~
The granite stuff I looked at is a piece of harness strap that the Demented Dame has…seems like really rough stuff to have against a hot sweaty animal. This might be an old, unimproved piece…?
Rod ~ Thanks for the link!June 13, 2011 at 5:03 am #67602HeeHawHaven
ParticipantYou could come down and check mine out! St. Paul uses lots of leathe even with the synthetics. It’s good for the money, but I wonder if I would have preferred paying a little more… I think that it is plenty good for what I do, but maybe not good enough for the serious loggers and farmers.
Dave
June 13, 2011 at 5:40 am #67598near horse
ParticipantI have nylon harness with beta lines. The backsaddle on the harness is biothane (I think – cause it’s shiny etc). So IMO – beta does a pretty good impression of leather, at least as lines. Nice with some weight to ’em like leather, flexible etc. Nylon harness is pretty tough stuff so wouldn’t worry so much there. BUT, it seems like the nylon doesn’t have the “memory” that leather does – kind of like a nice broken in boot that fits just right. The times I’ve used leather harness with a team that had been using it, the harness seemed to just fall into place when hoisted up. My nylon gets twists etc and sometimes requires some unfolding etc when harnessing.
I’d go leather if I could afford it – if not, then nylon/beta is fine enough.
June 13, 2011 at 11:40 am #67596ParticipantOne other thought is to not over build the harnesses. You are not using them on big draft horses and amount you can pull with donkeys will not be limited by the strength of the materials. A lighter weight harness is very nice to put on and take off.
June 13, 2011 at 2:08 pm #67601Participant@HeeHawHaven 27590 wrote:
You could come down and check mine out! St. Paul uses lots of leathe even with the synthetics. It’s good for the money, but I wonder if I would have preferred paying a little more… I think that it is plenty good for what I do, but maybe not good enough for the serious loggers and farmers.
Dave
In what way?
June 13, 2011 at 2:15 pm #67603ParticipantStitching around rivets not as hardy as id like. Rod’s right, your donkeys will never break them.
D
June 13, 2011 at 2:17 pm #67604Andy Carson
ModeratorI really like my nylon harness, but I also use leather in several spots. I use a leather bridle, and would think twice about using nylon in this place because of the rubbing. I had some rubbing along the traces of my nylon harness as well, but prevented this by covering the part that rubbed with leather. It worked really well and was an easy fix. I think a high quality leather harness is great (other than that it’s heavy), but some cheap leather harnesses are just plain horrible.
June 13, 2011 at 9:29 pm #67599TBigLug
Participant@Countymouse 27598 wrote:
…a high quality leather harness is great (other than that it’s heavy)…
Hit the nail on the head right there. That’s why I switched to the “dull” bio (it might be what you all call beta but not sure). I’ve hooked it to some really heavy stuff (logs, rocks, 16″ plow in heavy clay) and it never gave me an inclination that it was any weaker than my leather harnesses.
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