DAPNET Forums Archive › Forums › Draft Animal Power › Horses › hames?
- This topic has 18 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 9 months ago by
Jay.
- AuthorPosts
- February 8, 2014 at 8:36 pm #82427
PeytonM
ParticipantCan anyone one tell me if what caused the hames to come forward on the collar and slowly come off? I have two horses it slowly does it to. Is it just they arn’t bent right for their collar? I used these harnesses on a 17.2 and 18H horse and they fit fine, I put them them on a 16 hand hand horse and they dont fit right.
Thanks
February 8, 2014 at 8:53 pm #82428carl ny
ParticipantWhat size collar and what size hames? Sounds like hames are to big or not adjusted right. Where are the upper hames straps on the top? Try dropping them down a notch.
carl ny
February 9, 2014 at 1:57 pm #82432Donn Hewes
KeymasterAs Carl suggests hames must fit the collar. There are some adjustments that can be used to effect the shape of the collar or ensure the proper point of draft (the point where the tugs take off from the hames in relation to the horses shoulder). While adjusting the upper or lower hames straps can effect all these things the hames still need to be the right size for the collar. If the different horses you are working with use collars that are two inches different, the hames may fit both collars if the upper hames strap holder starts out in the upper notch and you lower it to the lowest notch for the smaller collar)
For this reason most horses don’t share their collar or harness with another horse; as adjusting these things is just too much trouble. With each adjustment you risk messing up the collar shape or point of draft. good luck. donn
February 9, 2014 at 3:27 pm #82433ParticipantWell I got this harness with my first Belgians I got and they are a little too small for them they had things added on to strech them out a little o they would work, I have a nice leather set I use on that team now I have a Belgian mare and two pecheron mares, when I got the Belgian mare there was a gelding with her but I took him back and made these harnesses I’m having game issues with on the mare gelding team, I have a deal worked with the guy who owned these perch cause he ran out of hay and had to sell them and I didn’t have much for money so we made a deal, I didn’t get their harnesses with them I have 2 adjustable collars I got for nothing when I got got bunch of horse stuff from a guy. The collars and hames are 24 26 adjable one collar in have set at 26 with a pad and the other is at 25 with out pad, ill post a pic, it also is on the brown leather collars that I have these issues with if that means anything the black ones fit fine
February 9, 2014 at 7:25 pm #82434ParticipantSounds like the right size. Do those brown collars have a good channel for the hames to set down in.I know that the collars for a light buggy horse have a very narrow channel for the thin hames of the light driving harness. A heavy hame would not set down in the channel. Ran into that problem once when I had my draft ponies. Just a thought to check out. Compare the brown ones to the black ones. Let us know what you find out.
carl ny
February 10, 2014 at 12:55 pm #82437Participanteverything thing sits fine until your down to the buckle, I’ve been told brown collars break in easier, I have a pic on my phone but I cant get it to upload. I don’t know if you can bend hames or how you would do it
My next question is how much of a space should you have on the bottom? I’ve noticed on some of my horses there’s almost no gap at all and then some there is quite a bit. The two adjustable collars I got from the same guy I got the heavy leather harness I put on my bigger team. I got the harnesses, the two adjustable collars, 2 old farm harnesses and a heavy white oak bob sled for 1200 both of the harnesses were REALLY dry and I took them to the amish and they soaked them in oil and let the sun bake them then would dip them again, I’m going to drop them both off again this spring for another oiling, the Collars he used with these leather harnesses, had a team of belgian mares one die’d out of nowhere in harness just flopped over dead and the other one passed a few years back and he was just looking to sell his stuff, he still has a New Idea spreader I’d really like to get my hands on thats is all restored over there but he wouldn’t sell it to me yet. needs a new pole cause when the horse died she fell on the pole.
so now that I’ve gone way off track I’ll steer back on track, I feel as if I would have to bend the lower part in some, theres 8 inches from one hame to other on the bottom with the loops included, Would it help if I made the top strap a little longer a made my bottom tighter? so if I’d drop 2 holes on the top strap pick up two more holes on the bottom? Id say they are spaced pretty equal.
February 10, 2014 at 1:29 pm #82439KeymasterHi Peyton, These are hard questions to answer. Especially without pictures. With hames that are the right size for the collar; which is 2″ bigger than the collar I believe the curves in the hames will match the collar and they will fit together. They really are not meant to be bent. With out any straps (top or bottom), you can tell if the hames fits the collar. By raising and lower the attachment of the upper hames you can effectively change the length of the hames to some degree. That way one hames might be adjusted to fit collars about 2″ different from one and other. By adjusting where the upper hames is attached to the collar you can chose to make the collar a little narrower perhaps or shorter and wider, but these adjustments are done in tandem with adjusting which holes for the top and bottom strap and will effect the point of draft.
If the point of draft is too low, shorten the upper hames strap; if the point of draft is too high make the upper hames strap longer, but you are limited by how much you can do this with out effecting the shape of the collar. If a collar will fit a horse better if it is a 1/2 shorter and a little wider, use the upper hames adjustment to make the hames a little shorter, then adjust the length of the upper strap to determine point of draft and hames fit to collar. If a collar will fit a horse better if it is a 1/2 longer and a little narrower on the neck, you can make the hames a little longer and this will squeeze the collar that way. These “tricks” are limited in their reach and you still need to start with the right size collar and hames. These can be hard to figure out with old harnesses and old collars. I would start with the collar on the horse; how well does it fit? tight any where? too loose any where? The I would hold up a hames and see if it will begin to fit the collar. If it does, I would then try different strap adjustments until I got all the key points where I wanted them. Good Luck
February 10, 2014 at 5:37 pm #82441ParticipantPeyton;
For me it’s hard to explain without being there but I agree with Don on everything.carl ny
February 10, 2014 at 5:41 pm #82443Participantanyone here have a cell number I could text you the pic of my mare. I cant get it to up load.
February 11, 2014 at 7:41 pm #82452KeymasterHi Peyton, Unfortunately I don’t have cell phone. can you get it on to your computer? Is it a file? if so you should be able to scroll down and hit the “Browse” button under attachments. find that file and “open” it to attach it. I will try to attach a photo here. Donn
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.February 11, 2014 at 8:31 pm #82455ParticipantI got it figured out how to load off my cell
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.February 12, 2014 at 9:54 am #82465KeymasterHi Peyton, I am glad you got to post the pictures. It is hard to tell for sure from the photos, but it looks like the collar might be too big for the horse. This will usually work OK if you are training or not really working hard. Of course it could just be the photo.
The hames seems to fit the collar OK. Does the hames start out in the groove of the collar and then come out while you are working? When the strap is tightened initially it should be tight enough so you can’t pull it out like that. If it is tight but comes out when you pull on it with your hand then the hames might be too long. How is the hames set at the adjustment at the top? If the hames is the right length and doesn’t come out easily by hand but comes out while working another possibility is that the quarter straps and pole strap are too long. When the harness is on the horse but not hooked yet, pulling the breast strap snap forward and it should not reach in front of the collar. There should be a straight line following the hames and continuing down to the snap. If the snap is free to come forward of that line it may lift the hames off the collar (like in the picture) when you stop or back.
Just some things to look at. good luck, Donn
February 12, 2014 at 10:02 am #82466ParticipantI can put three fingers in a row between her neck and the collar, this is the way all my collars are and I’ve never had any issues in theses photos I was starting to unharness her and she only had stuff on the front side to get undone yet so the collar looks like it was rocked forward a bit. I get the hames on the collar tight but I think part of the issue is in the strap I’m using because It seems to get loose after I buckle it. I’m gonna harness them up again tonight if I’m not at work too late tonight and see what happens.
February 14, 2014 at 6:52 pm #82484wally b
ParticipantWhat are you using the horse on? If forecart or tongue then your traces or hold back can be too long, causing the neck drop to move forward enough to pull the neck yoke forward and pull off. If these things are properly adjusted, when the horse stops and drops it’s hind end onto the brichen the force of the tongue on the neck drop pulls down, more than forward on the hames. If too long as I said it will pull forward and can pull off. If your collar is too big or hames too big for the collar the whole thing can come loose as well.
Your collar looks too big for the horse and the hames is too big for the collar that the horse needs. The lower hames strap could be too wide to fit into the grove in the collar as well.
I bet it’s a combination of all three of these things. Once you have the right collar size and hames for collar, adjust your hold back to keep the neck drop hook from moving too forward of a line along the axis of the hames. Then you should be fine.
Wally
February 15, 2014 at 1:40 pm #82488ParticipantFound out my issue I think the guy ibgotbtheses collars Grimm had then laying on a shelf like the would go on a horse, hame side up, and I looked at them close today, the top of the collar has a nice wide groove and as it goes to the bottoms it gets really narrow so I’m assuming the collar is deformed alittle, I got a shorter strap and tighten up more and more as I’m working them and its seems to be making a groove again, I’m gonna put the hames on them when I’m done and try to get then to make a wider groove again.
- AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.