Book on Harness?

[Timbits]

I’ve meaning to ask this for awhile now, but laziness/busyness has gotten the better of me.

Has anyone come across a good book that talks about the different styles of harness out there. Would love to find one that talks about western/box breeching harness and New England D ring and Yankee and side backer harness? and maybe even breast collar?

Or am i just asking for too much in one book?

Tim

[Jim Ostergard]

Tim,
I think Lynn Miller’s books would be a good place to start. The Work Horse Handbook has lots of good illustrations and discussion on the subject. Training Workhorses, Training Teamsters is good also. Hope this helps.
Jim

[near horse]

Hi Tim,

For some really helpful discussion of line and hitching adjustments and general harness info Steve Bowers’ book Farming with Horses is pretty good. Doesn’t do comparison of different styles of harness but definitely good info on how to make it work for you.

Also, isn’t there a video by Brandt Ainsworth about harness? I think it might be available from Rural Heritage – I’ve only seen bits of it on RFD but it seemed alright.

[Timbits]

@near horse 20355 wrote:

Hi Tim,

For some really helpful discussion of line and hitching adjustments and general harness info Steve Bowers’ book Farming with Horses is pretty good. Doesn’t do comparison of different styles of harness but definitely good info on how to make it work for you.

Ya I’ve got the Farming with horses book. It shows you a picture of different harness but doesn’t really talk about all of them. Seems to just talk about Western/box breeching and breast collar.

I’ll have to look up the other books and movie. Thanks Jim and Near horse.

Tim

[Ira]

Understanding Harness by Barb Lee. Heard of it but never seen a copy so i don’t know how good it is.

Once you get past fitting the collar and hames it is kind of hard to compare D ring to the other styles of harness because of the difference in the way they work.

[mitchmaine]

there is a youtube video out there of two boys harnessing up a horse with a d-ring harness in a snowfall. they explained what they were doing and did a pretty good job of it.

[CharlyBonifaz]

😀 thanks for the tip!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_zpljlfTyQ

[OldKat]

@Timbits 20343 wrote:

I’ve meaning to ask this for awhile now, but laziness/busyness has gotten the better of me.

Has anyone come across a good book that talks about the different styles of harness out there. Would love to find one that talks about western/box breeching harness and New England D ring and Yankee and side backer harness? and maybe even breast collar?

Or am i just asking for too much in one book?

Tim

I bought a book one time that I thought would do just what you are askig about, but it really didn’t. It was titled something like “Harness Makers Guide” or similar. It has dimensions for the various types of harness, but it was first published about 1895 and I suspect that the horses of that era were quite a bit smaller than what we see today. Also, it really doesn’t go into why each particular type was used or its benefits. So I really only bring this up so that people so inclined to buy a book on harness design be cautious and investigate before forking over your hard earned cash.

BTW: This particular book did not mention the New England D Ring harness by name, and although it has been a couple of years since I last looked at it; I do think it had something that strikes me (best I can remember it) as a similar design, which was called a “Boston Backer” harness. By any chance is this the same design?

[Ira]

@OldKat 20417 wrote:

BTW: This particular book did not mention the New England D Ring harness by name, and although it has been a couple of years since I last looked at it; I do think it had something that strikes me (best I can remember it) as a similar design, which was called a “Boston Backer” harness. By any chance is this the same design?

I think that the “Boston Backer” is called a “side backer ” now
Another thing that I have noticed is that years ago folks tended to use the Dring without the back pad especially in southern New england.

[Author]

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