D-Ring vs. Belly Backer

[Tyler Fournier]

I sense a strong bias towards the d-ring design for farm/logging work vs. a belly backer. Is the d-ring important even if I’m not doing regular, heavy work? Most of what I’ll be doing is light duty twitching, dragging pasture, work sled, etc. If I was buying a new harness I’d go with a d-ring, but I’m looking for a used one. If a decent belly backer surfaces I’m wondering if I should just go with that.

[jac]

Tyler I used to be confused to hell about the debate on this… seems to me the belly backer is a lot more forgiving in regards to seting up…. however… from speaking with folks on here it seems the d ring is the dogs doo dahs..but a bit more critical in setting up.. i hope more knowlegable people kick in here .. i am keen to try it out myself… John

[dehutch]

Tyler,
As I understand it, the big advantage of the d-ring is transferring the weight of implements from the pole to the back saddle as opposed to being on the collar. With a single horse when you’re using shafts, the weight is on the back saddle through the shaft loops anyway so unless you have a team in mind it may not be as important. JMHO

[chrisf.]

I use a D-ring harness with a belly backer system. It keeps my traces pulling good and square on my collars regardless of how high my whippletrees are and I don’t need jockey yokes. However it doesn’t take any of the pole weight off the horse’s neck. Maybe this would be a good option for you.

[Ridge]

The D-ring is a good harness. I have a team d-ring and have had it for about 20 yrs so I can say that. However I also have 3 other team harnesses that are not D-ring and if adjusted correctly work fine. The D-ring is definitely a heavier harness or at least mine are.It is a leather harness so that makes some difference plus it is a heavy built harness. I do a lot of work with horses and see no problem with belly backer or even side backer harness. I really have had no horse or harness problems with any harnesses I have used and I use them every day.The choice is yours.

[mitchmaine]

I have and use both kinds of harness. I think its kind of comparing apples and oranges again. I think the d-ring harness was designed to work in the woods. To hold the pole and tugs taught, up and out of the way so the horse can move free over rough going and stay comfortable doing it. But it adapts to farmwork easily. You can strip the front tugs out (or not) for plow or twitch harness or any job that doesn’t require a pole. Or you can snap in a breast strap for light work. Its great harness. Belly backer harness works well on farm jobs and I like it, but I don’t use it in the woods. It doesn’t seem to hold up well. It would be like cutting wood with sneakers on. You can do it but probably shouldn’t.
When I was looking for harness, people would open their barns and harness closets and dump piles of it on me. Before long they would hear I was looking for harness and bring pickup loads over. I had literally a mountain of harness. Every piece was d-ring. Leather and brass. Mostly made at the state prison. I have to think it was the harness of choice. But maybe there wasn’t a choice, and it was all we made. Who knows? anyway, i’m with ridge and the choice is yours.

[Scott G]

chrisf,
Did you add the d-ring on the tugs yourself?

[chrisf.]

No I bought the harness second hand as is. I’m sure it wouldn’t be a really expensive conversion to do though. Here in Quebec D-ring harness is pretty hard to find. It seems it used to be really popular but I guess people got away with it as horses started to be used more for pleasure than work.

[Anonymous]

I am relatively new to working with horses, and I started out with a belly-backer/western britchen (breeching) – whatever you want to call it – harness. I recently picked up a team that came with New England D-ring, and I’m an instant convert! I work as a Designer/Engineer for a machine shop, and the D-ring is a brilliant piece of engineering. Simple, smart, and beautifully functional. I expect that I will use the D-ring exclusively from here forward for my horses’ sake alone – the locked draft angle of the tug and the pole-weight carrying backpad design make for a more comfortable situation with less chance of soreness/injury at contact points.

That all being said, the other harness styles are all functional and serve many purposes well, and I would recommend that you go with what you can acquire and/or afford.

Hope this helps!

[Author]

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