Harness

[FELLMAN]

Im on the brink of ordering my first set of harness for one of my fell ponies, the chap im dealing with has offerd me either Webbing, biothane, or leather , he said the leather is made by the Amish and is very good and strong but he recomended i didnt go for it as its not very inter changeable more a “one horse harness ” if you see what i mean , the harness will be used for a bit of farm work and im swaying towards webbing at the moment , what are your oppinians ???? webbing, biothane or leather ??

Thanks for reading.

[jac]

Hi Fellman…. the harness I use is the nylon webbing set from Arron Martin and have been well pleased with it. the collars are from the Coblentz collar shop. Dont be tempted to go for the “split leather” collars.. go for the top grain every time.. I set each horse up with their own harness. Ther is a newish material called “granite” which looks ok.. good luck with it. Im happy that someone else is hitching for farm work in Scotland… thought I was the only one there for a while :D..
John

[FELLMAN]

In tyhe end i went for biothaine from pionner and im very pleased with it, another question though , how do you guys store your harness when not in use ?? im thinking of makeing something but a pic would be good for me to copy 😀 anyone help ??

[Lanny Collins]

@FELLMAN 26681 wrote:

In tyhe end i went for biothaine from pionner and im very pleased with it, another question though , how do you guys store your harness when not in use ?? im thinking of makeing something but a pic would be good for me to copy 😀 anyone help ??

I have biothane harness for my QH team as well. I have never attached a picture but will try. First I will just describe it and if you need a pic I will try to send one.

Basically, I have a piece of PVC plastic pipe about 2.5 meters long and around 75mm in diameter.

I feed small square bales of hay and the bales of hay are tied with string we call binder twine. I take some of this twine and tie it to the rafter in my shop building (one twine on either end of the pipe). At the bottom of the twine is just a loop that the pipe runs through. The loops of twine are about 300mm from the very end of the pipe.
One harness is put on each end of the pipe. From the center of the pipe going toward the ends will be breeching, saddle, hames/collar, and the bridel and lines will be at the very ends.
When I’m ready to harness I usually pull the line, bridle, and collar for one horse. After putting on the collar I go back and run my arm inside the remaining harness with one arm and pull the pipe out of the twine loop with the other arm.
I usually put the pipe through the crupper which helps hold it on the pipe. Sometimes the saddle wants to rotate on this small diameter pipe but usually I try to equalize the straps to balance the weight either side. I could use a larger diameter pipe but then it probably would not go through the center of my crupper.
I like this rack as I can slide the harness parts so that they are not stacked on top of each other so they dry quickly and I can easily clean and repair the harness from either side as well as both ends.
Let me know if I described it well enough or if you need a pic. It is not too pretty but it works good for me and it didn’t cost too much, and I can relocate it easy if I want to.:)

PS: forgot to mention. With this system you can customize the height of the pipe depending on your height. If you want to free up floor space all you need to do is put pulley’s at the top of the twine (tied to rafter) and after loading the harness you can hoist it up to the top part of your ceiling and be able to walk under it, provide you have high enough walls. I used to hang riding saddles like that. With a biothane harness the higher temperatures (close to the ceiling) will not harm it.

[FELLMAN]

@Lanny Collins 26687 wrote:

I have biothane harness for my QH team as well. I have never attached a picture but will try. First I will just describe it and if you need a pic I will try to send one.

Basically, I have a piece of PVC plastic pipe about 2.5 meters long and around 75mm in diameter.

I feed small square bales of hay and the bales of hay are tied with string we call binder twine. I take some of this twine and tie it to the rafter in my shop building (one twine on either end of the pipe). At the bottom of the twine is just a loop that the pipe runs through. The loops of twine are about 300mm from the very end of the pipe.
One harness is put on each end of the pipe. From the center of the pipe going toward the ends will be breeching, saddle, hames/collar, and the bridel and lines will be at the very ends.
When I’m ready to harness I usually pull the line, bridle, and collar for one horse. After putting on the collar I go back and run my arm inside the remaining harness with one arm and pull the pipe out of the twine loop with the other arm.
I usually put the pipe through the crupper which helps hold it on the pipe. Sometimes the saddle wants to rotate on this small diameter pipe but usually I try to equalize the straps to balance the weight either side. I could use a larger diameter pipe but then it probably would not go through the center of my crupper.
I like this rack as I can slide the harness parts so that they are not stacked on top of each other so they dry quickly and I can easily clean and repair the harness from either side as well as both ends.
Let me know if I described it well enough or if you need a pic. It is not too pretty but it works good for me and it didn’t cost too much, and I can relocate it easy if I want to.:)

PS: forgot to mention. With this system you can customize the height of the pipe depending on your height. If you want to free up floor space all you need to do is put pulley’s at the top of the twine (tied to rafter) and after loading the harness you can hoist it up to the top part of your ceiling and be able to walk under it, provide you have high enough walls. I used to hang riding saddles like that. With a biothane harness the higher temperatures (close to the ceiling) will not harm it.

Thanks for that you have described it great don’t think i need i pic sound a really good idea, that’s just what i might do will be nice and easy to set up , thank you, i particulary like the idea of been able to hoist it all up high out the way i was originally thinking like something like a wooden horse but it would take a lot of space and time to make this will be far simpler. Thanks again , much appreciated

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