Harnessing for Short People

[Robernson]

I will be the first to tell you that I am “vertically” challanged. I am only about 5’8″:eek: So I am kinda short for my age,but oh well,we can’t change it.

My question is how would one who is vertically challanged,such as myself, harness horses? In all honesty would you stand on a five gallon bucket?
Yes this is a dumb question,but I would want an answer.
~~R

[mink]

im only 5-9 and i put leather harnesses on my 17 hand belgians……going to have to eat your wheaties;)

[Anonymous]

go with the haflinger fjord type there is a guy i believe its anvil acres who breeds fjords they are 14 to 15 hands but 1400 lbs they look like there on roids i dont think there aint much you couldnt do with a team of ponys like that and they would be easy to harness

[MNMULE]

Since when is 5’8″ vertically challenged ? I’m also 5-9 I haven’t run into a horses yet where I couldn’t get a harness onto because of height, I know some people who use benches and buckets when necessary though. On a side note my grandmother was 4-11 so I never feel bad about being 5-9 because it could’ve been a lot worse.

[Robernson]

Okay,
Thanks I was wondering if because of my height/age I couldn’t get a harness on but I seem okay!
~~R

[LostFarmer]

You get smaller horses. 😀 I have ponies that are 11.2 hands, and 13.2 hands. I also have a shire mares team that are 17.1. and 17.2. It takes some grunt to get the heavy spotted harness on the shires. The little horses are much easier to deal with. I am 5’8 and manage just fine.

My neighbor and mentor is all of 5’2 on a good day. He had a team of 18 hand plus belgains that he pulled. He just threw the harness up there and went. He did have a short ladder that he used to check the stuff he couldn’t see from the ground.

Have fun. LF

[jen judkins]

Shorter horses?!? You guys are wimps. I’m 5’5″ and harness a 18 hand percheron easily. What’s up with that! You just push it up and over and that’s all there is to it…:D

[Jean]

I am vertically blessed, but do have a suggestion if just tossing the harness up and over does not work. Rig up a pulley system. Have the harness hang from the ceiling, walk the horse under it and lower on their backs.

Jean

[LostFarmer]

@jenjudkins 13727 wrote:

Shorter horses?!? You guys are wimps. I’m 5’5″ and harness a 18 hand percheron easily. What’s up with that! You just push it up and over and that’s all there is to it…:D

When you harness every day for 6 months at a stretch that extra 8 inches matters. 😉

[LStone]

R,
I read your posts with interest and it seems to me that you are more than capable of harnessing a horse despite your height. My impression is that you will have no trouble getting it done. I am 5’9″ also with no problems harnessing. Wouldn’t stand on a bucket if I were you though, it potentially can be an accident waiting to happen.

[Jim Ostergard]

Paul Birdsall here in Maine has modified his “D” ring into two parts. And that seems to work well. He is in his 80’s and it wasn’t so much height as age and strength. He wrote an article describing it in SFJ and if I remember correctly somebody described in on one of the threads.
jim

[LStone]

Les Barden has done the same thing in sepparating his harness and shows it in his D-Ring video.

[Robernson]

Yes the bucket idea wasn’t presicely a good one but…..:p
~~R

[Big Horses]

My wife’s 5’7″ and throws harness on our 19h Percheron (she also did for years with Budweiser’s Clydes that were as tall). Just gotta get it right on your shoulder. I’m 5’9″ and do the same. It’s alot like bucking hay bales…once you get the technique right, it’s not near as hard to do.
JH

[Robernson]

Yeah,
Once you get a system down for hay bales you can really go at it.
~~R

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