norwegian or swedish horse collar

[Anonymous]

Here’s a couple pics of my homemade pony harness. The hardware is just hammered out of scrap and I use a bull snap to attach it to the shafts.
Thanks Jim. The hames are the hard part. I figure if I could get my hands on a pair, I could start making copies of them out of some nice Manitoba burr oak.

[fogish]

Jim, how do you like the D-Ring conversion compared to the regular D-Ring harness? Has anyone used and compared a D-Ring, D-Ring conversion and a Swedish harness?

Daniel, until you get some hames in hand look at these links and maybe make one at 1/2 scale out of a soft material and post pictures. Then people who own them could take a look and tell you what they think. How do they determine the shape of the hames and can the shape weaken them? If I recall correctly Simon uses the collar type we are used to in the USA instead of the swedish type on his thick necked horses. Does anyone know the reason for that?

http://www.sadelmakare.biz/sele.html The hames are wrapped in leather and padded, but give you a good idea. Right click on a picture and select “View Image” or similar language that your browser brings up.

http://www.tarnsjogarveri.se/arbetsselar.php Bottom of the page, “Information om Selar (2,2 MB)” Page 2 shows the Hame/Collar combo: the hardware and padding that go with the hame. Page 3 is just the wooden hame with basic hardware and the cutout for the strap/collar tug. It would be nice to have an English translation of the PDF documents on this page.

http://www.celtichorselogging.com/?Gallery Simon Lenihan’s website. Several large Hi-Def pictures of the collars in use. Can help with overall shape and type of hardware used. We can ask him if he would upload pictures that are taken from all angles while they are off the horses to make duplication easier.

[simon lenihan]

Fin hames not made in sweden anymore as far as i know. this is why i use sugar valley pulling collars.
simon

[simon lenihan]

Modern swedish army harness and this is a swedish hames made by a friend of mine in the north of england. They are made of ash.
simon

[Jim Ostergard]

Simon, Thanks so much for the pictures. I am working an ash lot with some staving big ash with hames sized sweeps. So I am making a note that when I fell these trees I’m taking that piece with me. Wondering if it should be quarter sawn or just split. So this begs the question of how to size them for a particular horse or range of horses. And I want them to be heavy enough so I can pull some weight. Will ask about fastening the leather later.
ps: I have a beautiful 25″ no-choke collar for sale real reasonable.

[simon lenihan]

Jim,
When i was a wee lad we played galeic hurling using ash hurleys [ similar in alot of ways to hockey stick ] . well the best hurleys had to have the grain go down the shaft and follow around the boss. I was lucky enough a few years back to cut ash for hurleys here in the uk for use in ireland. We cut the tree 4ft above the ground making sure not to split it. We then had to dig down 12″ to 18″ so it could be cut as low as possible[ very good for your chain ]. This should be the similar prodecure for the hames. I will get more info from my friend and post later.
simon

[Anonymous]

I like that idea. I tried to make a pair out of cherry wood, but couldn’t get the shape right without a real example in hand.

I’d sure like to see how somebody else has done it. DIY is my favorite because free is even better than cheap!

[Author]

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