Horse Harness Selection Guide and Buying Review

You will need a harness if you plan on having your horse pull anything. This include a sleigh, wagon or cart! The harness will connect your horse to whatever it is that you want it to pull, as well as give you a way to control the animal. There is a wide variety of harnesses on the market for you to choose from. You can have a standard harness to a specific style that works best for sulky races. You can find harnesses in a variety of materials as well, just like halters, including nylon and leather varieties.

You will need to know how tall your horse is before you buy a harness. You can measure your horse is a certain number of “hands” to see how tall he is. The harnesses will come in a variety of height sizes, including miniature horse, 12 – 13 hands, 14 - 15 hands, 15+ hands and the draft horse harness sizes. You will also need to know what size bit the horse takes with a traditional, standard bridle in order to give it the same size bit for the harness.

There are a few parts on the harness, so try to not get confused when first handling one! In fact, the more simple your harness is, the more expensive it is! Some harnesses can have over 30 parts, so you will really need to know what you are doing, or at least find someone that can help you. Some of the harness parts include the nose band, bit strap, browband, bit and throat latch and more. These parts will be familiar since they are found on your bridle. However, the breast strap, pole strap, belly band, back band, line and harne might take some getting used to before you’re fully comfortable with the harness.

If you and your horse are unfamiliar with the harness, you will want to find a training harness. These training pieces have the same structure of the real ones, but they are much simpler and give the horse a chance to adjust to the workings of a harness. Training harnesses have no extra details that can confuse you and the horse. Once your horse has established the training harness, you can move him up to a more complicated version.

The collar is needed for all harnesses that will be used to pull heavy objects, like log pulling. The collar will connect the horse to the buggy since it will be much easier on the animal that the traditional bit and bridle. The collar, however, is not flexible and is not adjustable, so you will need to take very precise measurements to make sure that it fits your horse correctly. You will have to measure its neck from the part where his neck meets his chest to the spot where his neck meets his back to ensure you get the right size here.

Parade harnesses are fancier, more elaborate versions of the traditional harness. These harnesses are ideal for parades, just like their name suggests, or any situation where you want to just have fun showing off or for a show. They have a lot of stainless steel and brass, typically, decorative extras and fancy stitching that will make you stare in appreciation. These harnesses, however, have plenty of functionality still.

You will need to start shopping after you figure out which style harness fits your situation and what your horse’s specific measurements are. You can head to the store to find a new harness or you can find a less expensive option by buying a used harness. Look online for a great deal.

         

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