Horse harness
A horse harness is a device that connects a horse to a horse-drawn vehicle or another type of load to pull. The two main designs of horse harness are the breast collar and the full collar. The trade that makes harnesses is a saddler or harness maker.
For pulling heavy loads, a full collar is required because it distributes pressure over a larger area of the horse. An ill-fitting full collar can cause chafing on the horse's skin and can interfere with its breathing, as can a breast collar that is positioned too high.
Putting harness on a horse is called harnessing or harnessing up. Attaching the harness to the vehicle or load is called putting to in the British Isles, or hitching in North America. The order of putting on harness components varies by discipline, but when a horse collar is used, it is usually put on first.
Harness components designed for other animals are not suitable for horses and will not allow the horse to work efficiently.
History
Throughout the ancient world, the 'throat-and-girth' harness was used for harnessing horses that pulled carts; this greatly limited a horse's ability to exert itself as it was constantly choked at the neck. A painting on a lacquerware box from the State of Chu, dated to the 4th century BC, shows the first known use of a yoke placed across a horse's chest, with traces connecting to the chariot shaft. The hard yoke across the horse's chest was gradually replaced by a breast strap, which was often depicted in carved reliefs and stamped bricks of tombs from the Han Dynasty. Eventually, the horse collar was invented in China, at least by the 5th century.Parts
Different regions and different purposes cause variation in harness construction, however there are many parts of harness that are common.Pulling the load
The collar and traces are responsible for pulling the load. The rest of the harness is for keeping the harness in position, holding the vehicle or load, and controlling the horse.Collar
A collar is the part which a horse pushes against with its shoulders and chest. The two main designs are the breast collar harness and the full collar harness.- A horse collar is a padded loop fitting closely around the horse's neck and resting on its shoulders. Must be correctly sized for each individual horse. Used for heavier pulling than a breast collar.
- A breast collar is a padded strap running across the front of the horse's chest in lieu of a full collar. Breastcollars do not require close fitting for each horse. They should be used with a swingletree at the carriage to avoid rubbing the horse's shoulders during movement.
- Hames are required when a full collar is used. Hames are two metal or wooden strips which take the full force of the pull, padded by the collar. They are strapped on after putting the collar on the horse.
Traces
Head section
The head section of a harness includes the bridle and [|bit], reins to control the horse, and other controlling straps.Bridle
are slightly different than riding bridles. They usually include blinders, also called blinkers or winkers, beside a horse's eyes to prevent it from being distracted or frightened by the carriage or other activity behind or beside it. When there are horses harnessed in front of another, all those behind the leader will have large rings mounted on the side of the bridle to support reins passing to a horse in front of them. Often there is ornamentation on the bridle such as a drop hanging from the crownpiece and down the forehead, rosettes on each side by the ears, and decoration across the browband.Bit
for harness may be similar to those used for riding, but there are a few bits unique to driving such as the Elbow, Buxton, Liverpool, and the Wilson snaffle. The first three offer adjustments in severity for each horse, which is useful when working with multiple horses where all the horses wear matching bits, but the adjustments in curb leverage allow for each individual horse's needs.Reins
s or lines are long leather straps running from the bit to the driver's hands which are used to guide the horses. For a single horse, there are two reins. For a pair of horses harnessed side-by-side, the reins from each horse are joined midway so the driver holds just two reins. When driving teams of four or more horses, each pair of horses ends with two reins at the driver—so a four-in-hand driver holds four reins. In some driving systems, the reins of teams of multiple horses are all joined together so the driver only holds two reins. Reins are often 13 feet long or more. A lead rein—a rein that passes a rear horse to reach a horse in front of it—may well be 24 feet long. Driving reins were traditionally russet because the dye used to color harness black would rub off on the driver's clothes where the reins draped across their lap.Bearing rein
A bearing rein or overcheck is a strap system which attaches to the harness saddle, goes to the top of the horse's head and downward to attach to a bit. In English carriage harness, a bearing rein or side check travels through rings near the horse's ears and attaches to the bit. Common in harness racing and in fine harness showing, an overcheck strap passes between the horse's ears, comes down the front of the face, splits and attaches to a small auxiliary bit. Overchecks are sometimes used to attain a high head carriage; extremely high settings are considered abusive. Properly adjusted bearing reins and overchecks give the horse ample freedom of his head while prohibiting a horse from reaching to eat grass or scratching sweaty bridles on anything within reach—potentially causing accidents when a bit or rein gets hooked on something. The primary names of these straps are bearing rein and side check, overcheck, but also check rein, overhead check, and overdraw.Martingale
In some cases a specially designed running martingale may also be added. A looser overcheck may also be used in a working harness to prevent the horse grazing. The overcheck hooks to a pedestal on the harness saddle.Horse brasses
es are ornamental brass plaques mounted on leather straps, used for decoration, especially on working harness. Made in a wide range of designs.Mid-section
The middle section of a harness includes the parts that go around the horse's mid-section and hold shafts. Most all the other parts of the harness attach to this stable part of the harness.Saddle
A harness saddle or pad is the piece of the harness that lies across the horse's back. It is not the same as a riding saddle. A saddle is a stuffed piece of leather that supports the weight of shafts. Saddles for heavy commercial carts may be quite substantial in size to help distribute the weight bearing down from the shafts. For pulling loads without shafts, a pad or back pad is used, which is a wide non-padded leather strap. For example, pads are used for logging, plowing or a pair of horses pulling a 4-wheeled vehicle which uses a pole between two horses, not shafts.A fitted and stuffed saddle pad may be placed underneath a saddle or pad for extra padding. The saddle is held into place by the girth, a strap which goes under the belly of the horse. Together, the saddle and girth encircle the horse. Attached to the saddle are other parts of the harness such as rein terrets, tugs, a back strap and crupper, and bearing reins or overcheck.
Girth
The girth is a strap that goes under the horse's belly and is buckled firmly to the saddle. A surcingle is a term used within certain fine harness designs to describe the combination of a light girth and harness saddle.Shaft tugs, or tugs
Loops attached to the back band to hold up the shafts of a vehicle in van or fine harness. Two types:- For two-wheeled vehicles the tugs are stiff leather loops, fitting fairly loosely around the shafts, to allow flexibility as the animal and the vehicle move against each other.
- For four-wheeled vehicles with independently hinged shafts, the tugs are leather straps buckled tightly around the shafts so they move with the animal.
Back band
- Sliding back band. In a two-wheeled vehicle, the shafts are fixed to the vehicle to hold it level. On a side-slope, one shaft will be higher than the other, and in this case the back band is normally allowed to slide sideways through the harness saddle, so the horse can walk upright without strain on the harness.
- Fixed back-band. In a four-wheeled vehicle, the shafts or pole must be allowed to hinge up and down, to allow the horse and vehicle to pass over hillocks and dips. Often the shafts are independently hinged, and on a side-slope these will each hinge to follow the horse, and a sliding back band is not needed. However, if a sliding back band was used with independent shafts it might allow one shaft to ride up higher than the other, and so for such shafts the back-band is normally fixed to the harness saddle. On other four-wheeled vehicles, the two shafts hinge together, and a sliding back band is needed as for two-wheeled vehicles.
Belly-band