# Ron's horse harness



## Jennywashere (May 1, 2011)

I am looking to get a new harness has anyone used or see in person harnesses by Ron's harness shop I am looking at these two http://www.ronshorse...ate-*SALE*.html or http://www.ronshorse...e-Harness.html. It will be for daily use and 4-h. Let me know what you think.


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## leeapachemoon (May 1, 2011)

This is just my opinion but I think the saddle on this one is too big, heavy, wide. I would go with the prestige. http://www.ronshorseharness.com/products/Prestige-Miniature-Harness.html

 

I do not have a harness from Ron's so I'm just going by the picture. Hope that helps.


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## weerunner (May 1, 2011)

I have owned both his A sized and B sized harness. They are excellent quality for the price and can be adjusted a lot to work for all sizes of minis. I personally liked the big horse quality saddle. There is plenty of padding under it to make your horse comfortable with it. It's a great harness for everyday use and I showed in it for 3 years, and never got marked down for it not being showy enough because it is plain but excellent quality. That's my two cents. I can send you pics of my minis wearing it if you'd like to see it being used.


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## Jennywashere (May 1, 2011)

Ya I would love to see it in use. We are looking for a stockier 36" mini and it will mostly be used on trail and up and down the road. I'm not worried about it not being showy since we will prob only be doing one or two shows a year. Mostly looking for comfort and durability to carry my daughter over the river and through the woods and where ever else she dreams of.


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## Reignmaker Miniatures (May 1, 2011)

We have the mini pairs harness with collars/hames. I agree Ron's harness makes a good product for the price. We have found tho that they are a bit tough to downsize if you have very small minis like we do. We are considering switching from the collars to the breast plate harness instead as the collars are really hard to fit on our 30" boys.


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## weerunner (May 2, 2011)

It comes with a removable britching which I took off for showing, but used when tooling around the back roads.











Here's one with the britching attached.






These were taken back when I just started in the mini driving so the fit is not quite right, I've gotten better since then, but it will give you an idea of the look/quality.

Hope this helps


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## Jennywashere (May 2, 2011)

Thanks for the pics. It looks pretty good. Has to be better then my last one I got at auction 15 years ago, but it has lasted me this long.


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## Georgia (May 2, 2011)

I have a harness from Ron's for my mini and I love it. They are well made and the people are very helpful. I also had one for my Haflinger.


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## leeapachemoon (May 2, 2011)

The harness likes very nice on weerunners mini so maybe it's not as bulky as it looks in the ad.


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## hobbyhorse23 (May 2, 2011)

I actually kinda like the look of the Prestige! Much as I like a good wide carriage harness style saddle I've always thought the Ron's one the OP shows in her first link was a bit thick and lacked elegance. The Prestige however appears well-padded (very well-padded!) but fairly refined. For the price it might be worth a try although I'd ask for real buckles instead of Conways. Ick!



Reignmaker Miniatures said:


> We have the mini pairs harness with collars/hames. I agree Ron's harness makes a good product for the price. We have found tho that they are a bit tough to downsize if you have very small minis like we do. We are considering switching from the collars to the breast plate harness instead as the collars are really hard to fit on our 30" boys.


Can you post pictures of the pairs harness on your horses? I'm curious what it looks like in use, especially with the collars.

Leia


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## Reignmaker Miniatures (May 3, 2011)

Well, I don't have any very good ones. This pair is just getting started as a pair, up until this spring they have been learning their job as single drivers. These are a couple of pictures from this weekend, the first time they have been harnessed together. They did very well and our next step is to put them to the wagon and begin the actual process of teaching them to work together. We were very pleased with them in ground driving tho. Happy to be side by side, their stride length is identical and in fact at a trot when viewed from the side it looks like one pair of legs rather than 2. We have removed traces for the ground driving (they attach with snaps to the hames) which also changes the look somewhat but maybe you can get an idea of how this harness looks. The geldings in the picture are full brothers,one year apart in age and 30.25". Excuse their unkempt appearance, the pics were unplanned and this time of year leaves much to be desired for showing our horses at their best. And yes the one gelding is F.A.T.he is a challenge to feed and has actually lost about a third of the weight he was carrying.

LOL, OK, so I think thats enough disclaimers



hope the pictures help a little.


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## Georgia (May 3, 2011)

The only conway buckle on my harness from Ron's is where the crupper attaches to the saddle. All the rest are regular buckles.


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## Reignmaker Miniatures (May 3, 2011)

hmmm, ours has conways in most places. They are a complete PITA but when I ordered the harness I never even gave something as mundane as buckles a thought



In future I would actually ask for regular buckles wherever possible but live and learn.


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## hobbyhorse23 (May 3, 2011)

Thank you for the pictures, ReignMaker! Your boys are darling. It looks like the collars are possibly a little narrower front-to-back than the ones I've seen, which is good. You said your kids are 30"? How wide does the top of the collar measure? I'm trying to figure out if they would work okay on my 33.5" horses.

Leia


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## Reignmaker Miniatures (May 3, 2011)

Thank you for the compliment Leia,these are actually my husband horses, he wanted to drive a pair so he had me find him a matched set and then start them a few years ago. I was wrong when I said this was the first time they'd been together. I forgot we hitched them once before for a photo shoot. They stood with a header on each horse and someone in the driver's seat holding the reins. Pics were taken then they were untacked and that was that lol. First time they were asked to move together tho. I think they look like little belgians so I hope to be able to do the rosettes in their mane and tail just for a laugh when hubby is ready to take them out in public.

I'm not really sure what measurement but these are 14"collars (measured from top to bottom inside) just a bit under 8" at the widest point and teardrop shaped. The collar is aprox. 3.5" thick. Just a note, these collars are actually too big for Red and Zeke. of the 2 Zeke's fits the best since he is the thicker (nice way of saying that he's fat  ) of the 2 and has quite a heavy neck. If you look closely you can see Red's bridle is also actually 2 big for him. The blinkers sit too low on his face



, he has a very tiny head and we may have to get a headstall custom made for him or use the one from his single harness which doesn't look as good. If there is any other measurement you'd like me to get let me know. I have a room in my house for tack so it is no trouble to trot down stairs and check it out


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## hobbyhorse23 (May 3, 2011)

14" collars for 30" horses??



Good lord, my 33.5" guy was swimming in a 12" one! I thought 14" was pony sized.





Leia


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## Reignmaker Miniatures (May 3, 2011)

Yes, you're quite right. The horses should be wearing a 12 and a 13"(amazing what a difference an inch or 2 makes) I am sure of the size they should be because we've tried them in those sizes. However, for what ever reason the harness came with the 14" collars (I suspect I measured incorrectly when we first ordered the harness) Even with the smaller collars tho the fit is off somehow for these guys. They have rather short thick necks and they are so small that it is hard to make the collars sit right, which is why we are considering switching to a breast plate type and working with the maker to be sure it is fitted for them. I had heard that fitting these small ones was a greater challenge than with the larger horses, seems to be holding true in our case at least. I don't think tho that you can actually say a measurement is pony sized or horse sized etc., each horse will be unique and their collars won't likely be interchangeable even with another of similar height and build. For me it has been a case of the more I think I know the more I find I have to learn tho. I thought I had some understanding of driving horses and their tack (at least the basics) but pairs driving is a whole new thing and I feel like a beginner again(which I am of course)


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## Sue_C. (May 4, 2011)

hobbyhorse23 said:


> 14" collars for 30" horses??
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Yes, I was that shocked when I bought my first collar and hames (13") from a lady that used it on her 29" mare...and it FIT her...yet was a bit loose and needed padding to fit my 33.75" mare. Some of those little guys are very drafty; and yes, I love that these wee guys look like little Belgians.


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## happy appy (May 4, 2011)

How do you measure for Collar fit?


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## RhineStone (May 4, 2011)

Reignmaker Miniatures said:


> (amazing what a difference an inch or 2 makes) They have rather short thick necks and they are so small that it is hard to make the collars sit right, which is why we are considering switching to a breast plate type and working with the maker to be sure it is fitted for them. I had heard that fitting these small ones was a greater challenge than with the larger horses, seems to be holding true in our case at least. I don't think tho that you can actually say a measurement is pony sized or horse sized etc., each horse will be unique


It is amazing what a difference a 1/4" makes in minis! That is why I am not a fan of "off the rack" harnesses for minis. Minis put up with a lot more ill-fitting equipment than their big horse counterparts.





I don't think that the demand for true properly fitting mini collars is there, yet. They all seem to be too big width-wise (like from front to back, not side to side). I wonder if harness makers are still using horse-size forms and just trying to scale them down length wise. And then when you add the hames, a lot of minis seem to be "dragged down" by the weight. When we put collars and hames on Alax and Skippy, their necks just seemed to "collaspe" under the weight, and we got looks of "are you kidding me?" If the collars set back on their shoulders more, I think that would be solved, but then the width (depth) needs to be more shallow.

There is so much to collar fit, that I know I can't explain it in a post. I can see when one fits and when one doesn't, but I don't know how to verbalize it, especially when I haven't seen one I like on a mini.

Myrna


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## Reignmaker Miniatures (May 4, 2011)

I agree with you Myrna, it is a great challenge to find a good fitting mini collar (altho the ones with this harness might not be bad if they were the correct length...then again perhaps adjusting the length would make other issues more noticeable) I love the look of these collars but if they don't fit correctly they are useless for anything more than taking pictures. I refuse to allow these little guys to be asked to do any work with such poorly fitted equipment. In fairness to the company in question tho the poor fit sits squarely in my lap, if I had known more when I ordered them I would have gotten a more appropriate size.






happy appy, all harness makers' catalogs and websites explain how and where to measure your horse to get a correctly fitted harness, including collars, but that isn't always going to give you a collar that is truly comfortable for your mini. I know a lot of people who just add a pad under a too big collar and call it good. I guess with the small amount of work minis are expected to do most of the time people can get away with that, but they are so much happier in their jobs if they are comfortable and I don't like to think that a problem I'm having is equipment related.I know of one guy who admits that every real issue he's had with his pair has boiled down to an equipment issue. The horses where uncomfortable with some part of the equipment (most recently rein length) and it made them behave in undesirable ways.


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## RhineStone (May 4, 2011)

Reignmaker Miniatures said:


> I guess with the small amount of work minis are expected to do most of the time people can get away with that, but they are so much happier in their jobs if they are comfortable


Absolutely they are much happier working if their "clothes" fit!



It's just like asking someone to stand on a line at a factory in shoes that are too small! I doubt that person would be too productive and have a great attitude by the end of the day!

But I do have to say that compared to the big horses, minis are usually expected to do a whole lot more work. Granted, most of the minis can "take it", but big horses are not usually expected to pull their own weight around. The rule of thumb for big horses is no more than about 75% of their total weight. For a 1000 lb. horse, that's 750 lbs. With the average vehicle being 300-450 lbs., that leaves about 450-300 lbs. for driver and passengers and still be under 75%.

When's the last time you saw a mini pulling around only 75% of their 300 lb. weight? (Leia, you don't count, especially in Wisconsin where we like cheese!



) That's only 225 lbs. for vehicle and driver. If you have a 100 lb. cart, the driver can only be 125 lbs. (I _used_ to be that size....



)

Minis have to do A LOT of work!

Myrna


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## Reignmaker Miniatures (May 4, 2011)

RhineStone said:


> . If you have a 100 lb. cart, the driver can only be 125 lbs. (I _used_ to be that size....
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I was once as well, hard to recall tho, back before I quit smoking, eons ago.

Point well made, I was more referring to how long the average driver here uses the horses (and how often altho IMO that just makes it worse)but you are right, I will not deny our minis are expected to be (and obviously are) capable of amazing feats of strength in comparison to full sized horses but to use your analogy, if you must stand on line in tight shoes, its less likely you will revolt if it is for 15 minutes or 1/2hour than if its for a whole day. Thus our horses often put up with something less than ideal because they are only out for a quick parade and then done for days or weeks.


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## Sue_C. (May 4, 2011)

> I know a lot of people who just add a pad under a too big collar and call it good,


Ant that is pretty much what I did the couple of times I used it...but that was only in a parade...totally on level pavement; and I wouldn't ask one to do more like that.

This is exactly why I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE my "Super V" breastplate...the difference in freedom of movement leaves no comparison to either a full collar or straight breastplate.


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