# Please help me fit my harness *Pictures for review*



## KellyAlaska (Jun 27, 2011)

Hi Everyone,

It finally stopped raining for a few hours here and I was able to get my new Mini/Shetland hooked for the first time. Please take a look at all my photos and help me fit my harness. We did have to punch 3 holes in the traces so they would fit the new cart which now makes them stick out way too far in the front. I am going to have to order a new set of traces to fit the smart cart. Do you think the traces are too tight? How should I adjust his breaching? He seemed to do fine with the new cart but tended to kinda struggle/breath hard going up small hills. Do you think the breast collar is too high? He is 36 inches and a pretty stout little pony so I don't think I am too heavy for him. 

Thanks,

Kelly


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## Jetiki (Jun 27, 2011)

In my opinion, the breast collar is a hole maybe 2 too high. Your traces may be a hole too short but I am not sure about that, in one picture the shafts look too far forward but in another one they look fine so thats why I stated that.

Karen


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## Field-of-Dreams (Jun 27, 2011)

The breast collar does seem to be too high, and the shafts looks awfully low to me. Both will make it harder for him to pull on hills. Breeching looks about one hole too high.

Nice set up, though! And a very pretty pony!


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## hobbyhorse23 (Jun 27, 2011)

You've got a lovely pony and good equipment but we do need to rebalance this whole setup.




Your breastcollar is set a tad high and appears to be cutting into his windpipe when he puts his head down to pull. Dropping it at least a notch should also allow it to lay flatter across his chest instead of tipping upwards so the weight will be distributed more broadly instead of only along the top edge. I really don't like using any sort of shaped collar without a false martingale as they have a tendency to tip up like that and cause more problems than they solve for many horses. A false martingale holds the bottom edge down so the collar lays flat no matter the horse's conformation or the angle of draft.

As you noted, you'll need to get shorter traces or cut the end off the ones you have as that excess strap is likely to trap your reins and cause a real safety concern. You should lower the neck terrets to the current line of the reins and then use them as they will help keep the reins from getting caught.

The main point of imbalance here is your tugs. I see that you got your sliding backband (yay!) but we need to raise both shaft loops quite a bit and it looks like you've only got one more hole on each side; I'm not sure that will be enough. Normal straight shafts would be sitting at the right height so they did send you the correct size/length of equipment, but unfortunately with the marathon shafts the tugs need to be up a bit higher so the shaft itself is level and balanced behind the loop. Yours is going slightly downhill even when you are in the cart. There are a few things we can do to try and fix this, first and most obvious being to raise the tugs as far as they'll currently go. Putting a pad under the saddle will also raise them a little further and might be enough.

The main thing to remember in this case is that your cart itself is adjustable. Can you lower the overall height of the cart and/or raise the height of the shafts a little? The body of the cart is at a decent height for Jack but the way the shafts are so low for both horse and cart makes it look like he's too big for it and creates difficulties with the breeching and the line of draft. The lower the cart is, the lower the center of gravity will be and the more stable it will be. Lowering it will also help the shafts to be more level without raising the tugs themselves further. We still need to raise them so the marathon loops are in the right place but it will help to attack this from both ends!



The other thing is that if the cart is sitting lower, the shafts will be more inclined to float up into their proper position without having to be held there by the tugs. Right now they are going to have a hard time doing that unless you lean waaaaay back. So lower the cart, elevate the shafts _on_ the cart about half as much as you lowered it, raise the tugs and try putting a thin pad under the saddle so it sits up above his back a little more. They'll still probably look a little low when you first hitch him but when you get in the shafts should float up into their proper position.

NOW...once you've done that, everything else will need tweaking again.



I'd say go ahead and drop the breeching a notch as it's a bit high but I'll wait to comment on how the traces should be run (i.e. through the holdbacks, etc.) until we see how these current fixes effect things. On the plus side your bridle looks well-fitted, your wraps are all done correctly and your saddle is in a pretty good position so yay for that. Can't wait to see the next round of photos!





Leia


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## KellyAlaska (Jun 28, 2011)

Thanks Leia that is just what I needed! I ordered a new set of traces today. The set I have is 56” and the new set is 48” so that should help solve one of my problems. I also found my false martingale. It was hiding at the bottom of my harness bag. Both the carriage height and shafts can be adjusted and I will get my husband to help with that one. I will make all the other suggested adjustments as well. The traces were so high I was not able to get them to work properly with the breeching. The traces kept bumping the breeching up and out of place. I will drop the breeching down a notch once we get the cart adjusted. I will post some updated pictures once we make the adjustments. Thank goodness we only have one horse so once everything is set we won’t have to adjust it.

 

Kelly


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## Ann knight (Jun 28, 2011)

Thanks Kelly for posting this thread. It is really hard to get everything just right and I enjoyed learning by looking at your pictures. My friend came and helped me with my guy ( 2x actually)and it really is an art to get everything set up so it is comfortable for the horse. It sure looks easy in abook or when someone else is doing it !There is so much knowledge here and it is great that folks will share . I love your cart ( and your horses and harness



) . I'm waiting for my Aerocrown , so I will get the practice of setting up everything again . Enjoy .....it really is fun .......Ann


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## hobbyhorse23 (Jun 28, 2011)

KellyAlaska said:


> Thank goodness we only have one horse so once everything is set we won’t have to adjust it.






:rofl



*wipes eyes of mirthful tears*

Sorry, that was funny. Ask Shorthorsemom- it's a neverending process!



They gain weight, they gain fur in the winter, you clip them in the spring and find the weight has all moved to a different part of their body. Then you get them conditioned, then they fur up again...yep. No such thing as set-and-go!

Sorry.





To be fair, you'll probably be able to leave the cart alone. It's just the harness that takes constant tweaking.

Leia


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