# I Am Really Having A Problem...



## Katiean (Mar 19, 2012)

I have been trying to fit a harness to this FAT horse.

This is what I have gotten. This first pic is of him in the bridle and breast collar.







This second picture is the saddle. This is where I am having the problem. My harness for the smaller horses do not fit him.











I can not get this saddle to set back any further. It just rides up because of his belly. Then the distance between the backstrap and his back is really a big space. Any suggestions on how to adjust this harness would help.


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## hobbyhorse23 (Mar 19, 2012)

It doesn't look like the fit is too bad, really. The space between the backstrap and his back isn't a problem except for making it a pain to put up the reins while you lead him.





The only thing I suggest besides working the daylights out of him in the roundpen to get that harness to fit better is that you can try a strap running from each breeching ring down under his belly connecting to a loop in the middle of his girth. (I know it probably doesn't have one but you could make one fairly easily.) This would be like the belly breeching on a pair harness and the only thing it would do is hold the girth back so that it doesn't creep up into his elbows but you can still tighten it enough to keep the saddle from rotating. It's a temporary fix but should work until you can get him slimmed down a bit.

Leia


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## Marsha Cassada (Mar 19, 2012)

Can you get a throat latch off a different bridle? A friend of mine bought a horse and he came with a show harness. He had actually worn the harness in the past for a show, but the bridle no longer fit him (maybe it NEVER fit him, we don't know). It scrunched up his ears and choked him. She ended up buying a plain headstall--no blinders--to use on him. He is working much better that way. Just because the headstall/bridle came with the harness doesn't mean you have to use it.

ps I think his hooves are really long. He will work much better in harness with good trimming.


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## Becky Horat (Mar 19, 2012)

I just ordered a new girth to make a harness fit someone much better. Very inexpensive and solved my problem. Ozark Mini Tack was very reasonable. It may help just until you can get some weight off. Oops....after looking at you pix...a bigger girth may not help...haha. Unless a wider one would be better. But think a little Mini diet and exercise will help in no time. Pretty cute.


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## Katiean (Mar 19, 2012)

Marsha Cassada said:


> ps I think his hooves are really long. He will work much better in harness with good trimming.


His hooves are long. He and his mother have the worst feet I have ever seen on any horse big or small. He was trimmed 4 weeks ago. He grows a ton of toe and almost no heel. Just like mom. I have a very good farrier at the moment and he says that my horses feet are harder than most big or small horses he has ever trimmed. He is working on getting all of my horses feet back into the proper shape. I am thinking about switching them to a 5 or 6 week schedule rather than the 8 weeks that they are on.

As far as a bigger girth, Yeah, well, I had some bigger girths made and with the smaller harness saddle they still do not fit. I did have to change from the french tugs when I changed the girth on this harness. I had to take a back strap and crupper from a smaller harness. I moved him up to a bigger bridle. It can still use some adjustment. I don't even have a check rein that will fit him. But, it doesn't seem to make any difference with this horse.

As for working him in a round pen. There isn't one at the barn I am at. He also seems to be an easier keeper than the mares he is in with. The last time I went to see them (the day the pictures were taken) There was hay in the shelter and no one was eating. They feed grass hay there. The mares are all at a good weight so I can't have them cut back on the hay. I also can not afford an extra pen for him . I just have to take him out and drive him.


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## Marsha Cassada (Mar 19, 2012)

Katiean said:


> His hooves are long. He and his mother have the worst feet I have ever seen on any horse big or small. He was trimmed 4 weeks ago. He grows a ton of toe and almost no heel. Just like mom. I have a very good farrier at the moment and he says that my horses feet are harder than most big or small horses he has ever trimmed. He is working on getting all of my horses feet back into the proper shape. I am thinking about switching them to a 5 or 6 week schedule rather than the 8 weeks that they are on.


O, that's good! I have one that grows very upright. If I don't keep him on 6 week schedule he looks as though he is standing on coffee cans.

Good luck fitting your harness. I also had to order a longer girth strap for mine.


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## Jetiki (Mar 19, 2012)

See if your farrier will teach you how to rasp his toes between his visits, that will get them back a lot sooner.

Having dealt with chunky monkeys they can be a pain to get everything to fit. I sympathize with you it isn't easy. You don't need a check rein unless you are in the show ring (well a few times before to get them used to it) but for now until he slims down some I wouldn't worry about it.

A shaped breast collar may fit him better. But I can't get the pictures to load when I click on them, Its my computer I'm sure.


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## Katiean (Mar 19, 2012)

His brest collar is a freedom collar. It kust tipped up when we tucked the ends up over his back to keep them from draging.


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## hobbyhorse23 (Mar 21, 2012)

Katiean said:


> His brest collar is a freedom collar. It kust tipped up when we tucked the ends up over his back to keep them from draging.


He might have a mildly shaped breastcollar, but a real Freedom Collar looks like this:






It clears the shoulder WAY more than that collar does and makes a real difference when the horse has a low neckset like my Kody.

Leia


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## rbrown (Mar 22, 2012)

hobbyhorse23 said:


> He might have a mildly shaped breastcollar, but a real Freedom Collar looks like this:
> 
> It clears the shoulder WAY more than that collar does and makes a real difference when the horse has a low neckset like my Kody.
> 
> Leia


I second this!! The freedom collar is awesome for the minis, especially ones with low neck sets! I know there was a lot of research put into the design. It fits Skip much much better than a shaped breastcollar and has made a big difference in her stride (and attitude!). Adding a freedom collar to my harness was a very worthwhile investment. I don't mean to take this thread on another direction, but I really love my freedom collar


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## Hessel (Mar 27, 2012)

I'm sorry to take this thread even further off course, but can you recommend any places selling freedom collars in small sices?


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## Katiean (Mar 27, 2012)

Well, we hitched Dusty in this harness and all is good. I hate the breast collar. The next time we hitch I am going to use a different breast collar. The harness originally had french tugs (ick!!!). I changed that and so I changed the girth. The back strap was too long so I took it home to shorten. I took a back strap from another harness. Then the breaching didn't have all of the fasteners and keepers so I used a different breaching. The bridle could be just a tad shorter, but it will work. All in all he did quit well. We do not have an arena to work in but he really gets down to work a lot better than I thought he would for his first hitch. He worked hard since the only place we have to work is no hills. We ended on a good note. I am going to shoot some video so all can see.


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## rbrown (Mar 29, 2012)

Hessel said:


> I'm sorry to take this thread even further off course, but can you recommend any places selling freedom collars in small sices?


Camptown Harness! I am pretty sure her mini size fits a huge range of minis. She is very nice to work with as well. If I'm understanding the story correctly, she is the one who "invented" the Freedom Collar and has since had her design stolen by other harness makers.


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## susanne (Mar 29, 2012)

I _believe_ Chimacum has a size for the smaller A minis. Unless I'm hallucinating once again...


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## hobbyhorse23 (Apr 5, 2012)

rbrown said:


> Camptown Harness! I am pretty sure her mini size fits a huge range of minis. She is very nice to work with as well. If I'm understanding the story correctly, she is the one who "invented" the Freedom Collar and has since had her design stolen by other harness makers.


Janie at Chimacum Tack took all the original measurements for the shaped collar that became the Freedom Collar, I was here when she was designing it and my horse was one of the ones she measured.



The problem as I understand it came when Camptown Harness (with whom Janie was working at the time) was sold to Marjean and they had to split the product line. That caused difficulties of course so Marjean made some design changes and improvements so she could continue to sell the collar without patent infringement. At this point, yes, several dealers sell similar collars but that's partly because only one particular shape really fits minis' shoulders.



I don't care who sells it, it's a great product!

Last time I talked to her, Marjean does now carry a slightly smaller/shorter version for the smaller minis which I don't believe Janie does although both have A and B sizes.

Leia


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