Color of Harness

[MiniNHF]

I am pretty much new to driving and especially show driving so I have the a question about the color of harness to use in a show. I think at least at the worlds I have only seen black, but is it wrong to use a russett or brown color as long as it flows with the horses color and the look of the cart? Im sure for the "fancier" driving horses, like park etc you want to have the all black formal looking going on but what for the western pleasure etc?

 

[Al B]

Black is always the best. For the World/Nationals and breed shows I have seen all colors so nothing is wrong as long as its good quality. Now if you are doing formal ADS Pleasure Shows it depends on the horse color, cart color, cart trim, day of the week, time, color of your hat, etc. etc.

I would go with black.

 

[MiniNHF]

Black is always the best. For the World/Nationals and breed shows I have seen all colors so nothing is wrong as long as its good quality. Now if you are doing formal ADS Pleasure Shows it depends on the horse color, cart color, cart trim, day of the week, time, color of your hat, etc. etc.

I would go with black.

Thanks for your input

haha i understand all about the "time of day, day of the week" bit. I know when I did eventing especially, you had a black bridle/saddle combo for dressage and then brown for the jumping phase and we always went with a dark brown because my big guy is an oddly dark colored chestnut so the color complimented him, vs getting any brown colored bridle/saddle combo.

 

[Dreamer]

For any class but western, one definately needs black. My horse is in the western classes and I have a black harness as that is my preference. I just like the look of them better. However I have seen some truly lovely russet harnesses at the local rated shows. I even saw some at nationals when I was there this year. I think to pull it off though you need the right colored horse and a cart with the natural stained shafts rather than black. If your cart is black then I would definately go with a black harness.

 

[susanne]

While russet can be beautiful with certain horses, it is only correct with the proper cart or carriage, so it does limit your options. This might be a great choice if you are primarily interested in ADS driving shows and didn't mind buying the appropriate cart, but the breed show ring makes this choice a bit less viable. Show carts are typically black, silver with perhaps colored pinstriping, without the elements that coordinate beautifully with a russet harness.

There are certainly no rules against it with either AMHR or AMHA, but the logistics of coordinating harness and cart would make it more difficult. Black is always correct and goes with any cart, making life much simpler.

 

[MiniNHF]

Thanks for your input for everyone who responded; good ideas and reasoning behind things. I have not bought anything for show yet since im still in the process of training my boy for driving and im not quite sure what he will be good at. He is not a naturally high actioned horse but with training who knows so I dont want to count anything out yet.