Draft Harness in AMHR

[JMS Miniatures]

I got a horse that I think would do great in draft harness. He just doesn't have the action that would make him be a great country pleasure horse but he is a great driving horse. Pretty soon he is going to be sent to training for obstacle driving so he will have the piviot and figure 8s down. He is also going to be in Roman Chariot if I ever can find a roman chariot cart.

What all do the judges look for? Do the horses have to have great action to win in it? Any pictures would be great too!

Thanks!

 

[disneyhorse]

Draft harness is to be modeled after the "really big guys"... AMHR allows light shoes... you *should* braid like the drafts do (mane rolls, tail bows, and rosettes in the mane)... the harness needs to be draft type which means full collars and tugs with chains (may have scotch collars and spots on the harness too)... the vehicle should be either a hitch wagon or an all-wood cart with wood wheels (drafters don't have pneumatic wheels ever).

Just because your horse doesn't have action means it's like a draft horse! Lots of draft horses (bred to be "hitch horses") have TONS of action and are bred to break above level at the knee in the good ones! It's kind of sad that this is how our breed views things... NO action is draft, poor action is country, lots of action is pleasure, and artificial action is park. Very, very sad because that isn't how it SHOULD be! Anyway, my own personal pet peeve I guess... although I have noticed an increase in quality at the AMHR Nationals in the driving classes, so that makes me happy!

I love the draft horses, they are my first loves...

Andrea

Here are some pictures of draft horses in the show ring, and the minis should look like this (only smaller!)

 

[Jean_B]

Disneyhorse took the words right out of my mouth.

Most of the draft breeds have EXCELLENT action. That's why so many people cross drafts with thoroughbreds or other light breeds for dressage!

Here are some pics of drafts owned by one of my web clients - Meadowlark Percherons in Canada. These are winning horses....and you'll see that they have beautiful action.

 

[BlackDraft]

More pictures.... just cuz I like the draft horses... you may get more of an idea the braiding/ harnessing/ action/ vehicles the more you see them...

 

[justanothercowgirl]

Here's a pic of my Dad driving one of his stallions at an AMHR show in 2004. I know I have better pics but can't seem to find them right now.

 

[smlotsocats]

Here's my mini stallion Fredrick Jones with his draft harness at his first show. This harness is made of leather and is soft as butter. I LOVE this harness!

Here's my draft horse, Santana wearing his show harness. Leather harness with spots.

Here's my team in their everyday working harness, plain leather, no spots. Santana to the left and Ralphy on the right.

And last, Santana wearing his everyday harness while teaching my Paint colt on the left of the picture wearing his spotted biothane harness.

For all our draft horse harness, except little Fred, we order our collars to be adjustable. Meaning, the collar has 3 size adjustments at the top. We also keep a therapeutic healing pad on all collars. We have a wonderful Amish maker that even pulled out their old old collar die to make my Paint colt an adjustable collar. Apparently they stopped making the horse size collars adjustable about 5 years ago. Since my colt is still growing, I already went through 2 different size collars for him. I don't think he will outgrow his new one now! I just ordered the colt a new Biothane harness as he also outgrew his other one! I love that Bio!! The draft harness weighs an ungodly amount! I am 5'5" and have a heck of a time tossing that thing up on a 17 hand horse! We didn't know how nice the Bio was until we got my colts harness. By then we had already purchased the leather for the drafts. Never again!!! Do you know how long it takes to clean those leather draft harness!!!!! I have 3 team sets of draft harness, the one plain that we use for eveyday driving, the one with stainless spots and one absolutely gorgeous 3 strap britchen harness with about 1500 brass spots per harness!!! THAT one is like the Golden Gate bridge, by the time I get the last spot polished, the first one is tarnished again!!! WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Thanks for the info. Gives me something to think about whether or not I want to waste my money on a draft cart. He defintelly has the built for it, just not so much of the action.

Thanks again,

Jamie