Jessica -
What type of driving are you planning on doing - show, arena only, groomed trails, cross country trails, CDE competitions? What type of cart are you purchasing - metal ez entry, combo ez entry, jerald/graber/houghton show cart, marathon style cart? How big is your mini?
What type of tackroom do you have? How much time do you have to maintain a leather harness? Do you want wash and wear ease?
The answers to all these questions will lead you to the type of harness to get.
Me - I'm a little different. I live in a high humidity state (NC) now. I have a lot of ponies and a lot of equipment and I'm the only one maintaining/caring for everything - including the property. I have a barn - but not a proper, enclosed tackroom. I no longer even enjoy caring for leather (work no longer a labor of love, LOL) - and lately even my expensive leather articles - regardless of how it's cared for - is regularly having problems with mold and mildew. Longer story short - I LOVE BETATHANE. In the last few years - it's come a long ways! Just like leather - you can get a slighly less expensive harness - but the material that makes it is generally the same quality. Where there is lower cost is in layers (one vs 2 or 3), hardware (conway buckles instead of "proper" buckles) and stitching (or lack there of due to Conway buckle use). Bethathane can be different types, styles, colors and textures. Bio is shiny like patent leather. There are many companies now that specialize in harness's made with betathane/biothane - pleasure, work/farm style w/ collars & hames, marathon/CDE. Some is acceptable for breed shows - though there are different thoughts on that.
I have a basic pleasure harness in combo bio and betathane that I like. Part of the harness was from a yardsale but wasn't complete so I got individual parts to make it a whole. I love it!
I have work harness with hames and collars. I use it - for training, for cross country driving, for showing and for parading. It's easy to clean both after a hot, sweaty work out or before a show/parade. Just hose it off while on the ponies or after putting on the fence/stocks, maybe scrub some areas where it's got caked dirt and sweat and then wipe down with Pledge. WORKS. The price(s) were reasonable on the less expensive side and I've upgraded some of it (changing from lots of conway buckles and snaps to sewn in buckles). I have not found it to rub or chafe the way some folks seem to - maybe due to the way the work harness is styled/fitted?
Now you'll ask how old it is. It's not that old - the first ones are just coming into 2 years of age. The newest ones are only 3 months old. So I can't tell you exactly how long it will last or when it willwear out. But I've been dealing with the same American company for those two years and I'm confident that as parts wear out - I can get them repaired or replaced (for less than purchasing a new harness!). I was able to purchase "stock" harness (off the shelf), but I can get custom made parts or get it adjusted if necessary/wanted.
Now I'm comparing the different companies that make the marathon style betathane harness... That will be my next purchase. 3 of the 4 companies I'm looking at are American companies. I bring that up because I love keeping my business in the good ole USA... Though if I get a Marathon vehicle, it may be from out of country - don't know that I'll get one or which company I'd order it from (yet).
I have used nylon - in bridles, breast collars, girth billets for larger horses and in harness for the ponies. Buffalo and Wintec synthetic saddles. Just as with halters, there are different qualities. For me, nylon can be not the best product. Though it doesn't require the care that leather does - it's harder to care for than the bio/betathane. I've purchased some harness that was really, really poor quality - hardware rusted in 90 days, several parts broke not long after that. A friend of mine has one that is pretty awesome - but it isn't as easy to care for or to get fixed as the bio/beta that we both now have. I know of several Draft Horse folk that have nylon work harness and LOVE it - I can find out which companies they've gotten it from and find out if those companies make nylon for small ponies or minis. Since finding what I like in bio/beta-thane, I haven't bothered to check.
I do own several leather harness (s). One is training type - and doesn't have all the parts that a pleasure harness or marathon harness does. One is a basic pleasure harness - not heavy enough for cross country type driving, but not show quality either. One is a basic show type harness - purchased this year in hopes of having a driving pony to show next year (may not be ready). THis one is in a harness bag and lives in our house... I wish I still enjoyed cleaning leather - the feel, the scent, the joy of handling. Sorry to say - now cleaning these pieces is a chore. I'm not looking forward to using the show harness. If showing doesn't become my forte - it will be sold. I'm hoping that I can get a marathon style harness in betathane and use it to cross over into the showring - then I will sell it. As the other leather ones wear out - they won't be replaced with leather.
O and besides the training harness I started with (leather Hackney pony quick hitch harness too large for some of my first Shetlands), I made basic harness styled after it. I made a breast collar out of a pony girth and nylon from the local military stores for the original training (no breeching and used a weaver training surcingle) - made in 1997. Another one, I made out of braided haystring - and started using that in 2009. Both are still in use.
