Harness Tweaking

[Marsha Cassada]

Okay, drivers, here is my former horse, Buckly, now Tereon (sp?). His new owners have come a long way with him! They have put him to recently and I am trying to help them tweak the harness--you know how new harnesses can be a challenge!
1. I think they need to adjust the cart so he is closer to the front of the cart. They plan to cut off the shafts; I suggested they move the cart first. It has adjustments; they have it in the middle adjustment so it can move some.
2. breeching too low and too tight. We raised the breeching a hole on each side and it looked much better. Straps to the footmans loops are on the longest holes but if they move the cart they will get some play.
3. back strap too long. They will have to punch more holes.
4.I have an issue with the breast strap over the water hook. What do you all think?
5. traces are going through the tugs. She saw this on a youtube harnessing video. I am not sure it is a good idea, but maybe it is a good thing?? I put mine through the breeching straps but I tried it on her set up and it didn't work right.
6. we lowered the blinders. The overcheck was pressing down on the wires, too, so we removed the overcheck and worked on getting the blinders away from his face. I think the overcheck straps go UNDER the browband; is that right?
7.I didn't get a closeup of the singletree. It has an attachment setup I am not familiar with. I will try for a picture of it next time. They are improvising.
I've been driving a while, but don't have experience with various carts and harnesses. They plan to order a breast pad. I think the cart is a little large for him, but he seemed okay working with it. One hates to overwhelm new drivers with criticism or too many "you shoulds". We've all started somewhere and tweaked many a harness along the way.

 

[MajorClementine]

The woman who first trained Clementine for me also put the neck strap over the water hook. I drove her like this for several years. I used a pad under my breast strap though. Without the pad it might pull it at an angle that cuts into his chest. Maybe fashioning a connector strap would be a good idea. Cheap to do.

The saddle needs to be moved back a bit so it sits flat. It's really leaning back and the shaft loops are way behind the saddle.

Agree with you on the breeching.

I like to give my minis about 12" from the backs of their legs to the single tree. And I had the same problem with the shafts on my EE. I cut mine too.

Is it a sword end tree? Just tapered wood ends? I hate those. I have one and just bought a replacement. Had the traces slip off more than once even with the keepers in place.

I wouldn't run my traces through my tugs but that's just me....

Good to see someone having success with him. I hate trying to get new harnesses set up. I hate it more when someone wants to borrow a harness and I have to start all over with my adjusting. I finally bought a harness for each driving horse to avoid adjusting.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

The singletree does not have a sword end. It has a metal spring-thing but we cannot figure out how in the heck it could hold a trace. The traces on this harness have the usual holes. Maybe there are other kinds of traces? Maybe for a chain?

 

[Cayuse]

Good to hear an update on him
I would move him more forward in the cart, as he is now, I would be afraid he would easily hook
his face/bridle/bit on the shaft tip if he swings his head.
The breast collar looks like it might be a little high and interfering with where his neck ties in to his chest, but I can't be sure, he is pretty fuzzy right there.
A lot of people I know put the strap over the water hook. Ive done it, but on my minis it seemed to put more pressure on their neck. Maybe it just depends on each horses particular confirmation as to whether or not they are comfy that way.
And you are correct the, overcheck runs under the browband. I had to stop and think hard about that, the more I tried to visualize it, the more confused I got!

 

[MajorClementine]

Is it like this? https://goo.gl/images/QMiGM5

 

[MajorClementine]

So I zoomed in as much as I could and I think it's the same as mine. The slots in the traces squish onto the ends of the wood tree so the thin wood is sticking through the slot. You want to push the trace onto the wood far enough that it goes past the little metal triangle point. This is supposed to keep the trace from slipping off the end. If your horse starts out hard or jerks to one side the traces can (and have on my cart) pop off. It looks like it's a kingston EE cart. If it is you can order a new style single tree for it with much safer hooks to attach the traces. However, they need to be sure to order the bracket for the older style cart. Confused yet? I just went the rounds with Kingston to get the correct parts. I hated that stupid wood tree and always had clamps holding the spring down to prevent accidents.

If I'm wrong and it's not that type then just ignore me and pretend I didn't write this whole annoying post

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Yes, majclem that is it! the holes in the traces are nowhere large enough to go on the singletree. right now they are wrapping the trace and securing with a pin. maybe they should just keep doing that.
I know their set up isn't perfect but I hate to discourage them. They are doing super work putting him to. there is no other driving around here except my sister and me so moral support is hard.

 

[MindySchroder]

He is adorable and it looks like they really have the concepts down pretty well! I hope they are having fun

He does need to move forward in the shafts, away from the front of the cart. Watch your cart balance if you decide to move him backwards, towards the seat of the cart as that will change the overall balance of the vehicle. I actually prefer mine to be a bit more forward so I can make the balance exact. I hope that makes sense!

If you are having a hard time getting the blinders to stay off his eyes it's possible that his browband is too short. That is a common problem that I see.

To hook the neck strap back to the water hook just use a piece of twine or paracord. Tie it around the neck strap, creating a loop and then hook the twine to the water hook. This will also allow you to bring the front of the breast collar down a bit so it's not pressing upwards on the under side of his neck as it is doing now.

I would not run the traces through the shaft loops. Just catch the trace between the horse and the over girth strap. This is enough to keep things tidy.

And you can make the holes a bit bigger in the trace ends or order a set of trace extenders with larger diameter holes in them. I work for Chimacum Tack and we do this for people all the time! We would just need the measurements that the holes need to be.

His hip straps are a bit far back. To adjust that you will adjust the turn back strap. Setting his saddle back a little bit will give you a little more room in that turn back strap.

I have quite a few videos showing how to balance a cart and fit a harness. They are specific for Chimacum Tack, but the principles are the same.

These are just my opinions and should be taken as such

 

[Marsha Cassada]

They just drove into the yard. I am so happy they have him working well, but I was a little upset that they have not made some changes in the harness or cart. The breeching is still crammed against his rump. At least the blinders are better, since I helped her adjust them last time. I showed him a way to adjust the breeching today; maybe he will fix it. Have to admit that I was also feeling twinges of jealousy that they appear to be successful in getting him put to.

 

[Cayuse]

Hopefully they will get around to fixing things. Maybe they think "so far, so good" and don't want to!rock the boat if he is progressing. It's not the right way to go about it, but I have been guilty of doing just that.
You should be proud of him! He would not have come this far without you.