Leather harness...

[susanne]

The reason I ask is that I hear people say that leather will break in an accident whereas bio or beta will not.

I would tend to believe that a mini (or at least many of them) would not break any of these materials. I'm NOT saying this is a reason not to use leather, but that keeping a good knife close at hand is just as critical with leather as with any synthetic.

Leather has so many advantages, but I feel that this claim is just a bit misleading.

Or have you seen otherwise?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Yes, I've had a strap break. I was not in the cart however. I had gotten out for some reason (can't remember now) and did not have a good hold on the reins. He bolted and took off across the pasture. Crashed the cart into a boulder, which stopped him. It wasnt' the girth strap, but one of the tug straps that broke.

I managed to cobble the harness back together in order to drive him home, then had to take it for repairs.

Also had to order new boards for the cart from Jerald...

A good lesson for me. But I always carry a knife in the cart, just in case.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

The leather snapped all sorts of ways in that terrible driving accident I had with Spyderman back in my teens, but he was a 14.3 hand Arab so I know that doesn't really count for what you're asking. I've been lucky and not had an accident that bad with a mini in a leather harness so really couldn't tell you for sure one way or the other. I know the one bad accident I had in KY with a synthetic harness, the stitching gave on the backstrap before any of the synthetic did and freed the horse that way. The traces, on the other hand, the part I really needed to get free, were not about to break and I suspect would have been much harder to saw through than leather ones would have been. I had a knife on me thank God but I shudder to think about trying to saw through a thick synthetic strap tight against the side of a leaping, thrashing horse. It would have been so easy to stab or cut the animal! Makes me want one of those seat belt cutters they advertise.

There were quick releases on the back of the traces but I discovered that sometimes in an accident you can't reach those. I now really want a set up at the shoulder as well, like the Zilco collars come with.

Leia

 

[disneyhorse]

Seen plenty of wrecks, and I've seen plenty of broken leather straps.

I always try to buy leather for my bitting rigs, work equipment, etc... earlier this year my stallion got wrapped up in his lines while ground driving and fell down and fortunately the little leather strap of his bridle cheek piece broke easily. I'd WAY have rather had that bridle rip than his mouth!

Also, I have seen several horses flip upside-down in their carts at Nationals, and people run in with knives and easily cut through the leather straps to free the horse. Yep, it does suck to cut up that $1000 show harness BUT it's cheaper to replace leather straps than your horse.

Andrea

 

[squeaky]

I have had many incidences where the leather has given on my harness before my mare was about to give up. The worst "accident" (more like planned "accident" on her part) I have experienced was when my mare flipped over in the cart, and hard. The strap that attaches to the shaft loop ripped clean through which then allowed the cart to stay upright and not flip over. The leather on that strap is some of the thickest on the harness and it is nice to know that even the thick stuff is liable to break. I have had to send my harness in so many times to be repaired I am sure the people think I have a crazy horse or a bunch of young ones.

I just like to know that leather does have a possibility of breaking whereas the beta and bio don't give you that possibility. It gives me piece of mind to know that a young horse potentially won' hurt themselves as much with a leather harness. Plus, I am old fashioned and there is something about the look of a nice black leather harness and brass buckles that just makes the driving turnout picture complete for me.

Amanda

 

[RhineStone]

A lot of times, leather breaks at an adjustment hole, one where the buckle is in it. We had a mini rear up and throw himself down in the harness, and he broke the leather to the point that I couldn't use that harness to put him to again (it was so many years ago, I don't remember what broke).

Mini harnesses are usually scaled down, so the straps are thinner. Minis can still break their harnesses.

Myrna

 

[susanne]

This is good to know that it happens, but erring on the side of paranoia, I'll never count on it.

 

[Peggy Porter]

I just had an incident that qualifies me to answer this one. After unhitching but before unharnessing, my horse caught his throatlatch from his leather bridle on the mount for the shaft on my Kutzman carriage. When he lifted his head, he lifted both front wheels of the 200+ lb carriage off the ground. The throatlatch is probably only about 3/8 inch thick, and not really high quality, and it did not break. It did stretch quite a bit. Thankfully, my horse is pretty level headed and we were able to rescue him quickly with no harm to him. Don't know if my heart will ever be the same, tho! VBG!