Saddles and Harness

The same principles of expansion through force fuel the demand for football in America as it did during the pilgrim’s Westward expansion.  In fact, perhaps the reason football is so popular in America while it is trumped by sports such as soccer and baseball in other countries is its strong ties to American ideals.  During your standard football game, one team attempts to ‘take’ the other team’s land by pushing through their defenses.  This bears a remarkable similarity to the American settler’s desire to acquire all the land by pushing through the Native American peoples. 

In addition, there are some other similarities in the game, such as collar on an NFL player’s shoulder pads being called a horse collar.  Horses had a significant contribution to the westward expansion, as most all settlers rode on horses or in carriages pulled by horses and oxen. 

     There are two types of traces typically used to hook to your cart or carriage. Smaller carts like easy entry carts have single trees with small pegs or clips. These type of carts use traces with slots in the end called slotted traces. they go over the peg on each side of the single tree.

     The heavier carriages like vis-a-vis and people movers use traces with chains on the end. These chains are hooked over heavy stlle hooks mounted on each end of the singletree.

Hooking Harness to the carriage using traces is quite easy - just match the style of traces to the type of hookup on the carriage or cart.

All draft horse bits are not created equal.  Not all draft horses are the same size, so the width of the bit necessary has to be determined prior to purchase.  There are also different styles of draft horse bits such as snaffle and curb.

While researching the differences between various draft horse bits, the majority of articles stated at least once that the effect of any given bit on a horse’s mouth was solely dependent on the skill level of the rider.

Collars are something usually associated with dogs or cats, but a horse collar is an important part of a horse harness.  The most well-known type of horse collar for draft horses is called a breastcollar, but some research maintains that other types of horse collars provide more comfort to draft horses than the breastcollar type because they may allow less pressure to reach the airway during the performance of heavy work.

 A horse collar is not circular and not overly flexible.  The shape of any horse collar is meant to protect the breathing passages, enabling the horse to use its full strength to pull the load.

The collar is the most important part of the working horse harness. The collar transfers all of the weight of the carriage to the horse. A common high quality collar is the Brodhead

field collar. Made of leather by the Amish in Iowa these collars are the standard of the industry. They will last for years and if fitted properly they will keep your driving horse healthy and happy.

The easiest way to measure for a collar is to take a soft tape and measure according to the diagram above. Measure 2 or 3 times until you are satisfied that the measurement is correct.

Measuring your horse for a collar does not have to be a nerve-racking chore.

     Harness and bridles are available in many different materials but the new synthetic materials are becoming very popular. The choice is Biothane or Beta. Beta is the closest thing to leather in the tack marketplace. The main attributes are the extreme strength and soft to the hand touch. It has a flat matte finish which looks like leather.

     The biothane is just as strong but has a very shiny finish which is most popular for tack that is used for parades and show harness. The beauty of both materials is that they are much stronger than leather and require almost no maintenance. To clean simply hose off - it will not absorb moisture or dirt and it will not rot or mildew. Tack made with these space age materials will last a lifetime.