Cody's 1st driving lesson

Did a driving lesson with Spirit, the pony today and I think he's done it before because he was better at it than Cody.  We hitched him up to a tire and he pulled that, no problem.  Took him down the road to where a railroad tie has been lying on the side of the road and hitched him up to that and off we went.  He even trotted a little   Now we have another little cross country jump in the field across from the house!

Gosh, I never saw this!  Duh!  Saw the mention in the daily thread, but never this.  I'll have to look in here from time to time.
 
You might consider looking into e-bay from time to time for a (driving) *** collar.  They come up occasionally.  Or try Frontier Saddlery.  They have both pony and horse harness for less than two hundred dollars.  It's not great, but a good starter set. 

So, to skid logs and such, what exactly are the requirements as far as a harness?  Thanks

  Don't ever waste your $$ buying something from Frontier.  Biggest waste of Pakistani junk.
 
  If your goal is to drag stuff around, plow the garden,  harrow the arena... a *** collar harness won't do the job.  You will want a collar harness. The traces on a BC aren't long enough and the way they attatch to the *** plate, the point of draught is too high.  They are also light in contruction.
 
I've picked up nylon harness for $60.  Another $40+ for a collar and $5 for a tree.  You can make a tree with a 30" 2x4.  Add 2 hooks to attatch the chains to than add another hook in the middle to hook the tire to.  The tree will hold everything away from his legs so he won't get tangled in the tugs.  Attatch the tire with a quick release knot to start, long enough rope that you can hold on to, so if things go south, you can free the tire.  I like bio lines for ground driving.  You end up dragging alot of stuff on the ground and when it's a really nice set of leather lines, that's painful.

If one is going to buy a collar, hames, tugs, and traces, the cost is going to be considerably more than forty dollars.  I agree though that Frontier's harness could be comparitively called 'junk' when compared to the Amish made American harness.  However it's Brazillian junk, not Pakistani.  Also, when one is first starting out, cheap is good if it gets toasted.  Frontier's is at least somewhere to start out.  I would'nt recommend a nylon harness to anyone.  They've problems when it comes to rubs, chafes, etc.  The Biothane and similar harnesses are a much better choice as they have coated the nylon.  Not only that, it is far nicer to be able to hose down the harness at the end of the day.  Best of all, with Biothane, no oiling needed.
 
There are more hairs to be split when it comes to types of harness and qualities of their construction than can be found in a Georgian woman's wig.  I wouldn't recommend anything that I'd not be willing to use myself.
 


The harness in the picture is the Frontier leather harness.  I changed out the bridle with parts from a Smucker's bridle because the Blinker Stays wouldn't.  The second picture shows the bridle before I did so.

The above is a work harness commonly used in skidding logs and ploughing.  These sell in Biothane for around five or six hundred dollars, not including the collar, which is another fifty or sixty dollars.
 
Tiddling around the yard and dragging small things won't require more than what's in the above pictures.  The bottom picture is for pulling some really heavy duty stuff.  In fact, the owner of the harness uses it for the Mud Wagon (Stagecoach) shown below:
 

Here's a view from the Box Seat, as it were:
 

 
I still maintain that though the Frontier harness isn't the best or even really good quality, it is usable and a good, cheap start.  If one wants to go on from there, many other makes and qualities of harness are available.  Like I said, a good quality biothane harness starts around five or six hundred dollars (five for BC and six for collar/hames).
 
[quote=2manyhorses]

  Don't ever waste your $$ buying something from Frontier.  Biggest waste of Pakistani junk.

If your goal is to drag stuff around, plow the garden,  harrow the arena... a *** collar harness won't do the job.  You will want a collar harness. The traces on a BC aren't long enough and the way they attatch to the *** plate, the point of draught is too high.  They are also light in contruction.

I've picked up nylon harness for $60.  Another $40+ for a collar and $5 for a tree.  You can make a tree with a 30" 2x4.  Add 2 hooks to attatch the chains to than add another hook in the middle to hook the tire to.  The tree will hold everything away from his legs so he won't get tangled in the tugs.  Attatch the tire with a quick release knot to start, long enough rope that you can hold on to, so if things go south, you can free the tire.  I like bio lines for ground driving.  You end up dragging alot of stuff on the ground and when it's a really nice set of leather lines, that's painful.