# What Do You Think of This Harness Fit?



## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

I would lengthen the blackstrap a bit, (and take up the crupper to keep the same length total) to move the hangers back, then raise the rear hanger. 

The breast collar should hang in front of the withers instead of on the withers, and you may have to raise it up.

What kind of cart do you use? On straight wooden shaft carts, I always have to move the footman loops forward so that the holdbacks pull the breeching forward. On my marathon, I hook the holdbacks in the shaft loops, instead of the footman loops, and the breeching is MUCH more stable.

Handsome horse!

ETA: move the saddle back a little, so that it sits behind his withers. This may solve the blackstrap problem. If you are planning to show, be advised that driving judges are not crazy about the draft style harness which has no tree in it....


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## InexcessiveThings (Oct 22, 2016)

I could easily move the saddle or lengthen the backstrap. The crupper, on the other hand, is poorly designed in that it has no way to adjust it on the main strap the attaches to the breeching. So it’s already taken up as much as it can be. One of the things I don’t like about the design of this harness. The breast collar does normally sit at the base of his neck. I had pulled it up onto the withers as we were just ground driving because I found my cart has an air tube that needs replacing which I couldn’t do at that time. It has a tendency to slide too far down the neck when not pulling anything. 

The cart I was using is a straight shafted easy entry which is really much too small for him but worked for training. It has no footman loops and I decided it wasn’t worth it to me to add any since I’m not using the cart anyway. Now I can’t seem to sell the thing, but I plan to most likely replace it with some other two wheeled cart. Probably with similar shafts. 

I had no idea that judges would prefer to see one type of saddle over another. I currently don’t show as there are really no driving shows or events near me. Good to know though as I’d like to show eventually and also try CDE.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

You may need to take it to a harness shop and have the breeching moved back if it is sewn in.


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## InexcessiveThings (Oct 22, 2016)

The breeching assembly, backstrap, and crupper are all sewn in and attached to each other. I have thought about getting it altered. Though it might be easier to just buy something new altogether rather than put the time and money into this one to try and make it more workable. 

Thanks for the tips! I've only been driving for a few years so I've got a lot to learn yet!


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