A horse harness is a device that connects a

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

to a

horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by auto ...

or another type of load to pull. There are two main designs of horse harness: (1) the

breast collar A breastplate (also referred to as a breastcollar, breaststrap or breastgirth) is a piece of Horse tack, tack (equipment) used on horses. Its purpose is to keep a saddle from sliding back. It is also a safety feature—if the saddle's Girth (ta ...

or breaststrap, and (2) the full collar or collar-and-hames. For pulling heavy loads, a full collar is required because it distributes pressure over a larger area of the horse. An ill-fitting full collar can cause chafing on the horse's skin and can interfere with its breathing, as can a breast collar that is positioned too high. Putting harness on a horse is called ''harnessing'' or ''harnessing up''. Attaching the harness to the vehicle or load is called ''putting to'' in the British Isles, or ''hitching'' in North America. The order of putting on harness components varies by discipline, but when a horse collar is used, it is usually put on first. Harness components designed for other animals (such as the

yoke A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in dif ...

used with

oxen An ox (: oxen), also known as a bullock (in BrE, British, AusE, Australian, and IndE, Indian English), is a large bovine, trained and used as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castration, castrated adult male cattle, because castration i ...

) are not suitable for horses and will not allow the horse to work efficiently.

History

Throughout the ancient world, the 'throat-and-girth' harness was used for harnessing horses that pulled

cart A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

s; this greatly limited a horse's ability to exert itself as it was constantly choked at the neck. A painting on a

lacquerware Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Before ...

box from the

State of Chu Chu (, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was an Ancient Chinese states, ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BC. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland and lasted ...

, dated to the 4th century BC, shows the first known use of a yoke placed across a horse's chest, with traces connecting to the chariot shaft. The hard yoke across the horse's chest was gradually replaced by a breast strap, which was often depicted in carved reliefs and stamped bricks of tombs from the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). Eventually, the

horse collar A horse collar is a part of a horse harness that is used to distribute the load around a horse's neck and shoulders when pulling a wagon or plough. The collar often supports and pads a pair of curved metal or wooden pieces, called hames, to wh ...

was invented in China, at least by the 5th century.

Parts

Different regions and different purposes cause variation in harness construction, however there are many parts of harness that are common.

Pulling the load

The collar and traces are responsible for pulling the load. The rest of the harness is for keeping the harness in position, holding the vehicle or load, and controlling the horse.

Collar

A collar is the part which a horse pushes against with its shoulders and chest. The two main designs are the breast collar harness and the full collar harness. * A

(or ''full collar'') is a padded loop fitting closely around the horse's neck and resting on its shoulders. Must be correctly sized for each individual horse. Used for heavier pulling than a breast collar. * A

is a padded strap running across the front of the horse's chest in lieu of a full collar. Breastcollars do not require close fitting for each horse. They should be used with a swingletree at the carriage to avoid rubbing the horse's shoulders during movement. * Hames are required when a full collar is used. Hames are two metal or wooden strips which take the full force of the pull, padded by the collar. They are strapped on after putting the collar on the horse.

Traces

Traces are the two straps or chains which take the pull from the breast collar or hames to the vehicle or load.

Head section

The head section of a harness includes the bridle and bit, reins to control the horse, and other controlling straps.

Bridle

Harness bridles are slightly different than riding bridles. They usually include

blinders Blinkers, also known as blinders, blinds and winkers, are a part of horse harness and horse tack, tack which limits a horse's field of vision—blocking vision to the sides, the rear, or both. Blinkers are usually seen in Driving (horse), horse ...

, also called ''blinkers'' or ''winkers'', beside a horse's eyes to prevent it from being distracted or frightened by the carriage or other activity behind or beside it. When there are horses harnessed in front of another, all those behind the leader will have large rings mounted on the side of the bridle to support reins passing to a horse in front of them. Often there is ornamentation on the bridle such as a ''drop'' hanging from the crownpiece and down the forehead, rosettes on each side by the ears, and decoration across the browband.

Bit

Bits for harness may be similar to those used for riding, but there are a few bits unique to driving such as the Elbow, Buxton,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, and the Wilson snaffle. The first three offer adjustments in severity for each horse, which is useful when working with multiple horses where all the horses wear matching bits, but the adjustments in curb leverage allow for each individual horse's needs.

Reins

Rein Reins are used to direct a horse (or other animal) when riding or driving. They are attached to a bridle's bit or noseband and are made of leather, nylon, or other materials. Reins are used to give subtle commands or cues—also known as r ...

s or ''lines'' are long leather straps (occasionally ropes) running from the

bit The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communication. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented as ...

to the driver's hands which are used to guide the horses. For a single horse, there are two reins (left and right). For a pair of horses harnessed side-by-side, the reins from each horse are joined midway so the driver holds just two reins. When driving teams of four or more horses (multiple "pairs"), each pair of horses ends with two reins at the driver—so a four-in-hand driver holds four reins. In some driving systems, the reins of teams of multiple horses are all joined together so the driver only holds two reins. Reins are often 13 feet long or more. A ''lead rein''—a rein that passes a rear horse to reach a horse in front of it—may well be 24 feet long. Driving reins were traditionally russet (undyed brown leather) because the dye used to color harness black would rub off on the driver's clothes where the reins draped across their lap.

Bearing rein

bearing rein The Bearing rein also called a check rein or overcheck, is a type of rein attached to the bit on a bridle, that runs over the head of the horse, attaching to the harness saddle or pad. The primary purpose of a bearing rein is to prevent the hors ...

or overcheck is a strap system which attaches to the

harness saddle A harness saddle is an element of horse harness which supports the weight of shafts or poles attaching a vehicle to a horse. Like other types of saddle, it lies on the horse's back directly behind the withers, often has an internal supportive ...

, goes to the top of the horse's head and downward to attach to a bit. In English carriage harness, a ''bearing rein'' or ''side check'' travels through rings near the horse's ears and attaches to the bit. Common in harness racing and in

fine harness Fine harness is a type of driving (horse), driving competition seen at horse shows, that feature light, refined horses with high action. Popular horse breed, breeds in this event include the American Saddlebred, Morgan horse, Morgan, Arabian h ...

showing, an ''overcheck'' strap passes between the horse's ears, comes down the front of the face, splits and attaches to a small auxiliary bit. Overchecks are sometimes used to attain a high head carriage; extremely high settings are considered abusive. Properly adjusted bearing reins and overchecks give the horse ample freedom of his head while prohibiting a horse from reaching to eat grass or scratching sweaty bridles on anything within reach—potentially causing accidents when a bit or rein gets hooked on something. The primary names of these straps are bearing rein and side check (UK), overcheck (USA), but also check rein, overhead check, and overdraw.

Martingale

In some cases a specially designed

running martingale Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion by which humans and other animals move quickly on foot. Running is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is in contrast to walkin ...

may also be added. A looser overcheck may also be used in a working harness to prevent the horse grazing. The overcheck hooks to a ''pedestal'' on the harness saddle.

Horse brasses

Horse brass A horse brass is a brass plaque used for the decoration of horse harness gear, especially for shire and parade horses. They became especially popular in England from the mid-19th century until their general decline alongside the use of the dra ...

es are ornamental brass plaques mounted on leather straps, used for decoration, especially on working harness. Made in a wide range of designs.

Mid-section

The middle section of a harness includes the parts that go around the horse's mid-section and hold shafts. Most all the other parts of the harness attach to this stable part of the harness.

Saddle

or pad is the piece of the harness that lies across the horse's back. It is not the same as a riding saddle. A ''saddle'' is a stuffed piece of leather that supports the weight of shafts. Saddles for heavy commercial carts may be quite substantial in size to help distribute the weight bearing down from the shafts. For pulling loads without shafts, a ''pad'' or ''back pad'' is used, which is a wide non-padded leather strap. For example, pads are used for logging, plowing or a pair of horses pulling a 4-wheeled vehicle which uses a pole between two horses, not shafts. A fitted and stuffed ''saddle pad'' may be placed underneath a saddle or pad for extra padding. The saddle is held into place by the ''girth'', a strap which goes under the belly of the horse. Together, the saddle and girth encircle the horse. Attached to the saddle are other parts of the harness such as ''rein terrets'' (above), ''tugs'' (to each side), a back strap and ''crupper'' (to the rear), and ''bearing reins'' or ''overcheck'' (to the front).

Girth

The

girth Girth may refer to: Mathematics * Girth (functional analysis), the length of the shortest centrally symmetric simple closed curve on the unit sphere of a Banach space * Girth (geometry), the perimeter of a parallel projection of a shape * Girth ...

is a strap that goes under the horse's belly and is buckled firmly to the saddle. A

surcingle A surcingle is a strap made of leather or leather-like synthetic materials such as nylon or neoprene, sometimes with elastic, that fastens around the horse's girth. A surcingle may be used for ground training, some types of in-hand exhibition ...

is a term used within certain

designs to describe the combination of a light girth and harness saddle.

Shaft tugs, or tugs

Loops attached to the back band to hold up the shafts of a vehicle in van or fine harness (not needed in cart harness, which attaches to hooks on the shafts). Two types: *For two-wheeled vehicles the tugs are stiff leather loops, fitting fairly loosely around the shafts (which are rigidly attached to the vehicle), to allow flexibility as the animal and the vehicle move against each other. *For four-wheeled vehicles with independently hinged shafts, the tugs (''Tilbury tugs'') are leather straps buckled tightly around the shafts so they move with the animal.

Back band

A strap going through the harness saddle, or attached to it, to join the belly band on both sides of the horse. It takes the weight of the shafts. In heavy cart harness it is replaced by a chain running in a groove in the harness saddle, hooked to the shafts either side. * Sliding back band. In a two-wheeled vehicle, the shafts are fixed to the vehicle to hold it level. On a side-slope, one shaft will be higher than the other, and in this case the back band is normally allowed to slide sideways through the harness saddle, so the horse can walk upright without strain on the harness. * Fixed back-band. In a four-wheeled vehicle, the shafts or pole must be allowed to hinge up and down, to allow the horse and vehicle to pass over hillocks and dips. Often the shafts are independently hinged, and on a side-slope these will each hinge to follow the horse, and a sliding back band is not needed. However, if a sliding back band was used with independent shafts it might allow one shaft to ride up higher than the other, and so for such shafts the back-band is normally fixed to the harness saddle. On other four-wheeled vehicles, the two shafts hinge together, and a sliding back band is needed as for two-wheeled vehicles.

Belly-band

A strap that goes over the girth, but more loosely under the belly of the horse. It prevents the shafts from rising up, especially on a two-wheeled vehicle where weight on the rear of the cart may tip the front up.

False martingale

A strap passing between the front legs, from the bottom centre of the collar to the belly band, to hold the collar in position. Called "false", because unlike a true martingale it does not attach to the bridle or have any influence on the horse's action.

Terrets

Terrets are metal loops through which reins pass. Terrets are mounted on the saddle or collar to support the reins and keep them in position. Where one horse is hitched in front of another, the rear horse's harness may have extra terrets through which are run the lines to the horse ahead of them. There may be terrets attached near the rear horse's ears, called Roger rings, or double rings on the saddle to separate the lines for the rear horse from the lines to the forward horse or horses.

Rear section

The purpose of the rear section of harness is for holding the traces (the pulling straps) up off the ground so a horse doesn't get a leg over one, and for the horse to slow or stop a wheeled vehicle, or "hold back" the vehicle against gravity when going downhill.

Breeching

Breeching is a horizontal strap that goes around the horse's haunches allowing the horse to slow a vehicle or hold it back when going downhill. It is usually hooked to the ''breeching dee'' on the shafts by ''breeching straps''. Used for a single horse, a pair, or in a larger team, only for the ''wheelers'' (the animal or pair closest to the vehicle). The leaders in a team do not have breeching, as they are in front of the shafts or pole and cannot help to slow the vehicle. Breeching may be omitted for vehicles with efficient brakes or when pulling very light vehicles such as in

driving.

Crupper

crupper A crupper (; occ. spelled crouper) is a piece of horse tack, tack used on horses and other Equus (genus), equids to keep a saddle, horse harness, harness or other equipment from sliding forward. Construction The crupper consists of a loop (the ...

is a soft padded loop which goes under the base of the tail and is attached to the ''back strap'', which runs across the back and is attached to the top-rear of the ''saddle''. The back strap and crupper together keep the saddle from slipping forward.

Back strap

A strap running from the ''crupper'' to the rear of the saddle or pad. The back strap and crupper together keep the saddle from slipping forward. The back strap also holds in position any loin straps or breeching straps.

Types

Show harness

Show harnesses for light cart

driving Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a land vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses. A driver's permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met, and drivers are required to ...

have a breast collar instead of a horse collar and are made with strong but refined-looking leather throughout, usually black and highly polished. In draft horse showing and

combined driving Combined driving (also known as horse driving trials) is an equestrian sport involving driving (horse), carriage driving. In this discipline, the driver sits on a vehicle drawn by a single horse, a pair or a team of four. The sport has three p ...

, horse collars are seen, but harness leather is still highly polished and well-finished.

Carriage or van harness

Lighter weight but strong harness similar to show harness, used for pulling passenger vehicles such as buggies or carts, or other lighter loads. The traces attach either to the shafts of the vehicle or to the vehicle itself, and the harness may have either a

or a

Racing harness

The racing harness, like the show harness, is a breast collar harness. Horses are hitched to a very lightweight two-wheeled cart, called a

sulky A sulky is a lightweight cart used for harness racing. It has two wheels and a small seat for only a single driver. The modern racing sulky has shafts that extend in a continuous bow behind the driver's seat, with wire-spoked "bike" wheels ...

. Most race harnesses incorporate a standing martingale and an overcheck. Horses may be raced in a "blind" bridle, which restricts the horse from seeing beside and behind him to various degrees by use of blinkers (horse tack), or may be raced with an "open" bridle, one that does not have blinkers. Specialized equipment, called "hobbles" or "hopples" are added to the harness of race horses who pace (and sometimes to the harness of those who

trot The trot is a two-beat diagonal horse gait where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time with a moment of suspension between each beat. It has a wide variation in possible speeds, but averages about . A very slow trot is som ...

) in order to help them maintain their

gait Gait is the pattern of Motion (physics), movement of the limb (anatomy), limbs of animals, including Gait (human), humans, during Animal locomotion, locomotion over a solid substrate. Most animals use a variety of gaits, selecting gait based on s ...

Cart or wagon harness

Harness for pulling heavier vehicles always has a

. The traces are often made of chain and attach to loops on the shafts of the vehicle. A chain attached to the shafts may be passed over the saddle to carry their weight. Reins are of rope or leather, depending on region of the world.

Plow harness

Similar to wagon harness but without breeching, used for dragged loads such as

plow A plough or (Differences between American and British spellings, US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs ...

s, harrows, canal boats or logs. This style is also used on the leaders in a team of animals pulling a vehicle. The traces attach to a whippletree behind the horse and this then pulls the load (or in larger teams may attach to further whippletrees). There are two main plow harness types: the New England D-Ring and the Western harness. The New England D-Ring makes use of a metal D-shaped ring that allows for a ninety degree angle to be maintained at the junction of the front trace and the hames regardless of the height of the implement being pulled. The Western harness does not provide this flexibility but has other useful characteristics such as a strap that runs from the breeching to the collar which stops the pull from riding up and hitting the horses in the face when descending a steep incline.

Gallery

File:American Saddlebred Mare - "Along Came a Spider" (2395778688).jpg, Fine show harness File:Mickey et sa Caleche.jpg, Sporting breast collar harness File:Haflinger als Kutschperd.JPG, Russet colored harness File:Krakowcarriagehorsesalpha.jpg, Decorative parade harness File:BradfordIndM 024.jpg, Working horse in harness File:Forestry Demonstration - geograph.org.uk - 1116115.jpg, Logging