A horse harness is a device that connects a horse to a horse-drawn vehicle or another type of load to pull. The two main designs of horse harness are the breast collar and the full collar. The trade that makes harnesses is a saddler or harness maker. 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 used with oxen) are not suitable for horses and will not allow the horse to work efficiently.
History
Early horse-drawn vehicles were limited by simple throat-and-girth harnesses, which restricted a horse's breathing and reduced the amount of weight it could pull. Over time, new harness designs were developed to improve efficiency and allow horses to pull heavier loads. In ancient China, innovations such as the breast strap and improved yoke arrangements allowed horses to work more effectively in front of carts and chariots. By the early medieval period, the invention of the rigid horse collar transformed traction by distributing weight across the horse's shoulders rather than its neck, greatly increasing pulling power. These improvements in harness design supported the development of heavier vehicles, expanded agricultural and commercial transport, and contributed to the widespread use of horse-drawn equipment throughout Europe and Asia.
(For the full historical development of harness technology, see History of horse-drawn transport.)
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 horse collar (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 breast collar 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, 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, 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
Reins or lines are long leather straps (occasionally ropes) running from the bit 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 A bearing rein or overcheck is a strap system which attaches to the harness saddle, 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 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.
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