safe harness and driving

[chungalung]

me and my sister broke our mare in to trap a few months ago and she is brilliant, my first question is to people who ride and drive with their horses, do you find that your horse is alot better at one than the other, my mare is an awsome ride if u know how to ride, she is fast and strong. But when being driven she is a different mare, a child could take the reins and she would be as good as gold. opinions please.

also we have a harness for our mare and its synthetic, can we buy some sort of quick release harness or somthing along them lines. she is safe, but i dont trust or cars or horses around wer i live, if she ever did go mad i would want to b able to release her easily, wereas now i cannot.
thanx
tor

 

[Ezme]

Some horses prefer some work to others. I know mark is selling one of his coaching horses because it prefers work under saddle rather than harness. Some like the freedom of being away from the driver, i always think driving horses are allowed to think a bit more than a ridden horse.

As for harness, I think some of the zilco has quick releases.... or its an option on some of it. Not great with sythetic harness as all our harness is leather. 3 of the sets to have quick releases tho.

 

[Donkeymad]

You can get quick-release buckles for harness, I'm not sure how or where they fit as I have never had them. They are very often for sale on ebay.

Our cob was broken to harness at three/four years and then broken to ride at 10 years. He enjoys both but definately prefers driving. We have only driven the three smaller ones so have no idea which they prefer, but they do love driving out!

 

[Ezme]

You've never used quick releases!? Mostly they look like this

and are on the end of traces and pole straps. You can get quick release tugs as well but they're slightly different. Apparently duke of edinbourgh saw these clips out sailing and thought they'd be good for driving. Must say they are a real boon when you want to get out of the carriage when it's peeing it down or if you have a youngster (all our younsters go out with quick releases for at least a year) even had one of our boys go down (bit of a freak accident) once but he fell forward into his collar so the quick releases saved us cutting the traces.

One bit of advice tho is to put a bit of tape over the ring on the pin because if you have a horse with a wire tail they can get caught and release just when you don't want them too!

 

[rara007]

The quick releases shown above are great for the ends of traces, they mean you can get them out much quicker. Useful for time saving, and very useful in an accident. They saved our bacon when a wheeler got a leg over trace. Depending on your traces and swingle tree how you attach them. One end they have the quick release, the other they attach by passing a pin through and a keyring securing it. I have mine attached to my traces, and clip to the carriage, but also have them left on the carriage so you clip the traces on. No real difference but I like to clip the traces to the collar taking out. They are exactly the same, but 1/2 the price from boat shops. The keyring used for the quick releases can be fiddly, but the keyrong plastic fobs you get free from stands at country shows make them easier

, or for a smarter look leather shoe laces.
You also get parrot clips you can use to make breeching quick release. I used to use one, between the backband and pad, so in an emergency the whole backband and breeching cone away. I now have 2, between the breeching straps and seat. I leave the straps on the carriage at all times, abd just clip the breeching on putting to. It saves alot of time, and in an emergency comes away quickly.
The quick release tugs are good too although expensive. TBH they don't save time and unless you can get them in your make and style of harness they don't really fit.

 

[chungalung]

thank you very much everyone, sorry i have only just replied i am in oz atm. i will be sure to give my sister a ring to let her know, thanks again