This message is from: "Dave McWethy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi Kathleen
I am familiar with the Yankee breeching, although I have never seen any in New England Yankee territory! I have seen it occasionally further west. It is a reasonable design for a draft harness, and may have two benefits. It is possible a horse could hold back a heavier load with this design. And it is possible that for a harness used for a lot of distance, and trotting, it might produce less fur wear than a conventional breeching, which bounces up and down more. Of the two, that would be more interesting to me. But I haven't had occasion to make a harness with it. Maybe some day. Not a high priority. It is also interesting to me that where the harnessmaker wants strength, he is incorporating Biothane. To take the logic further, you eliminate the leather! The benefit with a "heavy harness", a work harness, is that it is in fact no longer heavy when you use more synthetics. My veterinarian is 5'6', and has a pair of tall Belgians. Before he got a Camptown Harness, he needed a second person to help harness them, because he couldn't lift the harness onto them by himself. His new harness, while lighter, is actually stronger, and he can put it on the horses with no help. I might note that while we continue to make work harness of Biothane, almost all of the carriage harness we make is of Beta and similar appearing materials. Beta, almost as tough as Biothane, is nicer looking and nicer feeling to the hand, and a closer approximation of leather. Both are made by the same company. What I have come to see also, in the comparison of leather and Beta, is that a harness of Beta will look better than a similar harness of leather, if used regularly, one year or five years later. I sold a harness this last week to a woman who has a Morong harness she paid $2800 for. It is a nice harness, and I like Bill Morong's work. But with the cost, she doesn't want to put the wear and tear on it. I have heard this story numbers of times. She will pay under $700 for the Camptown Harness, can use it anywhere, any time, and in a year it will look just as good. She had reasoned this through without my help. I don't question the price of these high line leather harnesses. But people make an assumption that price with the wide variation of price, there must be compromises in the harness we produce. In fact there are fewer differences than you would think. We all use the same thread. We can or do get leather from the same suppliers. The much of the hardware is usually the same. What you have, in an analogy of marketing of cars, is a difference between a Toyota and a Jaguar. There is room for both. Toyotas are more reliable and cost less. The dashboard in the Jags is (or used to be) real walnut instead of plastic. I drive a Toyota. I don't mean to detract from those fine leather harnesses. They are made by careful experienced craftsmen who do beautiful work. I admire some of the fine details in the Morong and Hunt harnesses, some of which wouldn't even be noticed outside the trade. Theirs is low volume fussy work, and they do it well. They sell to a different market. And some people just like leather. That's okay. There are fewer than there used to be. Fifteen years ago there were fewer choices. Now the synthetic harness has developed to where it is clearly the best choice for all around use, and it is rightly where the growth is in the harness market. Jean Ernest mentioned Barb Lee of Nearside Harness. If this posting is an ad, I'll advertise for her! She is a skilled harnessmaker who makes nice harness, very similar to ours. She used to make leather harness too, but no longer does, now concentrating on synthetics. Fitting of harness. I believe in the last year more of our harness shipped to California than anywhere else. If we ship a part that doesn't fit, we get a new measurement, and replace it to get it right. Dave http://www.horseharness.com
