(Just a little FYI ... the harness I have was given to my by a friend. It sat in his barn for 15 years. It was pretty rotted. I applied a more than generous amount of neatsfoot oil and restored it. The leather has seemed weak to me, but always held. I've never thought of it being in bad shape. We'll get back to that train of thought in a bit).
So I get Lily all harnessed up and ready to go, and then I start walking her out to the durango despite Pam's running and neighing protests to not be left behind.
Things seemed so easy. Hook the chain up to the durango. Hook the chain to the end of the single tree though a clevis I had. Hook the single tree up to Lily. Easy right?
Lily is hooked up, ready to go. I decided that since we were rather close to the durango due to the chain being doubled over, that I would just use the lead rope to get her to pull us out. I had a friend in the durango, durango in 4LO and in gear to help as best it could in moving.
So ... quiz time ... do you know where the weakest point on a harness is? I'll gladly tell you. THe leather staps that hold the hames against the collar. Those are the weakest point. I started to get Lily moving, and right as she started to lean into it ... POP! The hames and harness shot back off her hips. She jumped and got startled. Now ... I had reignes hooked up, and just looped
over the hames, and when the hames left her, the reigns became entagled in all that. This made the bit get lodges all kinds of wierd in Lily's mouth.
At this point I need to say what a blessing it is to have a horse that you are connected with. This incident could have been a train wreck! A harness snapping, coming off, and pulling the bridle/bit tighter then it should ever go?!? Luckily ... Lily is my girl, and she trusts me. The minute I saw her spooked, the "Easy girls" in my soft and gentle voice began. Her feet slowly stopped moving, and she let me reach up and give her the much needed slack in the reigns.
I had a friend hold Lily, and I investigated the harness. The leather strap that holds the bottom of the hames together was ripped in 2. THe belly stap had also snapped, but just on the end (I think this happened as it came off her hips.
Things hadn't changed for me. I still needed to get the durango out of the field. I got a motorcycle strap (just the webbing side) and I used that to wrap around the bottom hames 3-4 times.
Harness is back on now ... Time for round 2.
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