Lesson: Harnesses, Harnessing, and Hitching

Lesson: Harnesses, Harnessing, and Hitching
Here’s a video on harnesses and harnessing.  I may make other videos  with more details, but here’s the basics to get you started.

Here’s a video on hitching your dog from a sit position.  It works the  same way from a stand position.  Mouse just happened to be sitting. 

What’s Wrong with these Rigs?

Over the years, as a participant, judge, or steward, I’ve seen a variety of mistakes that have caused people to fail out of a draft test.  The following are photos of what might be overlooked during harnessing.  Now, I haven’t made all these mistakes, but I’ve made some.  The others were stories from other judges.  Sometimes when people get nervous, flustered, or frustrated, they tend to forget to check over the entire done before indicating to the judge that harnessing is complete.  Always double check! 







Siwash Harnesses – freight weight and the carting

Frequently, people ask me about harnesses.  Which one is better?  I can’t say that of the two siwash harnesses: freight/weight or carting, that one is better than the other.  The both have advantages and disadvantages.  I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 harnesses now, and the only one I haven’t tried for carting is the parade harness.  I’m not a huge fan of the parade harness, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that many other judges aren’t either.  I’ll go into detail about that on another post along with specialty harnesses including the Wilczek, weight pull harnesses, and leather harnesses.

Mouse has a freight/weight siwash with a cinch and cinch loop added because I want to do weight pulling and carting. However, the freight harnesses is too “wimpy” for real competitive weight pulling.  Do not take this to a weight pull.  You will need a true, heavy duty weight pull harness to do some serious work.  The disadvantages of a frieght/weight siwash is that it is a one-piece so you must take the entire thing off to let
the dog potty or else hook the spreader bar up to the shoulders of the dog so they can walk around without tripping. On the other hand, being a one-piece is also an advantage as it is easier to
untangle and easier to put on.

The carting harnesses usually is more complicated than the freight weight harnesses. There is the neck piece, belly band, and 2 traces. You MUST be absolutely certain that the 2 traces are the same length so that the weight is distributed correctly. These two traces either attach to a tree or 2 points on the vehicle. The advantage of the carting harnesses is that you can just unhook the traces without having straps hanging off everywhere.

I personally lean towards the carting harness.  It’s just a personal preference.  There is no performance differences between the two harnesses if used properly.

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