Unfortunately for most of us, price plays a big part in deciding which harness to get our pony/horse/donkey. I always suggest that people get the best harness they can afford as that is what is keeping you and your equine safe. I have spent thousands of dollars over the years trying to save money on harness and had several of them break on me at very inconvenient times. Just be sure you buy the best you can afford! If you want one that is a bit out of your price range please reach out to either Janie or myself and we will see what we can work out with you! We like to see people out enjoying their horses while staying SAFE.

Mindy, The Pony Princess~

#1

So I will start with the least expensive harness on our site, that would be the Pleasure Harness. It comes in miniature horse and small pony sizes. This harness starts at $350. The Pleasure harness only comes in black but you can add a colored back pad if you choose! It now comes with buckle in traces and regular buckles on the hip straps.

For the large ponies, horses, mules and draft horses we have the Buggy Harness. This harness comes with the over check bridle. THE OVER CHECK IS NOT REMOVABLE. You can choose a pleasure style bridle for a little more money however. This harness starts at $500 (for a nylon harness).What can you upgrade on this harness?

You can get a Deluxe style collar or a SuperFlex collar for this harness. You can also use a collar and hames style collar with this one. When upgrading to these other collar styles you will also need to get some traces as these collars all use a buckle in trace. The Pleasure/Buggy style harness comes with the traces being one line continuous piece on the standard, straight breast collar.

You can also upgrade to a Sweetheart Bridle for this harness! The Sweetheart bridle is exactly like the Comfy Fit bridle with the added bling of having either a heart or a star cut out on the blinders. Then the brow band and the nose band will match the color you choose for your cut out.

#2

Number two on the list is the MaraFUN harness with the standard, straight breast collar with sewn in traces, starting price for an A sized mini is $550. This comes in miniature horse, small pony and mini donkey and mule sizes! The MaraFUN harness comes in colors!

What can you upgrade on this harness?

Oh so many ways to make this harness awesome! Besides brightening it up by adding color, this harness comes in all 12 of our soft strap colors, you can upgrade to a Deluxe style breast collar or a Superflex collar. We actually sell this harness with the Superflex and call it the MaraFUN SuperFUN harness. I’ll talk about that soon!

You can also upgrade this harness with the Sweetheart Bridle!

And the MaraFUN harness can be used with a collar and hames style collar for heavy pulling and vehicles with a low line of draft. For the minis and small ponies I prefer either the 10G leather collar or the Synthetic All Purpose from Brodhead, both are available on our website. We also sell a nice lightweight hames for these two collars that both fit the collars well and are sized down perfectly for the minis and small ponies.

When I purchase the MaraFUN harness I also upgrade to a bigger, wider Permasoft Back pad. The pad above is a horse sized pad but was too wide to use with my breast collar. The harness maker has since come out with a special extra long pad for the ComfyFit saddle, but it works great with the MaraFUN saddle as well!

I also upgrade my MaraFUN harness to a padded breeching. It comes with a Brahma web breeching that is typically more than fine for most uses, marathons, road driving and most trail driving. But I drive on a lot of hills and mountain trails so the padded breeching gives them a little extra assistance on that type of terrain. It’s the same breeching that comes with the Comfy Fit harness. The harness maker changes the way the hip straps attach to the breeching so we can use the padded one.

If you drive a Hyperbike you will want to also get the trace carriers. They will keep the traces tidy even when you aren’t in draft.

These upgrades do make the price go up, so keep that in mind if you are shopping for a starter harness. The MaraFUN is a great harness to start with, just as it is with the standard breast collar. You can upgrade later as well!

#3

The Farm/Work style harness is the next one up! It starts at $420 so you would think it’s the least expensive, but we have to add a collar to that price. And when you choose which hames you want, the starting price for this harness goes up to $525. The stainless steel hames and the black powder coated hames will be the same price for this harness. If the harness you want has stainless steel hardware then you would want the stainless steel hames. If your harness has brass hardware then the black powder coated hames would be the way to go. When you add in the collar, say you choose the Leather 10 G collar then the price goes up to $660 for a mini size harness, hames and collar.

What can you upgrade on this harness?

You can get shaft loops for this harness, though if you buy it as a single horse harness then it will come with shaft loops. You can upgrade to the Comfy Fit Bridle if you would like, though it wouldn’t match the style of this harness. I wouldn’t suggest using a collar other than the collar and hames style. So if you have an easy entry cart with a straight line of draft this wouldn’t be the harness you would want to purchase.

You can upgrade to a vinyl/fur saddle pad or a nice soft Permasoft Pad.

You can get trace carriers with the tear drop and an ornament as well! Just to fancy it up a bit.

#4

Next up is the Trail harness. This harness only comes in the miniature horse and small pony sizes. It comes with the treed or treeless ComfyFit saddle, the SuperFlex collar and your choice of an English Bridle (for the open bridle option) or the ComfyFit Bridle. This harness starts at $722.

I drive Zorro in the open bridle so chose the English bridle. I also drive using the Yacht Rope style driving lines. 

#5

Next up is the Show Harness. Now this harness is a specialty harness, meaning that it is only for the show ring. Because it doesn’t have breeching this harness is not really appropriate for driving out on the road or in parades or anywhere where there will be hills. It’s just too dangerous. And wrapping the traces around the shafts, while helps to hold the cart off the pony, will cause your pony to be sore in the shoulders if they are pulling heavy weight for long periods of time this way. So if you want to show in the breed show ring this is the harness for you! If you want to trail drive then go back up to the MaraFUN harness. The show harness is a flat cost of $709. This is the same price for a mini size as well as a small pony size. We only make this harness for the small equine, it does not come in the large pony and up sizes.

What can you upgrade on this harness?

Because this harness is so specialized there aren’t really any upgrades to do. You can add a black Permasoft Back pad, or even a little pop of color if that is appropriate for the class you are showing in. Black is very traditional and the way I would go with this harness!

#6

The Brahma Web Deluxe Pleasure Harness is the 5th on the list. This harness only comes in Horse size. It is meant to be used with a collar and hames style collar. and when you add those in the price will go up! The starting price is $735. Once you add the collar and hames it is $934. That is if you add the Leather 10G collar in the horse size. So do be aware that you have to add a collar to this harness.

What can you upgrade on this harness?

You could really bling up this harness by using a Scotch Style collar instead of the leather work collar. That would give it a true WOW factor!

You can also upgrade to either the vinyl/fur back pad or the Permasoft Pad.

#7

Next up is the most loved of our harnesses. It’s the most versatile of all our harnesses and the most Comfy… The Comfy Fit Harness! This harness starts at $775 for the mini size and that is with either the standard curved breast collar or the Deluxe style breast collar.

What can you upgrade on this harness?

Oh man! What can’t you do with this harness!? That list would be shorter.

You can upgrade this harness by choosing colored brow bands, nose bands, neck straps or hip straps. You can also have colored lines with this harness set. If you don’t specify what color you want your driving lines they will come brown, as this is the color that is required in many of the different show rings.

Bridle conchos are super fun and way to bling up this harness too.

You can choose the open cheeks as shown on the bay pony above. These are great for those horses and ponies that prefer to drive without the blinders. Below is a video showing how to change out the cheeks on the Comfy Fit:

You can upgrade to a larger Permasoft Back Pad for the saddle AND you can get pads for the breast collars, the standard curve or the Deluxe! The pads can add some fun color to your harness. There is a little problem with adding pads to the already well padded breast collar. It can make the breast collar sit too far away from the pony’s chest causing it to twist when the pony goes into draft.

You can use a Comfy Collar with this harness instead of the Deluxe style collar as well. The Comfy Collar was designed to match the Comfy Fit harness. It is made using the same materials as the Comfy Fit harness. The collar will come with buckles for the traces as well!

You can also use a collar and hames style collar with the Comfy Fit Harness. If you get the buckle in adapter on the hames then you can use your Comfy Fit traces as well!

The Comfy Fit harness can also be adapted to be used as a team harness. HERE is a blog that explains how to go about changing out some parts so you can use it this way.

The Comfy Fit harness is such a great all around harness appropriate for the show ring, Combined driving and trail driving, that is why it is our most popular, well known and beloved harnesses! The Comfy Fit comes in sizes from Mini horse to Draft horse and we even have special Comfy Fit’s designed for donkeys and mules!