# Homemade Harness



## xymenah

Does anyone have instructions on how to make a harness? Not a ground driving one, one that I could use to hook to a cart. Preferably one with illustrations.


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## naturalgoats

Hey I hope this helps!
Look at Harnessmaking.pdf
https://sites.google.com/site/2creeksgoats/testing
The instructions are courtesy of Margaret Shackles
Miranda


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## xymenah

Thanks that does help allot. I'm just going to make a sewless harness right now with left over belts and such but I needed the general idea of what all I needed to piece together. My buckling is only eight months old so I'm just having him drag around a small (12in by 10in) piece of hog panel getting used to the whole feeling of something behind him. He's taking it like a walk in the park. For a young buck who is already in rut and stinks he is such a gentlemen. He won't even walk out a gait unless I grab his collar or put a leash on him first. I hope that doesn't change.


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## naturalgoats

That sounds great! Good luck!
M.


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## FlyingG

How did the harness-making thing go? I never get around to doing it, much. I like the harnesses that Marna Katzmeier makes at www.workinggoats.com, and she also has info on how to make them. They sell for about $70, I think, so aren't too bad. They are basic, but easy to snap on, last for years, and work. The ones with bells are more exp. because they have qulity bells that are on there w/ parachute cord. You can also look at her dog wagon harnesses, that work well for goats, esp for dragging and working as well as carts. You rig up breeching for the back, so you still get to use the belts to make something.

I graduated from upside-down horse web halters on dogs and goats to hers, and it was a huge difference. I still keep the halters around for training kids, but never use them. Our first harness for the new Nigerians is a Premier cat harness (small)-- that's how small they are. An ND team can pull a wagon, but the boers were so much stronger we stopped using the NDs. One NDor Pygmy can pull our yellow Lowe's wagon with something light like a toddler or sticks, etc. Our weirdest hitch ever was 2 dogs and one pygmy. That didn't last too long.


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## FlyingG

The yoke strap and neck strap will take most of the draft, so it should be thick and padded, especially if you want to also do draft work with the goats (low angle of draft.) The crupper replacement would bug my animals, I think. Plus, it is not adjustable, and your goats will have the breeching riding too high. How about 2 straps from the sides holding up the breeching like on my Ron's horse harness? On my Marna K harness, I mentioned, there is just one strap. It is not adjustable, and has to be sized for the goat. I made a way to take them in and let them out using holes and parachute cord ties. The prices on supplies has gone up, so not they are $100 custom, but she often sells the old ones cheaper.

http://www.workinggoats.com/?action=Store&itemid=919


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## xymenah

Here's a picture of Dante wearing his rinky dink harness. It looks like crap but it works good for now for what I'm using it for. Eventually I am going to buy him a good one but not now while he is still growing so fast and stinking everything up. I couldn't get a picture of the piece that I hook to the o-rings because he wasn't cooperative this morning. He just wanted his food.


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## Mandara Farm

Awe, you may think it looks like crap, but he looks happy and proud! What a good boy!


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## xymenah

Thank you. He loves to work. Gives him something to think about other than girls. He lunges(I can also lung him over jumps), rears on command, jumps onto something when I say up, puts his front hooves up on a bucket and moves his back end around it, and some other things we are still working on.


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## naturalgoats

That looks great! (both mechanically and aesthetically) It's just like the ones I and my friend started out making  One suggestion before you start pulling is that you try to get the breastcollar a little lower... otherwise it could inhibit breathing if he's pulling anything sizable... Anyway excellently done!


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## HamiltonAcresBoers

xymenah said:


> Thank you. He loves to work. Gives him something to think about other than girls. He lunges(I can also lung him over jumps), rears on command, jumps onto something when I say up, puts his front hooves up on a bucket and moves his back end around it, and some other things we are still working on.


Sounds like he's a wonder goat  careful with jumping- it'll make his topline weak. I'd love to hear how you taught him to rear though!


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## FlyingG

I like the look. Rustic! It would be good for low draft right now (dragging things). My harness http://www.workinggoats.com/?action=Store&itemid=920 lets the breastcollar drag down a little, so I was thinking of making some padded yoke straps. I think having the wagon with metal shafts that won't break would be the #1 thing that would get me to start grabbing the goats when I want to get some work done. I broke so many PVC shafts when I started using stronger goats.


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## xymenah

Yep he is currently just dragging things. Although you can't see it for all the hair he has a yoke strap that's why his breast-collar is so high. I adjusted it today. It didn't used to be so high but he's gown allot in the last few weeks that I had to adjust everything. I'll keep that in mind about jumping I didn't think about that. Its not that I do it very often though. 

HamiltonAcres I taught him to first put his front hooves on things like the fence by bumping his halter up and saying up then waving some hay up in the air. If the halter didn't work I would pull on his beard instead of the halter until he got up on his hind legs. Once he got that down I would have him to where he was close to the fence but to where he wouldn't be able to reach it at a complete rear and do the same things. If he touched the fence he wouldn't get rewarded and I would keep asking him to try again until he did it right. He's super smart it only him took two days to learn it. Right now I have him working on going back and forth on a board but not jumping off at the end just turning around and go to the other end until I tell him to stop and stay put then I tell him to come.


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## xymenah

Also forgot to ask. At what age can he do any light draft work? How much weight of a dead drag, no wheels, just say dragging 10lbs of hay or something would be alright for what age? I'm thinking small weight at one year and nothing substantial until two. Like I said earlier he's not pulling anything that has any real weight to it yet but I was just curious.


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## naturalgoats

I would say you could certainly drag some little things... my main concern is with carts because of the weight on the back... I think just dragging little things on the ground could certainly start now...


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## xymenah

Alright sounds good. I don't plan on using him on a cart at all. If I do it won't be for quite some time.


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## Bambi

Nice looking harness. You did a great job. It sounds like you have a super buck. How old is he? Be careful making him pull to much weight if he is younger than two. We don't start ours working too hard before the age of two because they are not fully developed yet. How did you teach him to lounge? That is great.


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## xymenah

Thanks, he's eight months old. I'm not having him pull much weight just a four pound board(I put it on my grain scale). Just enough that he feels something behind him and see's it. His harness weighs around a pound maybe less. I have a video of me lunging my little doe Victoria. She doesn't like to lung but she does good.


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