I’m window shopping for a harness and a cart as my gelding grows up, with my eventual goals being the driven dressage medals and some CDE. I know the traditional black vs russet depends on the cart, but what is the two toned harness considered appropriate with?
The rule book doesn’t mention two toned harness, I checked both pleasure and CDE
Also I plan to go synthetic and am familiar with yonnies, comfy fit, zilco and IVC harnessss, if anyone has a hidden gem brand I would love to hear about it
Try downloading the ADS Omnibus.
It covers harness for every type of class you can imagine (& then some!).
I can’t recall seeing the 2-tone harness at any of the ADS competitions I’ve been to, but I don’t think that means it isn’t permitted.
Omnibus will say for sure if it is not.
OK, I read through the zillion (kidding!) pages & all that is mentioned is that black harness is appropriate with painted cart/carriage & russet with natural wood.
Appointments - shaft tips, tug stops, rein rail, hubs, etc should be same metal as harness.
So: I guess 2-tone is permissible, if not officially mentioned.
In a Turnout class it might make a difference to a Judge…or not…
FWIW: I would love to put my dark bay (with roaning) mini in a black harness lined with burgundy - stainless appts for ease of care < hate keeping brass polished! :disgust:
I love the look of my russet trimmed harness! Mine is a Yonies ordered through The Carriage House down in Florida, perfectly fine for dressage and CDE…
I have a brown kutzmann marathon fox II, but the two tone is subtle enough that it would probably go with most any carriage, I think you would just think carefully about hte horse. I have a fjord, so that is a slam dunk (brown with black pony and black with brown harness), and I bet it looks nice on a dark horse. Probably they mostly wouldn’t look great on a “busy” color like appy or pinto or maybe a flea bitten grey…
A russet collar is appropriate for everything…driving’s little black dress.
We have a single 2 tone set of Yonnies harness and we just love it. We only use it for CDE’s for the marathon portion though or for everyday single driving. We just bought a pair harness that is similar to Yonnies, but is made locally by an Amish man who studied with Yonnies (we live in Ontario) and we also got it 2 toned. It will also only be used for marathons and every day use.
We do have a phaeton carriage so have black patent leather harness with brass and full collars. We also do pleasure shows so we do need this harness to do those shows and we use it for dressage and cones for our CDE’s.
Someone might correct me, but the dominant color in the two-toned harness is black so I would assume it would be appropriate for the same vehicles as a black harness.
I love Yonies, but am also a big fan of Camptown, their harness is lovely and the waterproof leather lining really holds up well even in the sweaty lands of the desert Southwest.
I promise I looked at the rules for CDE & pleasure as well as blogs and used the search bar too!
Black with burgundy would look amazing I would love to see that
CERT: Yes, you are correct. Harness is black with just a hint of brown. I was looking at a high end Hunts leather harness (but it was too small for our ponies) and it was black leather, patent and brass buckles with full collars and breastcollars. It was lined with brown and it was beautiful! I really, really liked it but it was more for medium ponies and we have larges…
So it could easily be used for Pleasure Shows (rated shows) and would place well in turnout.
Milobloom - it really depends on what type of showing you want to do (Pleasure or CDE’s) and what type of carriage you are driving to determine the harness. If you want it for everyday use, a Yonies type of synethic harness in 2 tone would be totally fine for that of course and would be ideal! Plus you could do rated CDE’s with it (but you would be marked down a little lower for turnout for your Dressage at a rated CDE).
More rated Pleasure shows are including a Marathon division. You could use a synthetic harness and a marathon type carriage for those classes and not be marked down for it. Not everyone has a Pleasure Carraige and leather harness and a Marathon carriage and synthetic harness, so classes are needed and are being added to include everyone! I think its a great idea 
Not sure if you can tell from these pictures, but the single harness is a Yonies black with tan and the pair harness is from our local maker and is black with a darker brown. Its a little harder to tell in the pair harness as he only had a really light brown or dark brown to chose from. I prefer the lighter Yonies brown but we didn’t have that option when ordering.
Sorry, the pictures are so small and are hard to see the brown in the harness…boo
I show primarily in carriage pleasure shows, and I love the look of the two-tone harness… however, it is not considered appropriate in pleasure classes. You should be fine in CDE competitions, or in obstacles classes at pleasure shows, where turnout doesn’t matter.
As far as brand, I think Yonie’s harness is some of the best synthetic out there. You can order from them directly, or go through Mary Fowler at Chrysalis Acres.
@DiamondJubilee I ran into the same problem when I was going to post pics, but that really is an argument for how subtle it is.
If you do order one, you might want to consider a plain (no chain) browband, the two tone browband plus chain can look a bit busy
ETA if you click on the pic once you get here, you can see the trim:
MorganGal13 - I dont know about that. The Hunts harness I was looking at would be hard to not win any pleasure turnout classes (it was over $15,000 brand new - and was very, very nice. I would say even nicer than my Super Deluxe Smuckers harness - which is also a really nice harness).
It really was a nice harness and I thought the little brown popped a little. But I can see that not everyone may like it…
DiamondJubilee - I was told by a judge that the two-tone was not considered appropriate in pleasure. I was considering buying one for my black horse because I thought that would really pop, but she advised against it. Keep in mind that pleasure rules (and judges’ preferences) are much more grounded in tradition than CDE. For example, I had the opportunity to buy a lovely umbrella basket from a friend who was getting out of driving, but when I asked a few “turnout gurus” what they thought, and I was told not to buy it because it my vehicle is not a sporting vehicle and so an umbrella basket would not be considered appropriate. That’s not in the rules, but it goes back to the judges’ knowledge of carriages and traditional appointments.
I’m sure the $15,000 Hunt’s harness is incredible - they make lovely harness! But, it may be more suitable for CDE presentation or coaching (of which I know very little). I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a two-tone harness in a turnout class at a pleasure show.
It did win turnout classes at Walnut Hill, but I do agree with you that it really depends on the judge.
I’ve had judges count my buttons on my livery jacket. Even had them lift up my coat to check out my breeches!! So I do know how picky some judges could be. Plus if there’s a tie in their eyes, they could use this agaist the person and move them from first to second if they didn’t like the brown leather…
Claudette at Country Carriages years ago discouraged me from buying a two-tone harness, advising that it wouldn’t be considered appropriate by most judges if I used it in a pleasure show. I went with her black beta-bi, which has been my marathon and every-day harness for many years now.
The custom made, leather lined harness that Camptown is famous for. Continuously tweeked and improved, many improvements have been made since the old “Comfi Fit” design, including a vastly improved construction of the saddle, rolled and padded crown and many other small but important changes. The strapping used in Camptown Harnesses has been tested extensively to ensure that it will tolerate contact with oil based fly sprays and not be affected.
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