leather vs synthetic

[howardh]

Please give your opinions. I purchased a cart and harness a few years back and the person (cart maker) advised me to buy leather harness. At the time my gut told me that I would rather have synthetic as I am a rabid tack cleaner, but since I had never driven I followed the advice of the expert and bought leather. I hate cleaning that harness. Every part of it gets sweaty after a drive!

Fast forward to now. My horse died (great horse) and I am going to start driving a much bigger horse and I need to get a new harness.

Is there a reason to go with leather over synthetic? I am looking at Zilco. Please enlighten me. I will be a casual driver, perhaps once a week. No competition, some trail driving.

[Thomas_1]

Yes. It lasts longer. It holds it’s value better. Providing it fits well it’s much less likely to rub the horse sore (think leather shoes versus plastic). It doesn’t make the horse sweat under it so much. You can use it no matter what you fancy doing - so if you fancy entering a shoe class you could use it. If it gets damaged you can get it repaired easily or else just have the part wrecked remade to match the rest.

I have leather and zilco and webbing with leather trim too come to that.

I much prefer leather harness. I use mine a lot too. BUT, I don’t clean it thoroughly every single time. I use breast collar with a sheepskin or synthetic sheepskin guard on it. That just gets thrown in the washing machine.

The rest just gets a wipe down with hot soapy water every time we get back. Then once a month the harness gets a bit of a treat with saddle soap and conditioner.

Once a year the whole lot gets thrown in a tub of oil.

It only gets the “full treatment” clean and thorough polish if I’m going somewhere that matters or doing something real fancy.

Zilco is much cheaper than leather though and as you’ve already decided leather isn’t for you, then give it a go but be aware: You have to do wash Zilco down too though. It still gets sweaty after a drive and also if the horse gets hot it stretches. Indeed the horse gets sweatier under plastic. You have to wash off the sweat and grime before you use it again or else risk the horse getting a rub from dried much and salt.

[howardh]

Thanks for that. Just seems easier to hose down synthetic, but the repair issue is something I had not thought of and is an important point to consider for future costs. Here I can actually buy good Amish leather harness for less than Zilco or synthetic.

[Thomas_1]

You can hose down leather too if you want to. Though I’d not personally recommend it

However do appreciate that just hosing down zilco won’t get sweaty greasy grime off it.

The only way you can do that is using hot water and soap solution of some sort and rubbing it.

[horsegeeks]

Not everyone has the knowledge of synthetic harness materials to repair it properly. We have both synthetic and leather harness.

We just got through punching holes in one of our leather harnesses to lower the tugs to where we want them. Nothing was needed but the hole punch. (The material needs to be “sealed” if you’re using a synthetic harness)

However, we do not show and the ease of the maintenance of the synthetic harness is a major plus for us.

When we use our leather harness we have the breast collar, girth, and crupper wrapped in a fleece covering. We do use breeching … but haven’t seen that our horses put enough strain on it to have it wrapped/covered too. (Actually now that I think of it we wrap much of our synthetic harness too!)

Its much easier to wash fleece than clean harness … and I’m all for avoiding work!

[appybeads]

I had both synthetic and leather. Sold the synthetic (beta) stuff. IMO leather is just classier. As for cleaning it gets wiped down after I drive with water and Murphys Oil soap in a bucket that way I can check everything maintenance wise too on it (stitching, buckles etc). It gets a good cleaning about every few months and if I am not going to use is it for a while gets conditioned with Harness Honey and stored in a tote in the house. It will be sitting for the next few months as I just had back surgery and will be good to go when I am ready to drive again.

[RMJacobs]

I love my synthetic harness. I had a leather harness for my smaller pony and absolutely detested cleaning and oiling it. When I started my bigger pony driving, I got him a good quality synthetic harness and I’ve been very happy with it.

When I get back from a drive, I just wipe it down with a damp paper towel, and it’s ready for the next time. I also really like the feel of the lines in my hands.

Keep in mind that I don’t show and we just putter around the neighborhood. The harness does get a good workout as this is a powerful pony and I live in an area with very steep hills. Also we do a lot of off road driving. I’ve had this harness for over two years and it is showing no signs of wear or damage. I use it at least twice a week, more in summer when I can sneak in a drive after work.

Rebecca

[SmokenMirrors]

I have a leather work harness w/brass dots and hames, a harness that is my biothane show harness with chrome, and a biothane/nylon/leather work harness we use when were working on the farm or training or just pleasure driving to work the team. Each one has its good and bad to cleaning and maintenance, as we do show so we clean the harness after we use it, oil and clean the leather harness and put it away clean for the winter and months we are not driving.

If you take care of the leather, it will last you a lifetime…the leather work harness we have is quite old, we figure it was made in the 1930’s or 1940’s, and has had to have a few fix’s. I have used it often in antique wagon classes and it sure looks nice when all cleaned up and the brass polished.

Guess it would really depend on what you personally like and if you wish to put the time into cleaning or not. It is heavy, it can be bulky when your carrying it it and have to put it on a 17.2H Percheron like my two mares are, but as I said, it looks nice. The biothane show harness is light, easy to clean, we spray it off, then wash it down with some soap and water, wipe it dry and a bit of shine to it, hang it, cover it with a sheet and it is ready for the next go around.

Good luck in whatever you decide to get.

[Yip]

I use a biothane harness. I chose it for the same reason you’rew thinking of - the constant cleaning of leather. We live in the hot, humid South, and I have trouble keeping white mold off my bridles and saddle billets - so I knew leather harness would be 100x worse.

I also don’t show and just hack around the roads and fields. I was a beginner last fall, with lots of expenses for carts, etc. I figured if I wanted leather later, I would just buy it then, since I have absolutely no thoughts of showing.

You can buy all replacement parts for Zilco harness. I can buy replacement parts for my bio harness from the Amish man who made it. I haven’t had a speck of a problem with any of it and it doesn’t even show wear.

The only thing I didn’t like was the breast and saddle pads that came with it. They are ok enough in the vinyl used, but they have faux fur around the edges, which I hate. I won’t even buy saddlepads with this stuff on it. Everything sticks to it. If I want fleece, I buy only real merino wool fleece.

I clean the bridle, crupper, girth, and breeching with wet wipes every drive. I hang it up and hose it often. Sometimes, I swish and soak the entire thing in a big plastic (Sterlite) tub (from Wally’s or Big Lots) with soapy water and rub it down with a rag when I pull each part out. Then rinse and hang to dry.

Leather would look more impressive, but I’m not out to impress anyone. I began at 56, so lasts a lifetime won’t take much, lol! I live among rednecks (wagon trains) with old dry leather harness, so my bio looks exponentially better than theirs. We turn heads everywhere we go.

It really depends on what you plan to do and how much time you want to put into cleaning and storing harness. Oh, even if I had bought leather, I would have quickly switched to bio lines. I like the way they feel.

Yip

[Thomas_1]

[QUOTE=RMJacobs;5188709]
I also really like the feel of the lines in my hands.
Rebecca[/QUOTE]

Now that did surprise me. I’ll NEVER used plastic reins and personally speaking I think they’re dreadful. Most of the drivers I know who use man made harness regularly use leather or webbing reins.

I’d be curious to know that out of all the people who have used both leather and plastic which they prefer?

What they’d choose if they had free choice but could only have one set?

Without doubt, for me it would be leather.

[Zu_Zu]

Leather ~ IMHO

Quality leather for all tack ~ IMHO ~ take good care of it and it will last a lifetime ~ My leather long lines are “something special” ~ listing them for “gift” in my will ~ :lol:

[Yip]

I love my leather reins for riding and not my bio ones, which I never use. I use all leather for riding even though it’s hard to keep the white mold off. Just cleaning the small pieces is doable, and I love the smell and feel of leather. I think I’ll keep my lovely leather saddles even when I can no longer ride.

But for me, leather driving lines are too heavy because of the great length and feel too large in my hands. I have small-ish hands. The bio is lighter, and has a sort of tacky feel sort of like suede, and they don’t ever slip.

I have a set of nylon lines that were given to me and I have used for ground driving. THEY are dreadful and I’m about to sell them on ebay. They are one ply nylon web, not stiff but with a lot of body, and the edges feel like dull knives in my hands. They are also very wide, an inch or a little more wide, and just feel horrible.

Now, I might really love leather for ground driving. I like those to be heavier. Now I’m using 2 weighted cotton longelines and like them, but they will be difficult to keep clean. If I can find a nice used pair of leather on ebay, I will try them.

Yip

[Zu_Zu]

Leather long lines and driving lines need not to always be heavy ~ I have some custom “spaghetti” leather long lines for my hackney ponies… very nice ~ I highly recommend ~~~ weight depends on width of lines I have small hands so I get narrower driving and long lines…

[SmokenMirrors]

I have the rough looking bio driving lines, or well, they are more subdued color. When I do fine driving I have leather lines as they go with my leather harness. The leather driving lines I have that came with my leather work harness are wider and made for a man’s hands…

[butlerfamilyzoo]

I have two pairs of bio driving lines. One is more flexible than the other. The “softer” one is my FAVE! I sold my leather lines in two seconds after being convinced i would “like” leather more… But i am a pleasure driver. I just like the feel of the softer bio ones, personal preference.

I have two bio harnesses, one is rather plain, however NICE quality and very very close in feel to leather, it’s a “softer” bio for lack of better words…

My other one for my mini is stiffer. But it has a shiny patent on top and looks much fancier than the other. I do use it for trail driving, i dont show. And i sure wish it was made of the softer bio of the cob harness. It was cheaper… Though for my mini, i will say it is very light, and maybe the softer/heavier bio would be too heavy… I dont know.

The Carriage House is my cob harness and it is SUPER, you can also order all replacement parts from them if needed. It’s just as heavy as a quality cob leather harness. You wont save yourself any weight. BUT, i do hose and just wipe down with a rag. I’ve scrubbed it once since i bought it a year ago with dish soap and a horse brush, i bought it used (4yrs old when i bought it), it still looks like brand new.

I’ve heard some negative about Zilco, but it is popular. I would say you could find good quality amish bio easier and have more access to replacement parts, probably get it more custom depending on who you are ordering from.

My mini harness is just plain cheaper and i cant wait to replace the thing, maybe for christmas! But it cleans up just as good and i havent had any problems with it in the year i’ve had it and put many trail/road miles on it, hills etc… Same as my other bio, i hose it if it’s bad and wipe it, it’s been scrubbed with dish soap once…

That being said, i would love a nice leather harness, but i’m in the south too and it would be white/green like my saddles get. Mind you, my bio will too! But not nearly as quick. The mold likes the softer bio harness, it’s never touched the stiffer mini harness.

I just bought a bio draft halter bridle from a company i cant recall right now, talk about SOFT bio!!! It is getting better, this sucker is so close to being like leather, if i sprayed it with some new leather smell i could fool a lot of people! Those reins are the most awesome reins ever. I want to buy a smaller set for my cob. I prefer those bio reins to leather hands down for riding… I wish i could get a pair with hand stops for my dressage bridle! Good grip, good weight, good feel… Just awesome reins. Otherwise, i ride with all cotton web reins.

I do ride/drive with thin leather gloves. Maybe that makes a difference? But i am really digging the newer soft bio coming out.

[Rudy]

I debated over leather vs synthetic before having my harness made and must say I LOVE the leather now that I have it. It is heavy and takes a good bit to really clean and condition but looks and feels lovely.

My lines however are beta biothane and only 3/4 in wide (I would have loved 1/2 in with my tiny hands but my harness maker didn’t have it). I requested them over leather because I like the way they feel over leather lines for some reason. They are also light and soft in the hands.

[system]

Reply

Hi,
Myself kanika i am also interested in your forum.

[Thomas_1]

I’m extremely fussy about reins and for me it’s essential that they’re very comfortable, light weight and easy to handle.

Obviously I’m driving a lot so that’s probably why they’re so important to me and it also means it’s worth paying a bit more for reins. Whether they’re driving reins or long reins.

I’ve had friends say I have “ladies reins” but what they mean is that they’re not great heavy numb things like they’ve got used to.

I’ve had my “best” singles reins for 40 years. I had them made for a birthday present. Likewise with my pairs and teams reins, I had them made for me.

I was gutted when I had a set of pairs reins damaged and had to get replacements for them as they felt so right.

I’ve had the broken ones stitched back up and use them as training template reins when I’m busy trying to sort out adjustments for a pair of horses. So they’ve now got so many holes in they look as if they’re perforated!

[MySparrow]

Good morning, all! I have two leather harnesses and two beta biothane in regular use. All have pads on breeching and saddle; the breast collar harnesses also have pads on the breast collar.

In truth, I think they take about the same amount of care. I’m not going to put away a sweaty harness, and I never hose down the biothane harnesses – they get cleaned in much the same manner as the leather, except that I don’t use any oil or soap in the water. Cleaning the stitching is what takes the time and attention.

I guess I worry more about the leather than I do the biothane. But worry doesn’t necessarily translate into work. :winkgrin:

I use the leather reins that came with my Smuckers harness; I use biothane reins with the other three. Just prefer the feel and weight; the leather reins that came with my good quality but unnamed russet leather harness are heavy in the hand. The Smuckers are better, but still not as light of feel as the biothane.

In truth you need to go for the best quality you can afford, be it beta biothane or leather.

[butlerfamilyzoo]

I think Thomas hit the nail on the head really. The leather reins i had bought were gosh darn heavy and a little too thick for my hands. They felt stiffer to me (though i did buy them used and oiled a few times before use, they were not totally broke in). I think i prefer the bio because they fit, are nice and flexible, softer on my hands, and lighter than those leather reins. My leather reins were smuckers.

Might be why several of us are preferring the bio reins? I think they have a better grip too. When my leather got damp from a creek crossing, i was darn glad i had gloves on… When my bio get wet, i dont even think about it.

That’s another consideration for me, water… I do some creek crossings. I would hate to soak a leather harness on a regular basis… Thus bio made more sense for me.