I have the chance to buy a Walsh quick hitch harness, asking price $425 and now asking for offers. It is beautifully made but I don’t know what it would take/cost to convert it over to a standard use harness. I believe I could get quick hitch style shafts for my Sprint cart but the whole system doesn’t look strong/stable if you went off road.
Does any one have experience with quick hitches ??
I have only seen them used for racing Standarbreds. I am picturing the harness shown on the Standardbred on the Walsh site.
http://www.walshharness.com/walsh
Sorry, this is not going to be a good driving harness for your needs in non-racing driving. Quick hitch harness is specially designed for specific use in racing with a race bike, on a groomed track. Actually a “total system” of attaching horse to specific vehicle, so things all work together.
You won’t find those conditions or use that vehicle, out pleasure driving.
The money needed to change things around to “sorta works” for pleasure driving, would be much better spent in getting a pleasure driving harness of the right design.
You are NOT doing your horse any favor, by changing things to fit the racing harness design over into pleasure driving. Horse will probably get sored up fast, pressure of pulling is not well placed with this harness. Horse trying to pull even the light weight of a Sprint cart whose balance has been radically changed with different shafts, driving over various terrain of fields, show ring, down the road, is going to cause various problems. You go out pleasure driving for a while, horse will use most of his body. Race conditioning is to EXTREMELY light vehicle, no surface changes on the groomed track or paved roadways going to the track from the barn. Body use is limited in flexing, gait changes, use of the head to move his load.
Harness may be a great buy, but not suitable by it’s design, for pleasure driving and the vehicles used for that activity. Kind of like taking a Western Saddle and trying to do Show Jumping in it. Great saddle, just not the saddle for that job.
I LOVE my “Quick Hitch” harness ~ one Amish made and one from LaSalle Company ~
I love my quick hitch harness :yes: for driving my hackenys ~ whether a retired show pony or one who is ‘home’ for a break from the show circuit ! 
Makes life easier ~ IMHO ~
Quick hitch can mean 2 different things:
The racetrack style with the metal “shackles” high on the backpad and a breastplate like you would use on a hunt saddle instead of a breastcollar. The cart has special shafts, shorter with special ends.
Quick hitch is also used to describe the type of harness used on a daily basis as work harness at many Saddlebred and Morgan barns. The breastcollar has snaps so you can leave the traces on the cart, and Tilbury tugs so you don’t have to deal with a wrap strap. You need shaft stops on the cart, but otherwise this set up works in an arena or on a jog path. Two snaps and a buckle and you are hooked!
Thanks ladies for further explanation. I didn’t realize there was a Quick Hitch in light harness at all.
Now I am curious OP when you say Walsh quick hitch do you know exactly what type of harness this is?
Is it this http://www.walshharness.com/walsh/Products/Standardbred
http://www.bigdweb.com/PROMO-1800-HARNESS-COMPLETE-PLUS-2500-GIFT-CARD/productinfo/1809_PRO/
Standardbred racing harness, which sells for $437.50 new from Big Dee’s, so $425.00 isn’t a good deal on used at all, plus you need a track style short shaft cart.
Or is it this http://www.bennettstack.com/work_harness.htm
Saddlebred/Morgan work harness, which sells for $1095.00 new, so $425.00 could be a good deal, and for which you would NOT need different shafts for your cart, you would just need to add shaft stops as this harness has no breeching (and as such isn’t suitable for real up and down hill work, although you can get work harness breeching from LaSalle).
No it is not a racing harness but doesn’t look like the bennett one either…it’s on consignment at a shop but this area is not into driving other than draft pulls.
I don’t have time to go see it again for a while but there has been zero interest thus far so maybe it will still be there. I didn’t see anything on the Walsh site that matched it but it’s still in the shipping box so maybe I’ll just call the shop and get some numbers. It’s getting to be more of a curiosity than purchase at this point. I do know the owner ordered direct thru Walsh and they sold her that harness for a Morgan and I think she had a buggy not a cart, definitely not a work harness as she wanted to show. Strange.
For breed shows a Morgan that is pulling a buggy would be pulling a fine harness buggy in Park Harness classes and would be wearing a black fine harness trimmed with patent leather and red, definitely not a Walsh Quick Hitch harness. Most people who show Morgans/Saddlebreds/Hackneys/Arabians at breed shows have 2 harnesses, a work harness and a show harness, as well as 2 carts, a jog cart for work and a basket cart, road bike (nice jog cart with chrome undercarriage), viceroy or fine harness buggy for show depending on the class the horse shows in.
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