Harness Repair

[littlehorses]

I have a miniature horse draft harness - actually 2 of them - lots of parts. they have been hanging in a neighbor's barn for several years. I have the option to purchase them if I want. They are very dried out, and I know that some parts will need to have replacement pieces. I have already hosed them off. But wondering what I should do first? I know I will need to put oil back into them and possibly even dye them, and many hardware pieces will need replacing. How would you go about restoring these? I also will need to make some new pieces to accommodate my carts.

[L for Leather]

Turn the harness inside out and oil them with a neatfoot oil with a bit of canolla cooking oil about a 5th part and put it on with a brush and put it into a shady area to soak in and then repeat a second time. then turn them the right way in again and oil them again and see how the leather has come up and if it is still brittle you have not lost a lot.

[Art]

First I would clean it. Almost anything will work, but I use Murphy's Oil Soap. Rinse and let dry for a day in a dry place.

Apply one of the following:

Pecard's Paste

Montana Pitchblend Paste

Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvenator

Fiebing's Aussie Conditioner

I prefer the first two, but the others work ok too. The Montana Pitchblend is all natural, the rest have petroleum products.

Apply one coat of conditioner, if it is absorbed in 2 to 4 hours then put on another coat. Two coats are a lot of these products which should take 12 hours to a day to be absorbed. Wait a day or so and check the result. I don't condition more than once a year and once every two years if it spends most of the time in the tack room.

The Hame Tugs and Traces take the most abuse and should be inspected first. Maybe the breeching next as it gets wet too, and then the other parts. You can use the old parts as templates to create new parts. Load bearing parts should come out of the back of the hide as high as you can get running from butt forward. It's fun, hope you have a sewing machine!

Art

[littlehorses]

ok, thanks. I know it needs cleaning, and that is what I will do first.

[Colt W Knight]

I also use Murphys Oil soap to clean horse tack. If its really nasty, I will make up a bucket of warm soapy water, dunk the tack, and scrub it with a stiff brush. Once it dries, I apply leather conditioner. Lots of products available. I avoid vegetable oil because they can go rancid over time. I oil all my tack with Extra Virgin Olive Oil because I don't care for feedstore/tack store neatsfoot oil.