Quick Release

Horse harnesses can be complicated for the new driver to figure out.  It’s not like it’s just two main pieces like a riding saddle and bridle.  There are pieces of the harness that are part of the “pulling system” and the “braking system” as well as the “control system”.  When things go badly, drivers want to get their horse out of the bad situation as soon as possible.  This being said, many drivers will advocate for quick release parts for harnesses in the name of safety.  There are a few locations on the harness that quick release parts can be used.  We will discuss those below. 

The first typical location where drivers use quick release parts is the holdbacks (or breeching straps).  These straps attach the breeching to the carriage and act in your “braking system”.  Some people want to use snaps from the holdbacks to the breeching rings so that the wrapped holdbacks don’t have to be unwrapped in the case of an emergency, but most just don’t want to have to wrap the straps every time.  If you are going to use snaps, they need to be good ones that #1 – are designed to take the pressure and not break, and #2 – have the ability to be opened under strain.  Typical snaps from the hardware store require some slack in the straps to remove them from the breeching ring.  If the strap is pulled tight, you can’t take those snaps off anyway, and it defeats the purpose of using a snap for quick release.  Snap shackles can be released under pressure with just the pull of the pin.  Be careful with the smaller horses that the shackles are not so big that they actually flop around, bump the horse’s sides, or weigh down the hip strap.  There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  I wrote an entire article on holdbacks, so I don’t need to rewrite that here, but I encourage you to go and read that article for more information. 

Another location that quick release hardware is used is from the traces to the singletree on the carriage.  This becomes a little trickier than just adding snaps to the singletree or the traces.  It doesn’t really work that way.  The singletree style on the vehicle needs to go with your trace style on the harness.  I wrote an entire article on that topic, too, and I encourage you to check that out.  There are some converters than can be used to convert either the singletree or the traces to quick release, but that can be tricky as well, because those converters can add length between the harness traces and the singletree. 

Regardless, we’ve used regular slot end traces with hook and sword end singletrees on vehicles that don’t require shackles for years without a problem.  The traces are not that hard to get off unless your slots on your traces are not wide enough to slip over the ends of the singletree appropriately.  Some wooden singletrees have very thick ends and the trace slots need to be widened to work well with them.  In that case, you either need to widen the slots or replace your singletree with one that will fit your trace slots. The traces should slip onto the singletree fairly easily and should not come off on their own. If yours are a “battle” to get on and off, I would change something in the system.

Shaft tugs are another piece of harness that some people want to change for the purpose of getting the horse out of the vehicle fast.  There are Quick Release shaft tugs that are available instead of regular Open tugs.  Again, I wrote an extensive article describing the differences between the styles of available tugs, and in that article, I explain why the term “quick release” is a bit of a misnomer.  They aren’t really designed to be quicker in an emergency.  They are designed to be quicker than the styles of Wrap tugs or French tugs, which were available before Quick Release tugs were designed.  Quick Release tugs are most often used with competition marathon vehicles.  They are not really necessary for a typical cart with straight shafts.  There are other ways of dealing with getting the horse out of the vehicle besides releasing the tugs if the horse is not in a marathon vehicle with closed-end marathon shafts.

   

Some people get very concerned that they have to get the horse out of the vehicle quickly in an emergency. However, in the case of an accident, those involved need to slow down in order to keep their wits about them when making decisions about what to do next.  Try to get the horse under control before randomly pulling straps.  I wrote another article about steps to take to release a horse from a vehicle.  This is imperative that you read that closely before you actually need to do that!  There are straps that you wouldn’t think to remove on a normal basis that can be very important if the horse is down and on his side.

I find that many people who want to use snaps and quick release harness parts are doing so more for the convenience of putting to quickly vs. actually worrying about getting the horse out of the carriage quickly.  You have to remember that the more hardware you add to the harness, the more pieces you have that have the potential to break.  Consider this aspect long and hard before just randomly adding snaps to your harness for the sake of convenience.

In terms of putting the horse to the vehicle quicker and safer, you may be better off just teaching the horse to stand like a rock when hitching and unhitching instead of spending the extra money to make it easier to hook the horse.  A horse that is wiggling around when putting to is a danger to society!  We don’t rely on any hitching rails when we put to.  The horse needs to learn to stand on his own with minimal holding when we are in the process of putting to and taking out.  When we are at an event, we always have a header holding the horse because he is in a strange environment.  However, at home, we rarely have a header hold our experienced horses.  We just don’t have that many people here to do that!  When we are working with inexperienced horses, one of us will head the horse while the other will put the horse to.  And we take our time doing it, within reason.  We do not want the horse to think that the putting to process is a rush, although the time when he is partially put to the carriage is usually the most dangerous time of driving the horse.  You need to be workmanlike and disciplined in the putting to process so that you are doing it in an acceptable and safe order. 

If you truly are experiencing an emergency that requires you to get the horse out quickly, again, take a deep breath, keep it together, stay quiet, and assess the situation.  And make sure you have read the article about What to Do in an Emergency which includes some steps to release a horse from a vehicle. Every driving accident has a life of its own, and they can’t all be handled in a step-by-step process, depending on the situation.  However, if we are aware of some steps to consider beforehand, we can be more prepared if something does happen.  As always, stay safe.