Driving Horses: How to Harness, Align, and Hitch your Horse for Work or Play

I recently became interested in driving minis and ponies/horses after a lifetime of riding horses. As I am "horse poor" I started by picking up harness and carts as I came across them. There is a confusing array of types of harness (unidentifiable misc straps and sometimes lack thereof) and wheeled vehicles. I have purchased other books that gave a little info. This book is by far the best that I have found!! Different types of harness, fitting/sizing information, adjustments that can be made, proper techniques for harnessing, hooking, driving (recreational and working type). Single trees, double trees, tandem hitch, unicorn hitch, spacing, bitting, over checks vs side checks, rein set ups, rein techniques. Who knew? I do now. This book is full of pictures and diagrams. I can now pick up a harness and immediately identify all parts and tell if it is missing pieces/straps.No laughing!! I feel like and expert now and can evaluate a deal or not, as to how many pieces of the harness need replacing! Very thorough information of proper fitting to your animals. May save some money now and have happy, safe, working critters. Driving is tons of fun once you have some knowledge. I would recommend this book for the clueless and experienced drivers. Steve Bowers is very knowledgeable and thorough. I will be on the lookout for any clinics that he may give. This is the "Missing Manual" of driving and utilizing horsepower.

This is a really exceptional book for those entering the harness world. It isn't so much a training to drive book as It focuses on how to set up and adjust the harness and it provides a ton of tips that you would only learn if you have a really seasoned mentor. Fantastic photos and clear discriptions. Addresses both breast collar and neck collar set ups and Team hitches.

Was a good item

Simple, comprehensive TEXTBOOK for hands on instruction with an experienced Teamster. Not going to be good enough for a beginner to start driving horses, but good for outlining and illustrating the concepts of harnessing and driving.

My husband says every beginning teamster needs this book! The illustrations are great and very helpful. We have been driving since 2010 now. Started out with a team of Shires. Drove them as a team and as singles. Enjoyed it so much that we got 4 more shires and now drive everything from a single to a 6 up. We still go back and reference this book when we have a question or something just isn't working right. A must have!

Very well written and illustrated..I go back and check myself sometimes with this book. I have loaned it out to those who are thinking about going from saddle to harness, just to let them know what is involved....helps when I'm teaching too...

Really nice book, great color pictures so you can really understand what is being taught. Clear information also, not a hard book to understand. Highly recommend if your new to horses and driving.

Not really for Pleasure Horse drivers. They focus on Draft. Not what I wanted, the cover shows a Pleasure Horse but they seem to brush over and focus on Work Horses.

Great photos, easy clear diagrams and directions. Grateful for this ressource to get us started.

A useful book for a relative beginner that explains well the basics of harnessing true horsepower. Naturally, as the author was American, it deals with some types of harness which might not be common in Europe but the majority of the information is applicable both sides of the Atlantic.

An excellent reference book - well laid out with super explanation - photos and diagrams. I have already suggested this book to other drivers - new to Driving as well as experienced Drivers.

flicked through but not studied it in detail but what i have seen i think this book will be very good

Very well written! Great book! Although I would have liked if the author had written a little bit more about different ways of hitching up and different vehicles hitch up. Overall great book!