Linda Lucas and Coopermill Harness  

By B. Crawford 

When the world ran on horse power (and I mean real horse power, not gas-powered horsepower) leatherworkers provided the steering, transmission, starter motor and every other direct connection between the driver and the animal engine. How did they make the connection? With a sophisticated piece of leather technology known as the harness. 

Linda Lucas of Coopermill Harness is one of a few gifted leathercraft workers who is skilled in the art of harness making. “I am having a really good year,” Linda says. “Just back-to-back orders. As soon as I finish one thing, something else comes in.”  

At her home workshop in Wales, Linda hand stitches harnesses for a very specific clientele, owners of the show ponies native to the United Kingdom. Linda’s clients in England and the Unites States know that she is one of the best at what she does. When they are turned out in a Coopermill Harness, pony owners know that they will make a winning impression as they drive their carts past the judges stand. 

“My most popular products are in-hand bridles and halters (known as filly slips),” Linda says. “Good quality and good fit give my customers an edge in the show ring.” 

The story behind Linda’s successful leather business goes back to her childhood. “When I was a little toddler in Essex, England, I was always excited to see Judy, the milkman’s horse. Judy was a black and white mare that pulled the milkman’s dray. The milkman would walk up the street and Judy would follow along behind and stop exactly where she was supposed to.”  

Linda’s father was also a horse enthusiast. As a young girl of four or five, Linda began accompanying her father to the sales of Shetland, Dartmoor and other pony breeds native to the United Kingdom. “I liked to draw the ponies,” Linda says, “and my father would correct me if I had one standing wrong.” 

Like many girls, Linda became a bit pony obsessed. “I just fell in love with the little Dartmoors,” Linda says, referring to the famous Dartmoor ponies from Dartmoor, England. “They looked the wildest. They are probably the best ponies for kids.” 

Linda didn’t get her first pony until she was 21 years old, but it was worth the wait. “I can still ride the little ones,” Linda says. “It’s been a lifelong pleasure that I have never outgrown.” 

Dartmoor ponies are indeed spectacular animals. Native to the moors that, according to legend, inspired the setting for the Sherlock Holmes classic, Hound of the Baskervilles, Dartmoor ponies are single colored, with long flowing manes and tails. They stand no more than 12.2 hh (or hands high) at maturity. Footprints of the ponies found at archeological sites in Dartmoor are more than 3,500 years old.   

Calm, strong and sure-footed, Dartmoor ponies have been used over the centuries for riding, shepherding and mail carrying. In the 1800s, Dartmoor ponies hauled granite from the local quarries.  

Today, the Dartmoor pony is an endangered breed, but one that is still extremely popular with enthusiasts. “First and foremost,?Dartmoors make wonderful children’s ponies because of their calm temperament –?if handled from a young age. It’s this disposition that makes them ideal for driving,” Linda says.    

When Linda married and moved to the US in 1984, she did not leave behind her love of ponies. In fact, she brought two Dartmoor ponies with her: a young stallion named Brandsby Jack Frost and a gelding named Cambord Easter, whose stable name was Teddy. 

“Everybody kept telling me that I needed to sell that gelding and get a mare,” Linda says. “But I couldn’t. I just couldn’t do it. And it was a good thing I didn’t. If it had been a mare, she would just have been in a field being bred. But I took Teddy everywhere.” 

Linda took Teddy to shows throughout Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Virginia. Showing Teddy generated such a great deal of interest in the Dartmoor breed that Linda bought two mares and began breeding Dartmoors. Linda says, “They had some lovely foals.”  

When Linda first arrived in the US, there was only one person breeding Dartmoor ponies; but over the years, interest in the ponies grew dramatically. After about 20 years of raising horses, Linda retired from breeding. That is when her leathercrafting business took off.  

“When I was traveling around with Teddy,” Linda says, “I realized that I couldn’t get the equipment I needed. I had to import my own tack. 1n 1988, after a visit to a harness maker friend in the UK, I finally decided that I was going to learn how to make my own harness.” 

Learning how to make pony show harnesses was not easy. “I found?it hard to get books and information. So, I made a trip to the Leather Factory for some leather and tools to start. The assistant was so helpful and showed me how to cut, stitch and finish the edges of straps. Then I went to stay with friends in Suffolk, England, and I spent a morning with a harness maker they knew. The harness maker gave me a list of suppliers of hardware and recommended a book written many years ago. I returned to the US, and just tried to figure it all out.” 

Figure it all out she did. Soon, word got out about Linda’s splendid harness. “I had intended to just make items for myself, but then people found out about me. The showing people were especially interested in my work because I knew where to get hardware that was only available from England. That’s when I started making the in-hand tack that has become my mainstay.” 

A harness is a complicated piece of equipment. It is a network of leather straps, buckles, loops and lines that may contain as many as 36 different pieces. “There is the collar, full or breast collar, to which the traces are attached to pull the vehicle,” Linda explains. Then there is the pad or gig saddle with girth, tugs, back band and belly band, as well as the breeching, and hip strap, back strap and a padded crupper to hold the breeching in place. Then, of course, there are the bridle and reins for direction and control. 

To make things even more complicated, there are almost as many different harnesses as there are things to be pulled.  

Think about it.  In the late 19^th century, harness makers specialized in specific types of harnesses for the 20 million work horses in the US who did everything from hauling freight to taking lovers on picnics. Before the arrival of the automobile, harness making and saddlery ranked 34^th in the US in terms of number of people employed. Today, gas station work ranks 35^th in the US in terms of number of people employed. The harness maker was the auto mechanic of the flesh and blood horse power era. 

Some of the pioneers of American business got their start in the harness business.  For example, John E. Deere began as a harness maker, then he founded Deere & Company and revolutionized farming with his invention of the steel plow.  

Linda Lucas of Coopermill Harness has had no interest in revolutionizing agriculture. She has been too busy making leather goods. Starting with in-hand tack, Linda expanded her product line to include mini-bags, belts and dog collars, including one collar that, in her words, “provides a little bling for that special pooch.”  

“When I was in America, I made a lot of sheaths for knives,” Linda says. “I even made one for a WWII US-issued machete.”  

After a divorce in 2016, Linda decided to move back to the United Kingdom and brought her business with her. Right now, she is swamped with work, mostly making in-hand tack for show ponies. “All my bridles and in-hand tack are made with top quality leather and hand stitched,” Linda says. “The harness bridles, breast collar and breeching seat are also stitched by hand. I offer a quality repair service, which is given priority when possible.”? 

“I don’t work on western saddles or draft horse harness,” Linda says. “They are just too heavy.”  

According to Linda, fit makes all the difference. “There used to be standard sizes for ponies, but that doesn’t ring true anymore. The ponies are bred better and fed better, so you get a lot of differences within the same breed.” Linda sends all of her clients a measurement sheet, so she can be sure her tack fits perfectly. “I just sent one to a lady in America,” Linda says, “who wants the full, traditional in-hand tack.”  

Linda markets her products via a website, Facebook and an Etsy page. She attends a few pony exhibitions every year, but at this point word of mouth is what brings her the most customers. 

Today, Linda lives in Cwmparc in South Wales, near her brother and about 10 miles from where Tom Jones was raised. “We are surrounded?by mountains,” Linda says. “The cottage I live in has open land in the front and is great for dog walking. My neighbors are wonderful and like me; quite a few people on my?road are?English. It’s a lovely, friendly neighborhood, not quite the best for business but customers seem to find me anyhow.” 

Linda enjoys working by herself. She is a traditionalist through and through. “I had a friend in West Virginia,” Linda says. “He was a harness maker of the old school. He once worked in a harness-making factory, and he would often show me quicker and cheaper ways of doing something. But I am all about tradition. And he used to say to me, ‘If anybody asks me how to learn the hard way, I will send them to you.’”   

The thing Linda enjoys most about her business is seeing happy customers. “And I really enjoy hand sewing; I just love it. Not everybody can afford it for a harness, and that’s why I have a machine, but all my own show sets were hand stitched.” 

The future for Linda Lucas and Coopermill Harness? More of the same. According to Linda, “My plans are just to carry on as long as I’m able. I’ve always said I’ll be late for my own funeral as I have a bridle to finish!”