Goats and Bits

[Utah Goat Guy]

For people just starting out, I recommend the goat harnesses from Hoegger or Caprine Supply. My first harness was a Hoegger Deluxe harness that I bought in 2003 and it's still going strong. It's made from nylon and is sized very well for full-sized wethers. The only problem is that Hoegger's was going through some business problems a couple of years ago and the company had to reorganize. Customers were ordering things and not receiving them. Hopefully they're back on track, but you might want to give them a call and talk to someone in person before ordering anything. The photo is ridiculous. It looks like they put this harness on a yearling and it's built for an adult wether. It fits my big boys very well.
http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/xcart/Deluxe-...rness.html

Caprine Supply also sells a harness and they used to have a photo of it on their website. It looked just like the harness from Hoegger. However, the photo is gone now so I'm not sure if they changed the harness. Once again, might be worth talking to someone and asking if they can send you a photo.
https://www.caprinesupply.com/harness.html

Another option would be the Tough 1 miniature horse harness (lots of different sellers). These are cheaper than the others, but you'd have to do some modifications like remove the crupper and reattach the back strap to the hip strap. You might also have to burn some new holes in places. This brand comes in both nylon and leather. I recommend the nylon! Leather looks nicer in the photos, but the leather quality is usually so bad with these cheap harnesses that they can be pretty much unusable and/or unsafe. It's hard to go too far wrong with nylon. Even if the stitching is substandard in places, you can at least repair it because the material is good. With cheap leather you end up with places so dry rotted, stretched, thin, cracked, etc that it's not even worth stitching back together (and shoddy material may be why the stitching failed in the first place).

That said, my favorite harnesses are the ones I bought from Chimacum Tack. They are betathane, which is a rubber-coated nylon that looks and feels like soft leather but is tough like nylon and cleans up easier than leather or nylon. It's not on their website but you can custom order one. They're not cheap so I don't recommend getting a fancy harness until you're sure you love driving. But if you do get into driving then I highly recommend spending some money on a nice harness. High quality materials and workmanship will last a lifetime and will stay looking sharp. The nylon harnesses are great for starting out and they'll last forever with care, but they don't look very good if you like showboating and driving in parades.

I don't much care for the driving halters that come with the Hoegger and Caprine Supply harnesses. If I'm going to drive in a halter, I use a Sopris X.
https://www.soprisunlimited.com/halters

However, I usually prefer to drive in a bit. I use these:
https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Mullen-Mouth...B0013H1WJC

If you end up using a bit you'll be somewhat on your own with the bridle. Goat heads bear little resemblance to equine heads. I dissected the bridles that came with my Chimacum tack harnesses and used the parts to make something entirely different. Goats with horns (like mine) need fewer bridle straps than goats without horns. Browbands and throatlatches just get in the way if your goat has horns.

Good luck, and feel free to keep asking questions!