Born in the heart of Mennonite country around St Jacobs, Ontario exposed Wilma Martin to horses at an early age as a means of transportation which led to being bitten by the horse bug. Being the youngest of 8, Wilma spent a lot of time playing with her miniature horse, developing riding and driving skills. She was also exposed to literature featuring racing ponies and thus a dream was born. A strong desire to have her own miniature racing outfit came to fruition when she built her own crude racing sulky and fashioned a harness from nylon strapping material snuck off of a lift of lumber. Using her Mom’s sewing machine to do the stitching and reinforcing stress points with nuts and bolts from an old mechano set (Sorry for ruining your sewing machine Mom), a dream came true for an 11 yr old.
SEEDS PLANTED
THE OFFICIAL BEGINNING for Five Star Harness began in 2013 when Wilma was sidelined from work due to lower back injury. As she contemplated the future and what employment might look like for someone with a severe disability, she concluded that working in a harness shop might be a line of work compatible with a passion for horses and limited physical capability.
No harness shops in the area were interested in training another apprentice at the time, however one gentleman helped negotiate a deal to buy a retiring fellow’s equipment dispersal.
The childhood playhouse was emptied of toys and filled with some basic harness making equipment, where, through a series of trial and error the tedious process of learning how to build harness took place.
THE LAUNCH
APRIL OF 2014, Five Star Harness was officially opened for business, targeting the Mennonite and Amish community by building buggy harness. Some friends and family were willing to put the earliest models out into the community and from there things developed further into draft horse training harnesses. In 2015 what become known as Five Star’s signature tuxedo breastplate harness came into being and has since been developing greater footprint in the draft horse show ring. Five Star Harness also anticipates expanding into more fine driving harness branches in the future…
THE NAME
FIVE STAR RATINGS appeal to consumers everywhere who have a taste for quality goods and services. It is our aim to produce harness that is worthy to carry the Five Star label, capturing the love of the horse and being built as perfectly as possible as our ability allows.
