I am looking for a bridle with a padded crown and cutaway for ears. My horse has gotten very sensitive behind his ears and has started lifting his head when I try to put his bridle on. When riding, I noticed the crown seems to be cutting into the base of his ears. And yes, his brow band is the right size. Does anyone have any ideas?
I had this exact problem with my mare. PS of Sweden bridles were the solution - nicely padded, generous cutaway for ears, mono crown. Huge improvement in my mare’s comfort and performance.
It might be as simple as getting a larger brow band.
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I have the same problem with my horse. The Kavalkade Isabelle has worked perfectly
Agree. The Kavalkade Isabelle is a nice, affordable bridle.
I’ve been looking for a very particular bridle for the exact same reason. Here is the bridle I really want but haven’t purchased yet.
I also use a sheepskin crown piece cover for my horse.
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Anatomically cut-back crown pieces did not work for my mare. She used to be so sensitive that every now and then she wouldn’t even let you pull the halter over her ears, much less the bridle. An oversized browband did the trick, no more issues with halter or bridle.
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Something else to consider is to make sure the leather from the cheek and bit pieces aren’t rubbing your horse’s TMJ. After learning so much about the TMJ from having to get my horse’s injected, I started to pay attention to other horses and online pictures and saw how it is so common to see bridles rubbing the joint.
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I had the exact same problem. I switched to a Micklem bridle and the difference in my horse was amazing. She went from holding her head up out of reach, to actually shoving her face into the bridle with her mouth gaping open for the bit.
My one issue is I didn’t really like the look of the Micklem. My horse has a big head with a big white blaze, so the “drop noseband look” wasn’t very flattering on her. So I recently changed her into a Schockemohle Equitanus Beta and she goes equally well in this one too.
I have Thoroughbred that loses hair around her ears, eyes and nose in gthe summer from the heat. I use Waldhausen Sheepskin Poll Protector on crown of bridle for added padding. $10.00
Yes, I noticed when bridle shopping that many of them buckle too high and/or the two buckles end up right on top of each other. Some of the newer crown pieces are designed so the buckles will lay side by side instead of overlapping, and using two different size cheek pieces can help if the buckles are creating too much bulk near the TMJ.
I ended up using the crown from my Joseph Sterling convertible bridle for my mare’s snaffle because the straps for the bit, noseband and throatlatch are all side-by-side and everything lays nice and flat.
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