Bridle Styles: what will be next?

[keysfins]

Warning/alert: assorted rambling thoughts ahead. :winkgrin:

Bridle styles seem to come and go in cycles.

We’ve got the bling, and/or the over-bling. Seems these have been restrained to the browbands, thank Dog.

It seems that nosebands are being offered in different shapes, such as wide in the middle and tapering to the sides, or the ones that have room for the bit rings. Will nosebands become even wider? Or will they slim down? What else? (The Tota Comfort is far out of my price range, but would love to hear from anyone using it.)

Will the crank always reign supreme? Or will we ever return to the basic caveson, or maybe even a drop noseband in the snaffle? (I ride one of mine in a drop, so we might be ahead of a trend on that one.)

We’ve got the patent leather noseband, which I never bought into because it seems hard to keep it looking like patent leather and not glossy paint. A scuff or scrape? Heavens, if the horse should rub his leg with it on? Done, and a ton of $$$ gone, too. (To say nothing of show boots in patent!)

We’ve cycled back to hook stud ends, “for a cleaner look”, instead of buckle end fittings. Many bridles can be adjusted via crown buckles, so very little hardware is visible on the rest of the bridle.

((My theory is the bridle makers change back and forth every 8-10 years, to entice riders to buy the newest (old) style. I remember when we had hook studs as the preferred, the. Suddenly we had brass/gold everywhere, for buckles and keepers, all over the horse’s head. Anyone else remember that? Or am I just old? ))

The padded crowns will probably stay. And newer attention to the horse’s head (TMJ, nerves, teeth, head/poll/neck anatomy) has brought us several variations of the alternate straps beyond throatlatch and noseband, i.e. The Tota Comfort System and others.

I know that brown is coming back in style as an option to black. I don’t know how long the black with white padding will stay. CdJ and Valegro can pull it off fantastically. But I’m not so sure others want to broadcast that a horse might be tipping at the poll or just not straight.

We got the new color options for the rider who shows, with blingarama, for better or worse. We also have the decorated cantle for the saddle.

So for anyone in the trade, or anyone at all, what do you think will be the next trend/style/fashion for snaffles and double bridles? Or other tack, not limited to dressage? Including fittings and accessories, of course.

Will we see different color combos for the bridle?
Black with brown padding, or vice versa?
Other colors coming in to the dressage bridle?
Maybe colored padding?
Something new with browbands? Reins? Fittings?
Return to white stitching on black leather? (Hated it!, like the old white lined bridle, when you COULD almost justify having a schooling bridle and a show bridle.)
Have you ever had a full custom bridle made with your own preferences included?

What innovations or trends do you see coming? Or things you would like to see come along? And how likely are you to invest in a new style or trend? Do you lean to the classic black/black/white? (Black bridle/black saddle/white pad.)

Do you dip a toe in the latest innovation or trend? Or do you jump in whole hog because the sport is supposed to be FUN, and conservative old fogies be damned?

What is your tack like? Any fancy-schmancy touches?

What feature/part/new idea/(yes, even fad) might you be willing to put money towards?

Please discuss!

[atr]

I’m not convinced about monocrowns. I wonder if they increase the area of pressure over the poll, rather than spread the pressure over a wider area, if you see what I mean.

I’m tinkering around trying to find the perfect bridle for my horse at the moment. I think I’m looking for a split crown, having tried most things. He’s fussy. Hasn’t liked the Micklem, hasn’t liked a monocrown. He’s in an ancient split crown Dobert at the moment which seems to work better than most, but the noseband has seen better days, so I’m trying to decide whether to simply buy a new noseband or to buy a new bridle, but they mostly seem to have the buckles on the crown and I don’t know if he’ll like that.

Sigh. I like a nice quality bridle that isn’t a fashion item and will last forever.

[SendenHorse]

I’m so tired of trends, I’m thinking of getting a really nice custom bridle.
I have used a flash and crank, nothing against them but my horse goes fine with out. I have been moving to a simple french caveson, hook studs.

I got an inexpensive bling browband I can play with when I want “sparkle”.

All the colors, padding and bling is growing tiresome, personally.

There is a time I like to have fun too, and there is nothing wrong with it.

I don’t know about bridle trends, to specifically answer you question. I wish they would die down a bit so I can buy something and not wonder if it’s “outdated”. Dressage is getting to be too much like HJ world…in one day and out the next.

[SendenHorse]

my move to simple tack is more because I clean them a lot, and all the straps and things are harder to work around. Plus I like less on the face

[RedHorses]

I have custom bridles for my horses. They are basic snaffle bridles with the touches that I like. The nosebands are padded in the same colour leather as the bridle (black/black on one horse, brown/brown on the other) but not ridiculously wide (approx 1"). They have unique browbands too, made for each individual. Hook studs at the bit. The bridles are sized exactly for each horse and the billets are short so that no free sliding keeper is necessary anywhere except under the noseband, making for a clean look.

I suspect that rider wear will be more the fashion trend than tack for a while. Until the colour novelty wears off.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=SendenHorse;9000126]
my move to simple tack is more because I clean them a lot, and all the straps and things are harder to work around. Plus I like less on the face[/QUOTE]

From your mouth to God’s ears.

I’m convinced that the people who design bridles and those who buy them are among the “protected classes” who never have to clean them.

I’m the groom, for others and for myself, so all that strap work and overly-complicated buckle ends are my problem.

I also think that the bridles with buckles on both sides for the noseband and throatlatches are here for a couple of manufacturing reasons and will also have to go away for the same kind of cause. They are here because manufacturers have really perfected the art and quality of control of getting great labor in cheap parts of the world. So you can make highly detailed bridles for not much money if you aren’t paying saddlers in the US and/or Western Europe. And every additional buckle and keeper and new length of strap you add to a bridle increases the labor cost to make it. But using shorter bits of leather might lower the materials cost.

However! It’s hard to fit one of these bridles to every horse. And that means that retailers need to be willing to sell us bridles by the part. And that means they have to stock “a little bit of everything, all the time” so as to please their customers.

I have gone through this process with one bridle seller who wasn’t willing to switch out parts (no sale at all on a $300 bridle because my horse’s head didn’t have exactly the dimensions the designer imagined). I had another maker who would sell me things in parts spend a fortune on shipping things back and forth to me. I hated the time involved, but I appreciated her willingness to “go there” with me.

Problem would be solved by a different design. My personal favorite now is Stubben’s Limerick 3000 http://elitesaddlery.co.uk/Stubben-Double-Bridle-3000-Limerick

This bridle is soft, plain, good quality and you can make it fit any horse, no matter how unconventional the shape of its head. You can choose between having all buckles for cheek and noseband hanger on one side, or reverse the crown piece/cheek piece to have these on the off side and get the symmetry of buckles on both sides of the head that people seem to want with the modern, complicated bridles.

You can punch more holes or buy a longer/short cheek piece to accommodate the horse whose skull is long (or short) and the length of his nose is long. You can buy different nosebands to get wider, or crank options, or to fit the thick-nosed horse who still has a short skull.

[beowulf]

As someone that has two Limericks, I love them. I like how light and loose they can be on the horse.

One poster mentioned she went custom. Who did you use?

Personally i love all the variety, colors and styles. We live in an age wherre there is something for everyone. I consider myself lucky.

I would not mind seeing a return of rolled learher leather. I dont like many of the options out today.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=RedHorses;9000150]
I have custom bridles for my horses. They are basic snaffle bridles with the touches that I like. The nosebands are padded in the same colour leather as the bridle (black/black on one horse, brown/brown on the other) but not ridiculously wide (approx 1"). They have unique browbands too, made for each individual. Hook studs at the bit. The bridles are sized exactly for each horse and the billets are short so that no free sliding keeper is necessary anywhere except under the noseband, making for a clean look.

I suspect that rider wear will be more the fashion trend than tack for a while. Until the colour novelty wears off. ;)[/QUOTE]

Who makes these for you?

I’d like Jerry’s Harness to make a bridle for me… right after Wayne Rasmussen/The Country Saddler makes me a modern-day New Cavalry-but-better in black Sedgewick leather.

I will say that I think I’d like it if the square raised, wide and padded noseband made it into dressage world.

But I insist on soft (or soften-able) leather first. If it’s going to be stiff and hard forever (as so much black tack is), the rest of the design won’t make up for it, at least in my eyes.

[SendenHorse]

Jerrys harness, custom.

Rolled leather is back, yes. and has been for a few years. I personally don’t like them.

I think we can find pretty much anything these days!

[MysticOakRanch]

Well, a few notes on the styles…

Buckles:
I had a double bridle with the buckle over the poll instead of side buckles for the curb bit. It made for less buckle metal on the side of the face - but it means you have far less adjustability. Luckily, it fit my guy well. If you don’t have a BIG horse, all those buckles on a double bridle become - overwhelming! Now, maybe they can come up with some additional size options - like long face, short face!

Hook and stud buckles - hate them! Hate undoing and doing them, find them harder to clean, partly because they are such a pain to do/undo. And they seem thicker to me. I purposely look for buckles and try to avoid hook/stud attachments. Buckles are very easy to clean - unbuckle, run a damp tooothbrush over everything, towel clean and dry.

Buckles on both sides of the face - are really nice for their adjustability - if you have a short faced horse (for some reason, all bridles seem to be made for really LONG faces - and none of my horses fit that category?), it is nice to be able to adjust on both sides. Otherwise, I often find the buckles crammed all the way to the top, hitting the area just below ear, and I HATE that!. Hoping to see some sizing options for short face/long face in the near future!

Bling and Patent and Accents
I like a bit of bling - shiney isn’t so much my thing, but I like color. So the pretty browbands for my horse, and even a nice stock tie in NOT WHITE for me. Colored piping on my pads (I wish BOT would add that option!). I do not like a ton of flash though - I find it distracting, and since we have pretty harsh Summer sun, it can even be blinding.

I suspect we are going to see more and more and more “accents” - people are tired of plain ol’ black and white or brown and white. Originally, the only saddle maker I saw that had some color options was Custom Saddlery - you could get colored welting, colored stitching. Now ALL the custom saddle makers offer it. And now we have cantle designs, crystals, etc - I think we will see more and more of those kind of accents. Personally, I like color, so I find it fun.

While I agree that Patent gets scuffed easily on leather, I have patent horse boots (they aren’t leather) and I LOVE them. They are much easier to keep clean, and things just slide off them rather then stick. I have more traditional, dull colors for showing and big clinics, but for everyday, those patent (POH) boots are fabulous, and I’m going to buy a new pair this year - they are four years old now and starting to show their age (they are used 4 to 5 times weekly - I’ve never had a pair of boots last so long!).

I think we will also see more and more accents on riding boots - colors, crystals, patent, maybe even bronze or silver studs?

Padding
I love the new comfort polls, and I love padded crank nosebands. I don’t CRANK my noseband, but the padding is so much nicer under the jaw then any French cavasson, I hope these nosebands are around forever! The French style nosebands have the buckle right under the jaw, which just isn’t as comfortable to the horse. So I’m a crank fanatic. I keep hearing people on COTH complain that they can’t find French cavessons anymore - and I don’t get it. They are everywhere! I have a bunch of them in my tackroom - have tried to sell them off on eBay multiple times, no one is interested.

I don’t like the SUPER thick/wide ones because my horses don’t have super long faces, but I go for fairly wide because I think it is more comfortable for the horse.

And speaking of padding - I think we are going to see more and more nicely padded girths. The hard, stiff girth should be a thing of the past. And more and more companies are going for anatomically shaped girths. I got a Fairfax girth last year, and love it!

I suspect the padded poll is going to become a standard fixture on bridles. My one complaint here - again, harder to fit to a shorter faced horse. With the old split poll, you could cut it a bit if needed, with the padded poll, you can’t. Maybe some of the bridle makers will realize we aren’t all riding long faced horses!

[merrygoround]

mvp “But using shorter bits of leather might lower the materials cost.”

Absolutely. It is much more expensive to buy longer reins, as in order to make longer top quality leather reins you need a longer piece of sound leather. Good hides are hard and expensive to come by. the shorter the piece of strap goods in article the less expensive to make.

Speaking of style the droopy brow band look absolutely ridiculous on some horses.

Still using one of the very early English AP saddles with butter soft flaps. Of course, I bought it and its sturdy English hunting bridle when I was in my pre-teens.

[Lucassb]

I agree with Mystic about the padded cranks. Just seems to be so much nicer for the horses.

I have a Tota Comfort noseband on one of my bridles and like it, but I don’t know if I’d spend the money again. But then neither of my horses has particular “issues” in that area and they both seem just as comfortable in their other bridles (with standard crank nosebands rather loosely adjusted, much to the horror of my trainer, LOL.)

[Anonymoose]

Dover has offered colored brow band and cavesson padding for a number of years now. I don’t know if they still do; I haven’t checked their website or catalogs recently.

I’m hoping the flash strap will soon be out of style.

[RedHorses]

Beowolf, mvp - erm… me. :o

And since I’m confessing, the brown one actually belonged, in part, to a previous horse with a bigger head and I cut it down for my current guy. He got a new brow band, and the actual noseband part of the noseband. The design of the previous horse’s brow and nose bands was such that they couldn’t be cut down without getting into the decorative section. The old pieces are around 20 years old. The old flash strap has found a new life as a grab strap on one of my saddles. :lol:

One browband is glass and semi precious stone beads. Azure, black, and metallic copper. Not knock your eyes out, but a nice little colour statement. The other is bugle and seed beads in gunmetal and silver lined, clear glass. I made that one as I sat watching the summer Olympics in 2004.

[RedHorses]

Belonged to a previous horse as in “I custom made the bridle for a previous horse.” I use veg tan leather.

[poltroon]

One of the things I think has driven some of these trends is the kinds of horses we are riding. When dressage in the US was mostly about horses with large, “coarse” (I love a head with personality, so I don’t see it as negative), that may be what inspired the white padding and the buckles all over the outside of the bridle, to kind of break up the visual size of the head.

I personally still like finer, thinner bridles for the most part… though I’ve always disliked rolled. But, most people only like those thin bridles on dainty heads.

[Forte]

Well call me trendy!
I love all the different colors and styles and options out there. All my horses go in a crank because I think the wider noseband with lots of padding is more comfortable for them. I also like a padded crown. Hook studs or buckles, I could go either way as long as the bridle matches the reins. On a fine head, I really like rolled leather. I am not into crystals on anything but the browband but I LOVE patent . My schooling snaffle is black with brown padding and black crocodile patent on the noseband. We also have patent DSB boots and a patent inlay on the cantle of the saddle. And yes, my show boots are patent. I haven’t had any issues with scuffs and the patent is so easy to clean! Just wipe with a damp rag and I’m good to go. I also love different colored jackets. My short coat is a lovely charcoal grey.

My pet peeve is too much bling. I see people with crystals on their boots, helmets, gloves, spurs and it’s too much! Also dirty or ill fitting tack/clothing is a no no.
In my non horsey life I wear boring /cheap clothes so when I am on my horse I like to dress u both up!

[Ceylon_Star]

My saddle is brown, so all my other tack is too. I am not particularly fond of black tack unless it is on a true black horse, or a grey. I much prefer brown on 90% of horses.

I prefer simple. My snaffle bridle is actually a hunter bridle by Frank Baines. It’s raised and fancy stitched, in a slightly reddy brown somewhere between oakbark and havana. It matches my saddle, and suits my pony, although I wish it were maybe 1/3-1/2" thicker because while his head is short, it is really thick. He actually looks infinitely better in his flat hunt bridle, but the hunt bridle is way too dark to go with the saddle and I’m fussy like that.

I have an ooollldddd Passier double that I love love love. Snagged it for $20 at a consignment tack shop. Took a bit of TLC to bring it back to its former glory, but the leather is wonderful. It’s rolled, and while I was worried it would look ridiculous on Mr Fatface, I think that because it has double the side straps, it actaully looks really nice on him. The noseband is wide enough to not look ridiculous on the front of his face, which I was a bit worried about since most rolled bridles I’ve seen have had fairly narrow nosebands.

I much prefer the clean look of hook stud bit ends, but had a schooling bridle that had buckles and it was fine, just not classic enough for my tastes. Haha.

I HATE laced reins, and freaking DESPISE web reins. On a double, I use two sets of flat reins, one about 50% wider for the bradoon vs the curb, and I can’t stand a curb rein that has a buckled center. Drives me batty. For the snaffle bridle I have plaited reins, and they are hands-down my favourite things to ride in, ever. They are grippy and soft and supple and the perfect width. I paid a pretty penny to get them shortened to pony length, but it was oh so worth it. I want another pair for my hunter snaffle bridle so I don’t have to constantly switch them over. But they’re so hard to find these days!

I prefer the basic straight browband shape. I think the swoopy wave or U shape is goofy on 99% of horses, and the V is just too severe for my tastes. As far as bling goes, as much as I would LOVE a fantastic rainbow bling browband, I cringe at the thought of actually using it anywhere but at home. I prefer plain, fancy stitched, or a bit of brass chain or even brass clinchers. While I wouldn’t use one in the show ring, I do have a soft spot for old British pony club style ribbon browbands

I flip-flop about patent on bridles. I think it takes a certain face, or at the very least, a certain presence to be able to pull it off. It sure as heck wouldn’t look good on my pony, but it really suits a friend’s petite TB/oldenburg mare.

As for nosebands, plain cavesson, or a drop noseband for me. I have a thing for a baucher with a drop noseband. It makes the little old man in me happy. Haha. My Frank Baines is done in such a way that the buckle does up more to one side than directly under the jaw, and the buckle end is lightly padded like the bridge of the nose and the browband.

I don’t care one way or the other for monocrown bridles, but crownpieces with a slight cutback behind the ears are kind of nice. I don’t know that I’d necessarily go out looking for one specifically, but it could potentially be a tie breaker between two bridles I like equally.

Not going to lie, I kind of want a black bridle with brown padding, just because they’re pretty. Haha!

because someone mentioned boots: As much as I love the look of nice fluffy sheepskin padded boots, I HATE picking hogfuel out of the floof, haha! So I’d love some nice, non-floofy, brown DSBs. But for now, we go naked-legged in the show ring, and are either bare-legged or use BR dressage boots at home (which are actually a really great design. On the outside they look like a DSB type boot, but inside them is a plastic jumper/tendon boot shell that cups the back of the leg. Then the nice wide straps wrap around the front to make an attractive closed-front boot. I REALLY like them and am tempted to get the matching hinds)

[poltroon]

I looove plaited reins. I found a lonely pair of black ones that apparently were anathema to the dressage queens in the area on closeout for a steal many years ago. I was sooo happy.

I don’t know why most bridles seem to come with… less than wonderful rein choices.

[digihorse]

[QUOTE=poltroon;9000994]
I looove plaited reins. I found a lonely pair of black ones that apparently were anathema to the dressage queens in the area on closeout for a steal many years ago. I was sooo happy.

I don’t know why most bridles seem to come with… less than wonderful rein choices.[/QUOTE]
oooOOOooo… me TOO! Really hard to find. I scored a few years ago… (well probably 15 now) at Calabasas Saddlery… a pair of Passier black plaited reins with buckles… extra long. I lurv them. They are so nice to hold.