Excluding the SmartPak and Dover house brands, please list for me your favourite low-, mid-, and upper-range bridles.
Then, please list for me the bridles you would rather set on fire than even consider buying.
Any extra comments re: quality, would be much appreciated. I have a bit of an ulterior motive for asking this question; I am happily married to my Wellfleet.
Many thanks.
I am an Edgewood fan, also Jaguar. Current show bridle is a Jaguar with an Edgewood brow band and reins, love. I will use Bobby’s as a schooling bridle, but otherwise, it’s not my fave if I’m going to spend over $200. I also have an Aramas which I love for schooling too, very soft, i do consider it my schooling bridle as I don’t love it as much as my Jaguar/Edgewood franken bridle. Pessoa’s stretch too much.
Random thoughts i know 
Got one of the horze bridles back in the day when they had those 50% off coupons and I HATE it. Crappy crappy leather, never broke in, fits weird, etc.
Love Bobby’s English Tack for the price.
Love my CWD. But I also have an old Nona Garson bridle that I wont ever part with.
I know the Smartpak bridles aren’t included, but I love all the ones I have. 
Thumbs up for Bobby’s too. I use that one as my hunt bridle. Classic.
I hated the Circuit ones and Pessoa.
Absolutely love my Hadfield’s bridle. It broke in easily, the leather is soft and beautiful, but I use it mainly as a show bridle now. For schooling I have an old (12+ years) HK Americana that has held up great over the years. It still cleans up nicely but it’s a schooling bridle since my horse made some chew marks on it in his younger years. The Hadfield’s was substantially more expensive than the HK, but I think both are excellent quality.
I own (I think) 5-6 bridles, but I only know the brands of 4 of them, so I’ll comment on those.
SmartPak Wellfleet bridle - snagged one when it was on super clearance. Leather quality is just okay. Definitely would have been mad if I paid full price ($160). I was trying not to oil the crap out of this bridle…but I’m thinking I’m going to have to. I have oiled/conditioned it a few times which was enough to break in my higher quality bridle but apparently this bridle needs to be SOAKED.
HDR bridle - I bought this for the color. It’s a color most people hate (kind of like a reddish oakbark?) but it matched my saddle at the time. So I own two of these. For the $80 price point the leather is decent. The older of the two has started to kind of fall apart but then again it is 10+ years old and I never really oiled it.
Stubben - I haven’t used this bridle in forever, but it was nice quality and held up well to me not really ever cleaning or oiling it.
(I was REALLY rough on tack up until the last year or so)
Vespucci - Like the gods of leather came down from the heavens and birthed a bridle. The leather is SO soft with minimal oiling. I can’t comment on durability because I’ve only had it for about a year now and it’s ONLY a show bridle. But the leather is like butter.
I don’t really have any experience with bridles I would rather set on fire. Maybe a synthetic leather bridle? Synthetic leather is just ugh.
For lower-ish end into low-mid-range, I like Ovation. I think they generally do a good job making a good quality product at a reasonable price.
I love HK’s Aramas and Americana lines for mid-ish range… but do those actually count, considering that HK makes the SmartPak bridles?
For higher end, I like Edgewood and Beval (well, older Beval; I don’t think the newer ones are the same quality). Supposedly, Jeffries made the Beval bridles (don’t know whether they still do), so I guess I should lump that in there. I’m also a fan of Herve Godignon.
I know lots of people like Vespucci and Arc De Triomphe, but I am of the opinion that both are overpriced for what they are. I like them at a lower price point.
I think I’m in the minority here, but I hate Bobby’s. Gatsby is also pretty terrible.
not a fan of ovation, camelot, red barn, pessoa, or hdr, though i will say for the price hdr is a bargain.
i love my stubben bridles… and my kieffer bridle. they’ve been through everything but molten lava and look fantastic, and all are very old. i won’t part with any of them.
i also really love my tony slater saddlery tack… i am lucky enough to have a nice breast-strap by him, and an older figure eight cavesson.
i’ve found the ‘basic line’ of passier to be garbage – not worth the price tag. i also have to say, for the price, i was really shocked at the low quality feel some of the basic ADT bridles have.
Thanks for all the great replies! Keep 'em coming!
YES! Those do count. Did you find the colouring of the Americana to be consistent throughout? I own and love the hunt bridle, but the show bridles I’ve seen are just yucky (but maybe that shop just got a bad bunch?)
Well I have only had one bridle I ever bought for my boy but I do adore it.
I think it’s like the nunn finer brand but it’s made by Bartville Harness. I need to go back down and get a breastplate and cob sized reins from them at some point.
Their stuff is already supple and soft and have been breaking in amazingly. Plus I got to mix and match all the parts to fit my boy’s funny head
[QUOTE=Finding Serenity;7886025]
Well I have only had one bridle I ever bought for my boy but I do adore it.
I think it’s like the nunn finer brand but it’s made by Bartville Harness. I need to go back down and get a breastplate and cob sized reins from them at some point.
Their stuff is already supple and soft and have been breaking in amazingly. Plus I got to mix and match all the parts to fit my boy’s funny head :)[/QUOTE]
i really like bartville… i wish their hardware wasn’t so clunky, but their leather is amazing.
I’m not a fan of Edgewood, but full disclosure, my schooling bridle is an Edgewood. We have a love hate relationship. I like how it looks, I don’t like how soft/floppy it is and I despise how much it stretched. How much, you ask? enough to have to ultimately replace the noseband for my cob nosed thug (by Edgewood fully stretched standards). And I am not an over tightener of nosebands. I’m not bitter over that extra $125. Much. (OK it didn’t have to be a padded noseband for a schooling bridle, but really - the thing had a 3 hole margin of error)
But I do heart my Hadfields muchly. The cheekpieces are always appropriately sized for the bits with large Ds, they are a high quality leather but with a bit more structure/firmness… (lack of floppiness?) to the headstalls and yet the reins still feel like buttah. And long is a really long great feature in old ride-on-the-buckle hunter with his neck a million miles long (not so wonderful in Mr. Shorter Neck, but oh well).
Love my edgewoods for show bridles. I will forever be depressed that my most favorite edgewood was stolen a few years ago, and they don’t make the model any longer.
Mid range - the Ovation hazelnut is the same leather as the edgewood (or at least they used to be) but were assembled in India to lower the price point.
HDRs are a bargain for the price point, but I’d rather have an ovation.
I really like the Edgewood and AdT bridles a lot. I’m kind of old skool, I don’t care for a big over-the-top bridle like the newer CWD, Anatres etc. I did once have a Herve Godignon Jump in Style Bridle that was beautifully, beautifully made.
If you can find an older Jaguar bridle they are luxe and weren’t too expensive. They are rarer than hen’s teeth these days?!
All the Pessoa’s I’ve seen have been junky. I’ve been disappointed with Bobby’s but I realize that there are different lines and perhaps mine were the lower ones. I’ve also been disappointed with the Red Barn line.
I have a Nunn Finer dressage bridle and for all that people rave, the leather is cardboardy and I was totally disappointed. No, it didn’t break the bank but for all the people who love them, I really expected better.
Old Beval was the best new Beval is crap. My old Beval Heritage is my favorite favorite bridle ever.
I would have otherwise gushed about the HK/Smartpak bridles but you asked us not to comment on those.
Low-range: I have a Bobby’s that has held up very well over the last few years. However, it is the higher-range of Bobby’s with fancy stitching and padding. One thing that I don’t love is that is looks “dirty” after just a few days of hanging in the tack room not being used, where my nicer bridles don’t seem to do this.
Mid-range: I have had three Vespucci’s over the last 6 or so years and have noticed a definite change in quality. I like my oldest Vespucci the most. Despite the stretching that everyone seems to know about, it has held up very well. It softened with very minimal oiling and has maintained it’s dark rich color. My newer Vespucci did not soften nearly as easily and also lost a lot of dye and color. When oiled the color looks much better, but it wears off after 2-3 rides.
Upper-range: I have a few Antares that I love. The older one took oil pretty easily, and really holds it well. The newer one has been a little more difficult, but is slowly breaking in and darkening. The craftsmanship on both are very high quality, and the stitching is gorgeous.
If I were in the market for another bridle, I would buy another Antares without a second thought.
I agree with DMK about Hadfields, the leather is wonderful but “firm” - I hate spaghetti reins. I also loved my Edgewood though and had no stretching issues or floppiness although I was very careful not to over oil it. All at one time I had Antares, Beval Heritage, Hadfields, CWD and Edgewood and loved all of them although not the Beval Heritage so much. The Beval was pretty and very nice, I really liked the feel of the reins, but it wasn’t quite as nice leather as the others IMO. The Antares leather is really exceptional too although mine was the older style without the mono crown. I don’t care for the new Antares bridles because of that, no mono crowns for me.
I love my Five Star Tack bridle. It’s soft but not too soft, hasn’t stretched, and it’s really well made–the stitching passed my seamstress mother’s inspection.
My old boss had a Sabre dressage bridle that was pretty yummy. I think they’re about the same price point as Five Star Tack. That was another one that was supple but not too soft.
I have a Gatsby bridle that I would like to set on fire, but the f*****g thing refuses to die. I paid $15 for it 7 or 8 years ago and it’s still in useable shape.
HK’s Aramas is my favorite. Beautiful color, super soft and supple, and looks fantastic on all of my horses!
Wellfleet (I know you already have this and it is a Smartpak but it is my only other bridle 
)- Love it except the noseband keeper cannot slide so it lets the noseband flop unless you double it back.
My sister has an older HDR that actually doubles as a schooling and show bridle (soon to change!) and it looks alright for showing and holds up pretty darn well.
Higher end: I cannot say enough good things about my Five Star Tack Wembley bridle. Absolutely love it. I also still have a super old school New Cavalry that is still unbelievably beautiful, even though it is as old as the hills.
More mid-range: I have an Ovation wide noseband bridle that is very nice. For the price, I really like it and think it was a great value. Fits my big warmblood’s large head well, and looks great.
Set on fire: My AdT. Cost a small fortune and the stitching started to come undone almost right away. The padding has also gotten lumpy over just a few years. See above for comparison to New Cavalry, which at about the same price point has aged MUCH better with just as much (if not more) use.
In case you are interested, here is the link to the New Cavalry site. I am not sure if you can get them at retail stores anymore.
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