Bridles - Love, hate, set on fire.

[Sing_Mia_Song]

I haven’t bought a bridle in forever, because the New Cavalry that I had custom made 17 years ago still fulfills my every need! That said, I do hanker for one of the more modern wide noseband bridles. I just can’t justify it when my horse is still basically going to horse shows strictly for the learning experience.

I did buy a Bartville schooling bridle about 6-7 years ago and that thing is fabulous. I can’t explain VXF’s experience, except to say that maybe the dressage bridles are different? The plain old schooling bridles wear like iron and oil up nicely. They are not particularly pretty or swoon-worthy, but they are quality at a very reasonable price. I agree with Beowulf that the hardware is a bit clunky. On the other hand, the tongues of the buckles haven’t bent like they have in virtually every other bridle I’ve had.

I also have an older Tony Slatter bridle. It’s okay. Never darkened up the way I wanted it to.

[JenEM]

[QUOTE=nelson;7886568]
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.

http://www.newcavalry.com/[/QUOTE]

Does anyone have one of these? How do they compare to the old ones? I’ve been pondering replacing my ancient plain raised Crosby (even though its one of the good old ones you cannot kill) with something a bit nicer, at least for shows. The prices seem really reasonable if the quality is anything like the older ones.

vxf, I wonder if your poor experience with the Bartville stuff was due to it being a dressage bridle. I’ve seen a lot of very nice, and ridiculously expensive ones, and the leather on none of them have every felt any better than the mid-quality, HDR type leather. I think a lot of it has to due with the dyeing. I just saved myself the money and headache and bought one at the HDR price point :lol: Their bridles are also maybe made of a bit sturdier leather, as they’re often marketed at Eventers, who want something a little more on the sturdy side of buttery soft.

A few people have mentioned Gatsby…I picked up one of their leather halters really cheap maybe a decade ago to take a young horse to a few shows with, since I couldn’t bear the idea of taking her in the hideous nylon halter she had at the lesson barn. It was fine, because it wasn’t under too much stress, but that hardware was cheap and eventually broke, and I would not be willing to use one of their bridles for anything more intensive than a conformation photo shoot. It’s definitely getting what you pay for there.

[DMK]

[QUOTE=BAC;7886175]
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. [/QUOTE]

I was going to say I didn’t over-oil it (because I am pretty religious about proper leather care)… but upon further reflection… It’s more accurate to say that AFTER I had thoroughly de-oranged it with hydrophane darkening oil, I did not over oil it. So that might be part of the problem, LOL.

But seriously, it could not go on my horse until it more closely resembled Hadfields color. So it was … aggressively and rapidly… darkened.

[rider25]

I love my Jerry’s Harness Shop bridles. Fantastic leather, quality workmanship. I have a couple that are over 10 years old, one of which is used as an everyday bridle, it still cleans up beautifully and looks great the show ring.

[Ibex]

I have a KL Select Red Barn that is a raging piece of crap. :mad:

I actually pulled off the noseband and built a frankenbridle with pieces from my Schockemohle Fig 8.

[vxf111]

I will say that the Bartville bridle I have is not the only black/dressage bridle I have. I also have two AdT black bridles and the leather on those is delicious. So while I generally agree black leather isn’t as nice as brown-- there is some nice black leather out there. My Bartville dressage bridle is really cardboardy, stiff, and the leather hasn’t taken in the oil and worn in nicely. I take care of it the same way I take care of all my other tack and it’s the only bridle I have that looks so crummy. Maybe I just got a bad one, but it’s very disappointing.

This is the bridle I have…

http://www.nunnfiner.com/Nunn-Finer-Event-Bridle-p/nfeb.htm

It doesn’t look anything like a nearly $300 bridle and the leather feels much less nice. If you showed it to me, I’d think it was a $50-100 bridle. I bought the bridle in about 2009 directly from Bit of Britain.

[BostonHJ]

I adore my Hadfield’s bridle. Purchased in 1997, it enjoyed a few years of regular use before it got stored until about 3 years ago. It was used sporadically for a year or so of that and has been my everyday bridle (and show bridle) for a little more than a year. My only regret is getting a nameplate since the holes on the crownpiece are getting a little large - I plan to replace that piece rather than get a whole new bridle when it is time. I like it much more than the Beval martingale that I got at the same time.

I’ve never been impressed with Vespucci for the price.

[Jungle_Monkey]

Dyon bridles are fantastic!

[Jersey_Fresh]

I have three bridles:
Crosby-this is an older one but the leather is hard to beat. I found it hanging abandoned hanging in a tack room years ago and nursed it back to health. Its square raised so its out of style and a bit too big on my cobby headed TB so it just hangs in my trailer right now.

Edgewood-this is my horses jump bridle. I love it but I bought it used on ebay so I may have missed the stretching out phase.

Jimmys-I have an older Jimmys I got at Middleburg tack exhcnage for $99 that looks awesome on my guy. The noseband is just slightly wider and it looks lovely on him. The leather is super too.

[BAC]

[QUOTE=DMK;7886661]
I was going to say I didn’t over-oil it (because I am pretty religious about proper leather care)… but upon further reflection… It’s more accurate to say that AFTER I had thoroughly de-oranged it with hydrophane darkening oil, I did not over oil it. So that might be part of the problem, LOL.

But seriously, it could not go on my horse until it more closely resembled Hadfields color. So it was … aggressively and rapidly… darkened.[/QUOTE]

I understand, I hate that orange color too and wouldn’t want to be seen riding in such a hideous color bridle. That’s why I love the Walsh/Blue Ribbon oil, it has a little stain in it so it darkens quickly without using much oil. And to be honest, I did have stretching with my Beval, and I’m sure because I over-oiled it.

[shayaalliard]

I schooled for four years in a 40.00 kincaide bridle. Still looks great, but I finally bought a couple new ones.

ovation, love it! ebay find for cheap, I like the orangy color lol

I just bought a courbette figure 8 bridle for schooling/hunter paces- only ridden in it a few times, but for the price I love the feel of it

[Gorgonzola]

Dy’on- my horse has never gone better and gosh it’s pretty! So so pretty, with soft leather that is ‘firm’. (Unlike Edgewood, which is nice, but floppy and sttttretches so much).

Aramas are nice, mine were floppier, but not as much as the Edgewood.

Jimmy’s- lovely leather, but I like the Dy’on just a tad better.

[Duckz]

Love: $90 flat hunt bridle I got on TOTD. I think it’s stamped Classic Equine. Never heard of the brand. The leather is soft and it’s held up great. I bought it for my big headed older horse and it looks amazing on him.

Also really like: Nunn Finer bridles I bought 50% off during the BoB tent sales. I picked up a figure 8 for the big guy a few years ago and then later the same one for my thoroughbred. They took awhile to break in. The older one is perfect, still working on the newer one.

Burn it: Hideous Courbette bridle that’s at least 10 years old. I pulled it out of retirement for my green thoroughbred because I don’t care if he breaks. The leather is a horrid dark dyed color and feels dry and rough no matter how much I oil it. I swapped in a Vespucci fig 8 noseband that only emphasizes the awfulness of the rest of the bridle. I swapped out the reins too so I wouldn’t have to touch it other than putting it on the horse.

[supaflyskye]

Five Star Tack makes my favourite bridles!

[Punkie]

I’m a huge fan of Antares for the high end stuff. I have…more of their leather goods than I probably should and I love every last piece!

Most of my mid/low range pieces are from SmartPak, but I do have an older (2000, maybe?) KL that’s held up quite well.

The only bridle that I have that’s a total piece of junk (but still usable) is an M. Toulouse I picked up for about $40 10 or so years ago. The leather is crap, it’s 5 different colors, and I have no idea what horse they had in mind when making it “horse sized”, but it works ok as a gag bridle, so I go with it.

[Trixie]

I have a Tredstone that was cheap and is surprisingly gorgeous. But that was a couple years ago, I don’t know what the leather is like now. But it oiled up and held up nicely.

I also have an old (1970s) Crosby where the leather is as high quality as can be. ETBW bought it hoping one day she’d have a horse nice enough to wear it. It’s this one perhaps not the present style, but lovely nonetheless. I don’t think their later bridles match up quality-wise, though.

The pony has a relatively recent Beval that is lovely. I sort of think the Bobby’s ones are OK, but not great. And I’ve got an ADT martingale that’s gorgeous.

Burn it: anything orange.

[Lix_Tetrax]

Agree with those who like Edgewoods. It’s my favorite. A Stubben bridle has been perfect for schooling and after 10 years of use (with very dubious cleaning) it almost looks brand new.

[Doctracy]

I have a Bobby’s hunt bridle, a Steubben and Vespucci. The Vespucci looks nice, is soft and looked nice when I was showing but it is not sturdy enough for my daily use. The Bobby’s I love. Nice and sturdy but soft, nice extra details. I also love my Bobby’s hunt breast collar and have gotten compliments on it.
The Steubben is pretty nice, considering it was in a bargain basket for $25. It’s nice leather but the brow and nose band had an orange color lining which took me awhile to change. Now that it’s no longer orange it looks pretty nice and leather is nice.
Now I need to find a cob size with short cheeks and little nose but very wide brow and. I think I’m going to order a Jerry’s customized for her.
I will need a breast collar for her,too. Probably a pony size but maybe cob. I may see if Jerry’s can make one. I like wide, thicker leather, since I hunt and trail ride.

[Dewey]

[QUOTE=Trixie;7887937]
I also have an old (1970s) Crosby where the leather is as high quality as can be. ETBW bought it hoping one day she’d have a horse nice enough to wear it. It’s this one perhaps not the present style, but lovely nonetheless. I don’t think their later bridles match up quality-wise, though. [/QUOTE]

I wish your picture were bigger. I have a plain raised Crosby of the same vintage, but I can’t tell if it is the same one you have. Mine is stamped “USET” on one side of the crownpiece. The straps are too wide to be stylish now, but the workmanship is impeccable, and the leather, after all these years, has a gorgeous patina. I use it as my everyday bridle. It has raised cheek pieces, a detail I really love. It came with a dropped noseband, also with raised straps. I don’t use that, and I found a used plain raised cavesson that matches well enough, but it’s not as nice as the rest of the bridle.

[Kat]

Tredstone- The leather on this is surprisingly nice, but the fit is off. It fit my children’s hunter with a weirdly small face but was somehow too big for my other horses whose faces are much larger.
ADT-I love this bridle, its my only bridle that isn’t almost black and its held up really well (I’ve had it for a little over a year and used it a few times a week)
Showmark- I’ve had it for 5+ years and its still going strong, except my crazy jumper broke the noseband on a trail ride earlier this year. I’m thinking of replacing it with a showmark figure 8 bridle and seeing what happens
Pessoa-I really like this bridle I’ve only had it for a few months but the leather is firm without being stiff and the fit is really nice. I use it as a schooling bridle but have shown horses in it before. I think if I paid full price for it, I might not love it, but I got it for 150 or 180 and for that its super nice.