Do fancy anatomical bridles actually make a difference?

[twostinkydogs]

I just bought a Passier Atlas about a month ago and the part I like is the crownpiece. I think it’s the only part my horse likes too. I find it extremely frustrating that Passier doesn’t provide measurements for the individual pieces, I asked them and it was radio silence. My horse is combo of oversize and horse and the only place I’ve found parts is on Fundis. I am thinking of buying the noseband with extra room but at that point it’s a $520 bridle. Noseband with more freedom from zygomatic arch

I wish I had gone with Fairfax.

[iberianfan]

If you are in the US, he sure to check if that noseband is legal for showing. TPTB don’t like bits of metal on bridles.

[beowulf]

Oooh! They are getting closer to being truly ergonomic here.

You may want to ask your org’s leaders about legality. Some orgs like USEF have stipulations about no metal rings being in contact with the face – but, they also allow Figure 8s with the metal O-rings and Drop Nosebands that have O-rings, so it’s worth the clarification.

This is not so removed from the Jeffries Gentle bridle, which is USEF permitted. Many drop nosebands also come with the O-ring, which does come in contact with the face, and those are USEF permitted too.

Not that other things being legal guarantees similar things being legal when it comes to the USEF…

I’d be interested in trying it. My only criticism would be that there is not much adjustability across the nose, so you have to hope your horse’s head matches the shape and length of the leather between each O-ring. I’ve had this problem with drops, where the part that goes across the nose is just not long enough.

[equinelibrium]

Years and years ago, my first pony came with a bridle that had a noseband I now would recognize as a drop. I didn’t know anything, so I adjusted it to sit like a normal cavesson above the bit. It looked a lot like this Passier noseband. Guess I was just ahead of the curve on the ergonomic/anatomical trend

[Lunabear1988]

I love my Passier Blu Spirit Bridle, especially for the price. The Crown pierce fits wonderfully on my horse. He is in a cob. The sizing is a little off between the nose band lengths versus the head piece but it’s perfectly functionable for my horse.

[equinelibrium]

@scislandsprite

My next question is which of the Passier snaffle bridles seem to have the most anatomically correct crown design? I know a lot of anatomical bridles have cutback crowns but they sometimes still push on the ears so just curious which one is best if I were to get one of the Passier bridles since the nosebands are exchangeable.

Honestly I think it depends more on how a specific crownpiece fits your horse’s head than what’s the most “anatomically correct”. The bridle that fits my horse best won’t be the same one that fits a horse with a drastically different head shape. I don’t know if there’s a way to know what would fit your horse best without trying a bunch of different models. I’ve thought about trying to make some kind of template with a spare scrap of fabric or something that could tell me what shape would fit my horse the best, but I haven’t gotten around to trying.

[Manni01]

Agree!

[Manni01]

I just bought one on EBay. It’s in like new condition and includes passier reins… I paid 79 euro. Nothing beats Passier quality and for some reason you find a lot of passier bridles on EBay

[standardbroad]

It’s very much a matter of what fits your horse best–I had a very nice anatomical crown piece that dug right into my pony’s ears, and what she needed was an entirely different shape. This was with Evoequine bridles and they advised me based on photographs as to what would fit her best. But as with anything, there is no one size fits all (especially when you have a horse who needs all different size parts to start with…)

[standardbroad]

My main issue with so many of these anatomical bridles, especially the blingy ones, is the nosebands being incredibly stiff. Even after quite a bit of breaking in I find that there are two main contact points-under the chin and directly on top of the nasal bone, with little to no contact on the sides of the face. No matter how much gel or padding is underneath, that’s a lot of pressure on two sensitive points. Has anyone found an anatomical bridle that has softer nosebands? I typically use a cavesson or a crank (done loosely) with no flash.

[kaya842]

I have the same issue with the Schockemöhle bridle I bought! The leather seems soft enough (not droopy but not stiff) it just won’t form to her face unless it’s tighter than I like so I just deal with it being loose and having it gap on the sides.

[BlueDrifter]

I am lost on your comment “connecting the bottom of the noseband to the top part.”

Do you mean the flash attachment?

[BlueDrifter]

I have the Passier Starlight and really like that for one of my horses, I like the fit of the crown and I like the extra ring on the noseband. I can’t say my horse notices the anatomical difference, but I do when I see how it fits him.

However, on my second horse, the Starlight noseband seems too wide/thick and I was looking at the Balance as an option for him.

[Bluey]

Yes, in the picture with the horse it shows to possibly rub?

[BlueDrifter]

I don’t use a flash, so I hadn’t noticed. But I can’t quite tell if the attachment goes around both pieces of leather, or between them!

[scislandsprite]

It looks like it goes in between the pieces of leather!

[Bluey]

@BlueDrifter

I don’t use a flash, so I hadn’t noticed. But I can’t quite tell if the attachment goes around both pieces of leather, or between them!

I expect they have some way to make it smoother for the horse, just did look like a bump in that one picture in the second link with the bridle on the horse’s face.
Since we have so many using the old thick bumpity-bump kind of hackamores to start colts around here and colts getting sore noses from that, any more I look carefully at anything that goes over those tender areas on horse’s heads.
Just more more to consider.
Decades ago we didn’t have anatomical bridles, but we looked for very soft leather crowns with rubbed edges that would mold around the poll structures so as not to pinch or cut or rub.

With so many kinds out there, the proof is in the wear, if it works for a horse, then is right.

[FjordBCRF]

@beowulf

Nosebands are the true deal breaker for optimum comfort to the horse. The tighter and lower the noseband, the more unpleasant pressure across the poll and the bridge of the nose — which is exacerbated if you use a flash.

I’ve been diving down the rabbit hole on bits and bridles lately. I have the Rambo Micklem competition anatomical bridle currently, and I am questioning the need for the flash. With the noseband high enough on a big old fjord head, I the flash is on the last hole. I’m going to see if there is space to punch another hole in it to give it a little more give.

Has anyone completely removed the flash off one of these bridles? The way it is designed, it seems to function to tighten the nose and and act as a flash so I don’t know that it would be the best thing to try and would be a permanent modification. In the meantime, I’m looking for something without the flash and am surprised to see many of the anatomical ones come with it vs without.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I have 4 Micklem bridles. I cut the flash strap off of each one. I carefully cut the stitching, conditioned the leather and put them in a zip-lock bag. IF I ever think I need to strap a horse’s mouth shut again all that I would need is a saddler to sew it on again. (I sincerely doubt that this will happen, but horses.)

The lesson horses I ride DID NOT like the Micklem with the flash. Without the flash they like it fine. From what I picked up from the horses (just a general emotions pick-up) the things they did not like about the flash was that the strap was so wide that I HAD TO tighten the cheek-pieces/bit straps until there were multiple wrinkles at the corners of the horse’s mouths. The horses did not like this AT ALL, stretching the lips combined with increased poll pressure made the previously content lesson horses (using a regular bridle) give me dirty looks combined with a loss of sensitivity to my very mild hand aids.

[FjordBCRF]

Ahh thanks for a sharing!! I’m going to look at the stitching on mine tonight. Did you leave the 2 d rings on the nose band?

I truthfully cannot tell if he objects to the flash, he tolerates a lot. But he hasn’t and doesn’t do anything that really warrants using one either so if I can make him more comfortable, I’d prefer to.