I know someone who has largely switched to these from Finesse. They said the leather is really lovely and the customer service is fabulous.
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Well we have a tentative winner. After trying several styles, my horse definitely prefers certain crownpieces but the only nosebands that seemed to make a difference were the ones with articulating rings, and even that wasn’t a huge change. I think as long as the noseband is well-padded and fits correctly he’ll be fine with whatever. In case anyone else is shopping, here are some thoughts on the ones I tried:
- Schockemohle Select line (I ordered the Rio and Stanford): this was the winner, with the best crown design for my horse. It had the nicest padding and the cutbacks for the ears were really generous. I like that the cheek pieces sit next to each other instead of having one underneath, and the angled throatlatch is nice. The Stanford noseband is too wide for my horse’s face so I’m going to swap for something narrower, but the Rio figure-8 is great and the coin is very well-padded. The leather quality on these is good but not amazing. I do think the crownpieces run a touch small; my horse is on the smaller side of full and if these were any smaller we’d need an oversized crown (although that might just be his huge ears).
- Passier Starlight: this was the runner-up. The crown had nice ear contours but it was heavier and not as padded as the Schockemohle. I don’t think the shaped cheeks made a difference for my horse but it’s a nice design and I like the rings and padding on the chin strap. This might have been more of a contest if the noseband wasn’t patent, I just don’t like the look and this one is too expensive not to love. It’s definitely nicer leather than the Shockemohle though.
- Passier Marcus Ehning: the crown was too wide and the ear contours weren’t very forgiving, they curved into my horse’s ears on top and bottom. The shape didn’t leave much margin for error, unlike the first two on my list. I also didn’t like that the noseband chin strap was stitched on.
- Kieffer Amy Ultrasoft: I really liked the ultrasoft leather - the whole thing was padded and soft but it still felt like it would hold up well in use. The removable flash was also really well designed. I ordered a cob since some reviews said the brand ran big, and it fit everywhere except the noseband which was just barely too small. This horse wears a full-sized bridle but can usually wear either full or cob nosebands so that was a weird twist.
- Collegiate Comfi-tec: this crown also didn’t work. The edges were stiff and wouldn’t lay flat on my horse’s poll, it kept tipping back and creating a pressure point on the back edge. I haven’t seen that before and not sure what about my horse’s head caused it with this one. I didn’t find this style of noseband as adjustable as the normal figure-8 but also didn’t spend that much time trying so YMMV.
- Kavalkade Ivonne: the crown pushed right up against my horse’s ears all the way across. The noseband was pretty stiff where the removable flash tab goes even when it was removed which made it sit awkwardly, but it may have softened with use. I was pleasantly surprised by the leather quality considering the price and some of the reviews.
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One of my horses was recently diagnosed as a headshaker, so have read this thread with interest. I found this possible alternative to Finesse and similar at a lower price point: Snaffle Bridles > Snaffle Bridle Lina - Kieffer | EN Has anyone tried this one?
Yes, they do if you have a very particular horse. I have the Monarch butterfly bridle for our UL event horse in both the dressage and jumping model. She no longer crosses her jaw. We put this dressage style bridle on our tricky Dutch mare and she went right into the contact. All horses are different, many will suffice with the norm, but when you have some more “interesting” horses, it can make a world of difference finding something that makes them settle more.
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