I’m looking for a dressage bridle for showing my filly in hand. She is chestnut with a blaze and is required to start wearing a bridle this year. What do you think looks good on a chestnut horse with this much facial white? Any pictures of your chestnut horse with chrome wearing the bridle you recommend (or links to other horses with a bridle such as you recommend) are much appreciated.
I have always liked the Courbette USDF bridle that SLT used to sell, in the dark havana color.
Also liked the Jerry’s padded style too.
My mare has a bigger, WB head, so a thicker noseband was a bit more flattering for her than a thin one.
Jerrys, with a white browband, (maybe a little much white)
http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g175/sixpoundfarm/?action=view¤t=5152d.jpg
Courbette w/o flash
http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g175/sixpoundfarm/?action=view¤t=oceheadold.jpg
Dover Unpadded Fancy Stitch Hunter Bridle (a little too skinny)
http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g175/sixpoundfarm/?action=view¤t=P1010110.jpg
My guy has a bigger, rather coarse head, so I wanted something thicker. He also has a lot of white, so I went with plain black on black, with brass accents, so he wouldn’t look quite so clownish.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b249/DaylightComes/Champs001.jpg
It’s the Bobby’s, it’s 5 years old and still shines up like new.
I have a black, not thick, padded bridle with brass bucklees and a brass clincher browband.
I think the brass looks STUNNING on a chestnut.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=646860&l=431a4&id=290901088
sixpoundfarm - Thank you for your response. It seems that all three links are to the same photo. Can you try that again?
I like brown on a chestnut with so much white. My mare has a smaller head, so I prefer something a bit more fine. Padded is fine, just not the ones with the wide noseband.
That bridle is the Courbette padded show bridle from VTO. It is decently nice, but I LOVE my Barnsy bride that is a similar color, a tad lighter but with black padding. The leather is like butter.
I use an all black Sommer on one that has a face like yours, she’s about the same size too.
Anything but black. Black looks terrible on chestnuts.
ROTFLOL!!! :lol: Nothing looks BETTER than black tack on a chestnut!!! :yes: It looks very sharp and distinctive. 
Go with black. :winkgrin:
IMO, everything looks good in black! 
I can’t help at all with bridles… as my favorite bridle is a mix n’ match.
I agree that everything looks good in black. Brown wouldn’t look as sharp. For such a pretty face, I might go with a rolled bridle. Stubben has a nice one:
Oops, sorry. I fixed them.
LOL you and I are in the same boat… I’m going to try on a couple of different bridles on Emma this weekend. I don’t like black on chestnuts either (esp bright chestnuts like your girl and mine) but I’m going to put on my Stuebben with the emerald bling brow and see what it looks like… but I have a feeling that I’m going to go with the New Calvary bridle that I got eons ago for her dam. It is a lighter brown, rolled, with dark brown in the middle… if you come to the show in Feb I’ll show it to you. In fact, bring several (I will too) and we’ll have a “show and tell” fashion show and see which is better! LOL.
Whichever color you choose, if your horse has a pretty blaze, for showing in hand I prefer not cutting across it with a “stripe.” So, you can remove/dispense with the caveson, and just use the bridle parts that attach to the bit.
I agree Black is beautiful… I don’t like the white or blingy brow bands tho on a red head…
P~
Amen to that. I HATE black on a chestnut. It makes them look like they are going to a halloween parade. I don’t understand this obsession with black in dressage (although it looks great on bays and grays).
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=205201&l=be22e&id=601231555
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=193376&l=7b32d&id=601231555
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=205202&l=e0657&id=601231555
I think black looks just fine on my chestnut-with-blaze stallion…
I’m in the same boat, owning 3 chesnuts with blazes. I have a Keiffer black padded- I think it’s called a Goldline Bridle for the mare Almaz in the link below. I added the brass clincher browband. Almaz being a 1/2 Arabian Trakehner has an unusually wide forehead:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c389/Elatu/AllieatCDNS4.jpg
[QUOTE=kcmel;3833038]
Amen to that. I HATE black on a chestnut. It makes them look like they are going to a halloween parade. I don’t understand this obsession with black in dressage (although it looks great on bays and grays).[/QUOTE]
Agreed!
As a stagehand and sometimes beatnik poet, I’m in the camp that black is perfect for everything…
…until I put it on my chestnut, wide-blazed mare. The black is such a vivid contrast that she looks like a prisoner in a striped uniform.
I’m always stunned when I put her back in chocolate browns just how complimentary it is to her coloring…I even have this ugly-ass medium brown saddlepad that looks absolutely FUGLY just sitting there, but put it on her, and it really looks quite pretty. Weird…
Now, she’s a red-chestnut…some of the blonder chestnuts, or choco-chestnuts may look much better in black.
If you have access to some friends tack, try a few different colors on your filly…you may be surprised at what you find…
