English Bridles

[BTRRS19]

I have an enormous collection of English bridles from 15 years of English riding, and just went through them all today. The vast majority of them had some sort of brand name on them.

I have a very basic knowledge of brands, so thought I would ask other horse people about these. A large portion of these were bought used with no prior knowledge of the brands.

1. Equitana Romania
2. Americana
3. Crosby England
4. HDR Sellier France
5. Moritz
6. Baines Equestrian
7. Crosby XL Excel
8. Beval Ltd
9. Lancers India
10. Wintec
11. Crumpco
12. Stübben
13. Campbell England
14. Hadfield’s England
15. Miller’s Collegiate
16. Ovation
17. Nottingham, Made in England

Are a lot of these good brands, and which would you say are the best? Any personal experiences with these?

Thank you!

[Scribbler]

@BTRRS19

I have an enormous collection of English bridles from 15 years of English riding, and just went through them all today. The vast majority of them had some sort of brand name on them.

I have a very basic knowledge of brands, so thought I would ask other horse people about these. A large portion of these were bought used with no prior knowledge of the brands.

1. Equitana Romania
2. Americana
3. Crosby England
4. HDR Sellier France
5. Moritz
6. Baines Equestrian
7. Crosby XL Excel
8. Beval Ltd
9. Lancers India
10. Wintec
11. Crumpco
12. Stübben
13. Campbell England
14. Hadfield’s England
15. Miller’s Collegiate
16. Ovation
17. Nottingham, Made in England

Are a lot of these good brands, and which would you say are the best? Any personal experiences with these?

Thank you!

In my experience Stubben bridles are excellent, they last forever, and neither their retail value nor their resale value is that high.

I believe Hadfields is also a high end hunter brand but I have not seen one IRL.

I have never heard of Nottingham, Campbell, Crumpco, Equitana, Americana, or Moritz.

The HDR bridles I am familiar with are low end. I don’t know if they have a better line.

I can’t imagine that Wintec bridles will be better than their saddles!

I grew up with old school tack that you had to soak in oil for 48 hours before you could use it. When I returned to riding I was rather horrified by most modern strap goods. I went shopping for a second hand black bridle and bought one based on feel from the big used tack store. I didn’t recognize the logo but when I looked it up I realized I had a Stubben. Later I got a second Stubben as new for about the same price ($60, retail about $200 at the time,).

When I’ve let my fingers wander through racks of bridles (new or used) they find the Stubben leather!
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[Willesdon]

English leather is good quality: Indian leather can be very poor.

[Scribbler]

@Willesdon

English leather is good quality: Indian leather can be very poor.

Agreed that good English leather is excellent, but so is good German and good American leather. My Walsh halter is gorgeous!
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However even the English have budget gear (from companies that don’t market overseas usually). Plus you can’t tell these days where things are made just based on where the brand head office is.

When I was a kid low entry level tack was minimally finished and hard as thick cardboard, single layer straps. You had to oil and massage it for several days and then it was dark, supple, and lasted forever. The closest thing I’ve seen these days is Edgewood!

I don’t know what high end tack looked like in the 1970s, never had any!

Now low end tack from any country can be multiple layers, coated/ painted.

[furlong47]

Beval, Stubben, HDR I would consider very good or decent brands in my personal opinion

Crosby, Ovation I would consider a little bit lower quality brands

Moritz, Baines, Lancers, Hadfield’s, Miller’s, Nottingham I have heard of but don’t have enough experience to judge quality

Wintec is a well known brand but is synthetic

The other brands I have never heard of and may be lower end

Used bridles, unless they are in super excellent condition, nice leather, and currently popular high end brands, are not going to be worth all that much if you intend to sell them.

[Garythesquirrel]

I think Nottingham might have been a State Line Tack brand years ago.

[HalterSkelter]

The Stubbens are total junk, I’ll do you a favor and take em off your hands To add to above, Baines is a decent brand. And yes, you’re not going to make any sort of a killing selling used bridles as what you have is probably not what is in vogue (say, Micklem style bridles).