Does anyone know what brand this bridle is?
Looks similar to a Red Barn Sonoma bridle
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It’s close to it but not quite the same one. I think it might be a Valencia Sport Saddlery Horse|Man bridle.
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Might be a Richard Castelow bridle.
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Agreed, that looks like Richard’s wide noseband hunter bridle to me. You can email him at richardmastersaddler@gmail.com for pricing and details on purchasing, I think they run about $800 without reins now. They are pricey but really beautiful. This time last year he was at KHP, and then he’s always set up at WEF over the winter.
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Another look-alike with the same style noseband, but the stitching isn’t right. The “x” or “v” on the end doesn’t connect to the top and bottom rows of stitching like the one in your photo. I know a couple posters on here have this bridle and really like it.
Ooh, I just noticed the In-Gate bridle also has bridle points instead of the egg points (the ends of the leather have a tapered squared-off end instead of a rounded end). There is a poster on CoTH’s UK sister forum Horse and Hound that trained as a traditional saddler/leather worker who says this usually indicates a quality piece of leatherwork. Bridle points are apparently very hard to mass-produce so almost all bridles nowadays have egg points.
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These bridles are midline quality, at best. I love mine and think they are the best bang for the buck in the midline market right now— but just so you’re not disappointed—they are not top of the line quality (nor do they have a top of the line price). I do think they’re made in smaller runs, which might explain this detail. But they are nothing even close to really top of the line bridles. I don’t mean this as a criticism, they’re great for what they cost, but nobody is going to confuse them for a $800+ bridle.
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Ah yes, good point. I’ve never seen these bridles in person so I have no idea what they’re actually like. It’s not something you see very often, so that detail jumped out at me.
“Ooh, I just noticed the In-Gate bridle also has bridle points instead of the egg points (the ends of the leather have a tapered squared-off end instead of a rounded end). There is a poster on CoTH’s UK sister forum Horse and Hound that trained as a traditional saddler/leather worker who says this usually indicates a quality piece of leatherwork. Bridle points are apparently very hard to mass-produce so almost all bridles nowadays have egg points.”
I wouldn’t say it indicates a very high end bridle simply because it has bridle points. Perhaps the reason they are saying egg points are cheaper is that you can buy an egg point punch so you don’t have to cut that curve by hand, while bridle points are done with three simple cuts of the knife. Not as fast as one stamp, but hardly life-changing and requiring of extreme high end work. However you can get bridle end punches now too so… 🤷
Looks like it might also be a Horse|Man bridle from Valencia Saddlery? I believe those are made by Richard Castelow as well.
I also believe Ann K Hubbard’s had an RC line (Richard Castelow), so that may be a possibility as well, though I don’t believe AKH is in business anymore, sadly.
Rider’s Boutique, which is a mobile unit out of Chicago, sells the RB Anne K Hubbard bridle. It’s on their website…the last page of bridles, I believe.
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That is good to know, thank you!
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