Let’s talk bridles!

[fordtraktor]

It’s that time…my trainer and I had “the talk” about moving my horse up to the double bridle. I bought a set of Fager bits on sale (go to the website, some are 60% off!) but I haven’t shopped for the actual bridle yet. What do you like these days? There are so many more options and new brands. Are the Halter Egos nice? They have cool color options. Has anyone tried the “Lumiere” brand?

His snaffle is a Passier Neptune, which I really like but don’t like the price tag on the double version ($629!). It is also fussy to clean because it comes off into a million parts.

He has a very refined head, so I try to keep the nose on the thin side and usually buy rolled leather for him. The 2 inch wide nosebands overwhelm his face.

[fordtraktor]

Well I got ahead of myself and found a bridle. Lol! A Vespucci double raised, on their outlet site for $250. That is much more reasonable than $600! And leaves me plenty to buy a bling-y browband for it.

[sorrelfilly721]

That was fast! Where is the picture??

I have a Halter Ego bridle. The leather is really nice and I love it except the browband is removable with snaps and the loop is so loose that it slips down when I’m trying to put it on. It stays in place once it’s on, but it’s kind of a pain putting it on because it always ends up over her eyes.

[Libby2563]

@fordtraktor

I bought a set of Fager bits on sale (go to the website, some are 60% off!)

I’m not sure if I love you or hate you right now…

[fordtraktor]

Vespucci Double Raised Weymouth Bridle

This is the bridle, but I bought it on World Equestrian Brands’ site for $250. I will add a bling browband, I have one for each of my show jackets.

The Fager bit special…I might have bought another snaffle just because I have wanted to try a fixed ring and didn’t have one. Merry Christmas to Kal!

I have had many Vespucci jumper items over the years before I switched to dressage. The leather is really nice. I still don’t love that dressage brands leather never gets that buttery feel my jumper bridles do! Hopefully this one will.

[Displaced_Yankee]

I love the Vespucci line. Great quality, and a good price.

They also scale down the cheek pieces to a thinner width for their “cob” or “pony” sized bridles…as opposed to some makers who keep the same width for pony and cop bridles. They look clunky.

Leather quality when I worked at the tack ship was excellent.

[SillyHorse]

I also have a Vespucci that I’m very happy with. In fact, I have both double and snaffle Vespucci bridles. I love that they don’t have wide nosebands.

[netg]

I have a brown Passier which @right_horse_at_the_right_time (I hope I’m remembering the username correctly) found at a tack store and told me about. My mare I bought it for has since gone mysteriously lame with no chance to ever wear it. So it’s waiting around for my other mare to be ready. It’s a lovely bridle…

[Manni01]

This is the Schuhmacher Double bridle I got for my younger mare… the bits are from her dam so that worked out well .
I think the Passier bridles are more refined.
This one has more leather but IMO it looks good although obviously my mare has some doubts about this new situation

[fordtraktor]

Your mare has a beautiful face! I think your bridle suits her well.

[LetItBe]

I also picked up bits on the Fager site or the potential move to a double. I didn’t want to spend a ton on one just in case we don’t end up showing in one. I found an Collegiate Comfitech bridle which is actually quite nice for $140 during the Black Friday sale and I got one set of Horze reins and will be picking up the curb rein from Equivania as Dover didn’t carry it.

LetItBe

[atr]

Buy the Uber-Reiter curb chain cover while you are at it. it’s a princely $16.99 on their web site and is a really cleverly designed little thing.

I bought a Lumiere rolled double bridle on sale last year. It is good-looking, soft and comfortable, and the reins are very nice, but the bridle has stretched more than I expected, resulting in a potentially disastrous tongue-over-bit incident at our last show of the season.

It was entirely my fault. I should have noticed it when I was tacking up, not when I was actually entering the arena and thought “what’s that odd clanking sound?” as he started playing with the bits. I think we would have got away with it except I started my test and got pulled up by the judge who it turned out had the wrong test sheet for me. So we had to hang around for a few minutes while they found the right one, and he took the opportunity to explore the contents of his mouth and then went into a panic attack when he got stuck.

(Because the judge recognized it was to some extent their fault, and he got himself untangled without killing me before she had to ring us out, we actually did ride the test, but he was still somewhat freaked out (he wasn’t the only one,) and understandably got very sucked back and tense, so it wasn’t our best display, which was a bit sad as it was the ride for my bronze medal final score. Oh, well.)

Sorry, I digress… The Vespucci is a nice choice!

[Daventry]

These are my favorite! The prices are in Canadian, so they will be about 25% less in US funds. I believe these are all anatomically shaped and excellent leather. If I am correct, Steffen Peters shows in one of these double bridles. www.soloequine.com/collections/double-bridles

[blue_heron]

Another Vespucci double owner here, it’s really nice and held up well. It does take a lot of leather balm to keep soft but it’s probably just showing its age.

[fanfayre]

Question from someone who will likely never reach the level to “need” to use a double, but why could you not just buy a quality double hanger and curb rein, and convert your existing snaffle bridle?

[Displaced_Yankee]

@fanfayre

Question from someone who will likely never reach the level to “need” to use a double, but why could you not just buy a quality double hanger and curb rein, and convert your existing snaffle bridle?

I think that there is a better understanding of pressure points these days and the actual weight that an additional bit, curb chain and reins can add.

I achieved my bronze on a horse that rode in an old school double (double hanger as you describe) with bits that he already was comfortable working in. When I was working with a friend’s horse, introducing him to a curb and double, I was amazed at how much lighter the ergonomic bridle and fancy bits were.

We have a much better understanding outside of “just picking the right bit”. The “right bridle” is also something to consider these days.

[fanfayre]

Thank you.
Makes a whole lot of sense.
I have used a Micklem for 12-13 years so am happy the doubles are following the ‘science’ too!

[Displaced_Yankee]

Of course! That isn’t to say that the use of a double hanger is wrong…but there are other options out there too.

[beowulf]

Nice find, but where are our pics?! I love the Vespucci line. They have some great options on the market.

Since Halter Ego was brought up specifically, I’ll mention that there is a cost to the leather’s structure for the floral patterns and pink dye. My Halter Ego bridle is stunning, I get a lot of compliments on it - but it arrived needing leather life support and will never be as strong or supple as my Vespucci or Passier. I don’t think I would buy brand new from them again, but their bridles are beautiful enough I would consider buying second hand. Their sizing also runs on the small side. I had a hard time getting my HE to fit any of the six horses on the property.

[Jackie_Cochran]

That is what I did with my Micklem bridle (which I cut off the chin strap to make room for the curb chain.)

I put the bridoon hanger OVER the outside of the Micklem. It looks odd, but the horses are comfortable, the bridoon hanger does not dig into the horse’s poll, and my riding teacher does not mind because her lesson horses are comfortable.

Since I use the Fager titanium double bridle bits my bridle is not terribly heavy. When I did this with stainless steel bits sometimes I had trouble lifting the bridle high enough to put it on the horse (I am pretty weak physically.)

I do another oddity. When I was experimenting with mouthpieces for the bridoon I tried one of the regular Fager snaffle bits with the mouthpiece I wanted to try (the Bianca). It did not work too well. So I e-mailed Fager and they told me that they had switched to having the Weymouth curb WIDER than the bridoon (which went against everything I had read or been told for decades), because that they found with the traditional set up that the Weymouth interfered with the action of the bridoon. I tried with the wider Weymouth and both bits worked BETTER, my hand aids could be lighter, my contact got lighter, and the horses got happier with me even though they seemed pretty content with the normal set up.

Later on Fager made the bridoon version of the Bianca, the Alice.

Now my double bridle bits’ cheekpieces look normal from the outside and the horses are happy and comfortable. I also proved that even though I am over 70 years old and have ridden for over 50 years I can change my ways to make the horses more comfortable even though the new way is not like I had always used to ride.

My double bridle looks odd. The horses do not care. I don’t care. My riding teachers don’t care. Since I do not show the only things I care about is the horses’ comfort and making my hand aids ever lighter and more sophisticated. The horses and I communicate from the horse’s tongue to my little finger and we can get really, really refined for a lesson horse in a hunt seat lesson stable carrying a pudgy, elderly and handicapped rider.

I LOVE riding in my double bridles.