I wish I had one I could borrow to try on her to determine whether or not I like it.
Alas, no dressage riders at my barn…
I like the wave browbands with subtle bling. My one chestnut with star/snip has a straight browband with natural blue-toned stones. The other mare is lighter chestnut with a big blaze has a Fairfax bridle, so I’m stuck with their limited selection of browbands, but if I had my choice, I’d get something like this with her, which has brown-toned stones. The top of her blaze is perfectly straight across, so I like that the wave browbands soften that oddly straight line:
My horse wears a curved brow band, it’s fairly thin, just crystals with leather backing, no padding, and it looks nice on him. I think this style looks good on most horses, really, except maybe if they have asymmetrical markings on their faces.
Thats my personal preference, I don’t particularly like the V-shaped ones for my own horses, but I’ve seen horses they look nice on. I’ve also seen a curved browband in a catalog that I hated, then I saw it on a horse and loved it.
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I like the droopy ones as long as they don’t interrupt a face marking in an odd way. I think they are pretty, and probably more comfortable for the horse.
I thought that the new style of browbands was to make them more anatomically friendly to horses and therefore are not a fashion statement. But I might be an idiot.
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I don’t like the look and won’t use them because the droop often puts the brow band going right across the hard bone over the eye, not very comfy.
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I’m trying to understand this one. Sorry about my face, but this shows where it hits her pretty well. I’m sensitive to this because she got her head stuck between a fence and the barn and literally popped her face when she was 4, leaving scars, so I’m extra careful that her browband hits her comfortably.
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It doesn’t seem too different from how the straight browband hits my gelding besides the fact his slid up and looks extra dorky here.
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How it looks without a fly bonnet:
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And I especially like it with fly bonnet because it somewhat reflects the curve of the bottom of that and helps hold it flatter in the wind (which we get a lot of at outdoor shows.) After a show in which a bug landed in her ear while we were showing, in the middle of our stretchy circle, I just always use bonnets to avoid issues.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:9881789}[/ATTACH]
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Interesting, because I prefer curves to straight lines - I like furniture with curves, fabrics in florals or random prints over geometrics like stripes etc. I never really thought about it much, but if fits with my preference for the slight drop over a straight browband. And I generally dislike the V.
Isn’t it great that we can now all find something that makes us happy as individuals. Vive la difference!
I like the U ones, but not the V ones
I agree. Horses are curvy beings, so I think curved lines just look more natural on them.
Landscape and architectural designers know that curved lines create a more flowing, relaxing feel. Neuroscientists have studied the effects of curves on the human brain:
https://www.fastcodesign.com/3020075/why-our-brains-love-curvy-architecture
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here’s a v that is distracting, it’s too low on her forehead:
http://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/n-zfvgw8…661816.JPG?c=2
Draped and attractive, it’s not oversized (not too long, and also not too wide. Some of them look like TWH browbands, they are so wide)
http://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/n-zfvgw8…465443.jpg?c=2
I don’t think that’s an issue with the shape of the browband so much as the bridle on that particular horse. Look where the crownpiece ends; it’s not really possible to put the browband any higher. A straight or drooped browband would have the same issue with being low on that particular horse/bridle setup.
Really don’t like the v ones…they look like chevrons that belong on superheroes or something. I am so old school and like just a nice black bridle…rolled if the horse has a pretty or feminine head, big and blocky if the horse had a big old style WB head. I have browbands with bling but they are very quiet, just a narrow sparkly line, and all of my browbands are straight.
I am going to make a terribly presumptious observation and it is NOT TRUE in many cases so I am grossly generalizing but it wont stop me ha!..that sometimes there is a direct inverse ratio between how much bling a rider has on her body and her horse and their riding ability. :winkgrin: I know, I know, but it is something I have noticed through the years. I don’t want to draw attention if my head is bobbing or my horses head is tilting or what have you. And I also confess that I really do just subscribe to the concept that the horse is beautiful enough on its own, and that all the bling and shaped browbands etc is just gilding the lily.
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Some of the slightly curved browbands are okay, but this is a little extreme for me. https://goo.gl/images/oCCvZf
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@yaya, agree – too much… i think that is a matter of the bridle not being the right size for that horse… kieffer has a history of that, uploading images of their bridles on horse models and IMHO sometimes they must have picked the F/S bridle up when the horse really needed a C/S…
i think this one looks fab:
http://reitsporthandel-koerner.de/ebay/Comfortparis.jpg
interesting because while I am not a fan of V-shaped browbands personally, that is one that I think IMHO is very flattering to the horse. as far as it being lower, it’s not as high up as some but i think that’s because it’s not put on the bridle correctly…
i wonder why they chose to put it so that the throatlatch comes out before the browband does on the headstall? very unusual.
this one looks nice as well:
http://www.irishhuntersandjumpers.co…ndoIV_5136.jpg
i think V-shape browbands flatter plainer heads - if there is white or a star i think it’s better to go with something more subtle like a clincher or slight u-line brow. i have seen a few V-line that IMHO were too long or big for the horse and the V portion descended past the whorl-line/past their eyes and i think that is when it’s too much.
personally i really like the droop/u-line brows, especially on clunker-heads. not the greatest picture but the u-line brow on my guy’s bridle softens his coarse head, i think:
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I $%^& can’t stand 'em. Old school I guess.
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Thanks, beowulf - some good points.
The other issue is what is appropriate for lower level eventing, since we (cough cough) tend to be more “conservative.”
Since I use only one bridle (the Micklem), I can’t do what I did with this mare’s mother (who I evented up to Prelim); use a dressage bridle with padded noseband and a conservative blingy browband (which I am thinking of pulling out of mothballs) for the dressage phase - and a separate “bling-free” bridle for the jumping phases.
I know eventers favor the clincher browbands (or used to!, up until this year I hadn’t competed since 2010, waiting for baby to grow up), but they are a headache to keep clean and shiny.
I don’t like them either. Except the ones with only a little bit of “droop” are OK, like the one Beowulf linked to.
Spent some time at championships playing with browband shapes on our horses. I was never a fan but discovered that head shape seems important. Interestingly the V shape looked good on my mare who is narrow below her ears, the U looked best on my gelding who is wide.
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I thought I hated the droopy browbands until I got one as a gift, and I have to admit, I love it on my horse. It’s just white bling, but not too much, and I’m super pleased. I also “think” I like the V shaped ones, but haven’t really seen many up close.
But I’m far from a fashion critic, and I think most everything looks good on a horse 
