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THE IDEAL FIT!
Chloe Bernard, Commercial Director of premium retailer Shadow Horse exclusive stockists of French Bridle brand Silver Crown has some sound advice when it comes to fitting your bridle correctly…
Often we see too short brow bands on bridles, so you need to ensure that the browband is long enough, so that is doesn’t pull and that the headpiece again is not too wide and thus pinching behind your horse’s ears. The browband should fit straight across your horse’s forehead and not ‘sag’ down. Our Silver Crown bridles all feature softly padded browbands and cut away headpieces to help alleviate pressure points around this highly sensitive area and because you create an entirely bespoke bridle, you can mix and match sizing to get the perfect fit.
The noseband should fit snugly and as a rule of thumb; you should be able to fit two fingers under the noseband as it sits next to your horse’s face. If you are fitting a noseband with a flash, then ensure that the flash when done up you can fit a finger underneath the flash strap and that the actual noseband is not being pulled down.
A noseband, which is fitted too low and too tightly, can both interfere with your horse’s breathing and also the action of the bit.
The buckle of the flash should also be moved so that it does not sit and risk rubbing the sensitive parts of the horse’s muzzle.
Silver Crown has a number of specialist nosebands and these all require careful fitting, so if you are trying to fit an un-usual combination, then seek advice. You can do more harm than good by riding a horse in ill-fitting tack!
There is also a tendency for people to do the throat lash too tightly, which will cause problems when your horse flexes at the poll, so allow for a width of your four fingers sideways to slip underneath.
You should also try and keep the buckles on equal holes both sides to again help with symmetry, even pressure and fit.
The cheek pieces need to be adjusted so that the bit sits in the horse’s mouth equally and with just a couple of wrinkles at the corner of his mouth showing, looking inside your horses mouth with the bit in and checking that the bit won’t be hitting the teeth is a good way to double check the correct height.
Once the bridle has been correctly fitted, ensure that the straps are all fed through the keepers for a neat and tidy finish and you have a happy horse with a well fitting bridle!