bridle for highland????

[debbietabby]

Hello: can any one give me advice please?
I have a Highland pony with the usual short, broad, deep head. I bought her a jeffries IR bridle to fit her broad head - and it does fit nicely with modifications (ie its a cob size with full size noseband and xfull browband)
Yesterday when having a hooley on the lunge she pulled back on the line and Whoosh! whole bridle shot off over her nose. This has happened once before (when I fell off but kept hold of the reins).
I _did_ have everything tightened up to the usual standards!
How to stop this happening? Apart from tightening the throat lash much more than usual? Or is there a make of bridle better suited to Highlands?
I have no desire to have a fall out hacking and end up with a bridle and no horse!!!
Thanks
Debbie

 

[be positive]

You could do as is done with welsh ponies, put a plait in the mane behind the ears and use a bootlace, or similar, to tie the top of the bridle to the top of the plait, if done tightly the bridle should stay on.

 

[indiat]

I have a highland too and to be honest, I have found it easier to get a bridle made and not terribly expensive in comparision to buying off the peg. I am having mine made by Elaine Waters at Uisce Saddlery, purely because I really love her embroidery and I am having a celtic design worked into the browband. I love highlands but they can be a pain when it comes to buying tack! What saddle do you use, by the way?

 

[JFTDWS]

Blimey, my highland has several bridles - from zilco combinations to standard JW pretty ones to cheapo spares for when it's muddy - all in standard cob size - and he wears my cob's posh showing one in the ring (which is a mix of sizes) just adjusted to fit him - and I've never had any which could have just come off like that

Mine must have a very delicate head

 

[tabithakat64]

I've never heard of that either!

The Fells both had a cob sized bridle with pony sized cheek pieces, my Welshie has a fall sized bridle with cob sized cheek pieces.

I find that this is the case for most natives.

 

[LissyBear]

This is a common problem with driving horses. Especially if you are driving a tandem or team. On a driving bridle wheeler horses will have what we call roger rings attached to their bridle which is what the leader horses reins feed through before going back to the driver. As you can imagine a wheeler horses bridle can be pulled in all sorts of directions and thus runs the risk of slipping off.

Zilco (who have already been mentioned on this feed) have placed what we call a gullet strap to their driving bridles. It is basically a single strap that threads on and runs between the underside of the noseband and the throatlash. This (very discreet) single little strap can be bought seperatley and will probably only cost a couple of pounds but it should stop you from experiancing loss of bridle again.

Hope this helps