Bridle query for lead rein showing

L

lrw0250

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 May 2012
Messages
526
Location
Fife
Visit site
I took my daughter and her Welsh section A out to their first lead rein class at the end of last summer and hope to do a few more local shows this summer. Nothing serious at all as our pony has been a rescue at one point early on her life and has some pretty obvious physical scars which mean we are never going to get far in breed classes but we hope to do fun stuff like young handler, fancy dress, general lead rein and more lead rein concours d'elegance if any classes come up. We really need a new bridle as the one we have, while nice quality, doesn't fit her oddly proportioned head very well - browband is too tight, noseband and throatlash are too loose and cheeks are on the top hole! It isn't an issue at home as we just take the noseband off and use a bigger browband in the wrong colour! I can see from looking that M&M ponies tend to be shown in flat hunter bridles but I have found a GFS small pony bridle in Havana with raised brow and nosebands with 50% off in a sale.

So does anyone know how true to size GFS bridles tend to be and will we be marked down in local classes for not having a hunter bridle?

Thanks!
 
I've never had a GFS Bridle, but I have had several of their saddles and they are always lovely.

At local level as long as the tack it clean, smart and 'tasteful' I doubt you will be marked down.
 
You might do better getting the component parts separately. We had a sec A and pony bridles never quite fitted him - I always needed a cob size browband and extra small cheekpeices. They tend to have broader foreheads and shorter noses than whoever came up with pony sizes thought.

I have a cob size GFS from sales last year and found the throatlash far too long. But its a work bridle so it didn't matter. I just knotted it.
 
Even cheaper, if your bridle is a good one (tho not right sized) try asking a good saddler to shorten throatlash & noseband and look for a 2nd hand browband (often loads on the 2nd hand section at my saddlers).
I've put together bridles from various others for mine in the past, 2nd hand is pretty cheap and it wont take long to bring the leather back into good condition if dried a bit. Obs check stitchling 1st tho.
 
The Dever 'Ascot' range has a lovely small pony/Shetland bridle with flat noseband suitable for a section A. There are some nice touches that make it look far more expensive than it is and makes it stand up well in comparison to more expensive brands in the show ring. Its around £35 without reins. They wear well and clean up nicely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top