Fairfax bridles - clever or just clever marketing?

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I start by saying I am a fan of the fairfax gareth hughes dressage saddle. But just wondering whether anyone has first hand experience of the bridles? They are too new for me to trust yet and the price is prohibitive but I would consider one in the future if I believed they were actually beneficial. You can attend a clinic locally to try one, but it costs fiftty quid - eek!
 
I have tried one .
The drop type noseband ( looks a bit like a micklem ) is lovely and sits beautifully and my horse went well in it .
He hated and I mean hated the cavesson ( he normally goes in a cavesson ) .
The head piece is clever ( the browband screws into place ) but I hated the look of the clunky brow band on my elegant horse .
The saddler thought my horse needed the larger size headpiece and that was why he was objecting to the cavesson .
I think the idea is well thought out I am waiting for her to return with the larger size I am also going to try one on C would puts his tongue over the bit sometimes .
I think they frankly look terrible clunky and ugly but if the horse likes it better that a small price to pay for a horses comfort .
The larger price to pay is the purchase price which is a little ekkk
 
They might well be quite clever, but they look appalling. And I know, that's not an educated or logical reason not to like them, but given dressage is supposed to be about elegance (which is mostly about subtle aids and proper schooling, but tack does play a part in finishing off the image), I just wouldn't consider using one in competition.

Besides which, having a native pony, I'd be extremely surprised if I could get one to fit. Think I'll stick to traditional flat, plain bridles. In brown of course, for all that some dressage people seem to frown upon it, because it's got to match my saddle, and black side-saddles aren't really a thing (I think I've seen about two in my life, and neither looked quite right, somehow).
 
At first glance I thought "yuck" From the photos the cavesson is downright ugly! Big, thick and almost square as it sits on the head. Not a fan of the large headpiece either, but perhaps all that is because the horse modeling seemed to have a fine head.

But, I am not a horse, and if a horse was more comfortable than in any other then perhaps I would consider one, not a fan of the browband either.
 
I just don't get what the difference is between this and he micklem, and therefore why they are so much more money. I've seen a bridle by pse of Sweden that's looks great, and half the price. Be interested to hear if anyone has tried it
 
I've never seen the Fairfax before I just Googled it but I designed and made a bridle for a dressage rider with a very large and sensitive horse that looks very similar but without the strangle clunky padding on the centre of the noseband.
 
Asha said:
I just don't get what the difference is between this and he micklem, and therefore why they are so much more money. I've seen a bridle by pse of Sweden that's looks great, and half the price. Be interested to hear if anyone has tried it
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The Headpiece is very different to a micklem ( and a standard bridle ) their testing showed significant pressure from the browband where it attaches to the headpiece the fairfax browband attaches with a clever little hidden screw.
The drop type noseband fits much more nicely than a micklem my horse loved it and I was very impressed .
The cavesson was a big disappointment however it may well be the fit was wrong for my horse and he will be better when we sort that .
The appearance of the bridle is awful IMO but then I think micklems look pretty awful as well .
I will report back when I have tried again .
 
I've never seen one in the flesh, but a few weeks ago my farrier was telling me about his wife's dressage horse, he said the difference the bridle had made was astounding. If I had the money I'd be tempted to give it a go! But I don't ;)
 
I must be odd because I don't find the appearance at all off putting :)
I think it's great that someone is putting time and effort into researching bridles with pressure testing etc - having chatted to the team at Fairfax on their tradestands etc they do seem to be genuinely trying to improve things for horses. It's a shame they are so damn expensive... I'm eyeing up the double but £600 is a rather eyewatering price. I am keen to try one though, the girth made a noticeable difference for us...
 
They look more 'dressage' but i think i could get away with the Cavesson in the showring - just about. I have heard people say it helps with those that get their tongue over - how would it do that?
 
I'm interested in technology behind these even if they are well out of my budget!
I saw one in the flesh for the first time a couple of weeks ago & spoke to the lady using it (who is a listed judge). She said she found it good but hadn't noticed a huge difference in her horses way of going. She decided to get one as she has a big strong horse and wanted him to be as comfortable as possible. But she did say that she was disappointed in the leather quality which I must admit didn't look great - at £600 for a double you would expect quality leather!
 
Where the headpiece and browband fit together is very different the browband screws into to place internally and there's a prolite pad between the fixing and the horse which makes the headpiece look bulky .
The two strap 'drops 'noseband is lovely to fit sits really nicely and my horse really liked it he's had jaw issues all his life so it was big thing him to like something that shuts his mouth , I was impressed .
The cavesson has two prolite pads either side of the front of the nose so the bit in between stands proud of the nose , at the back it's a hideous clunky bulky crank .
 
Branna said:
I'm interested in technology behind these even if they are well out of my budget!
I saw one in the flesh for the first time a couple of weeks ago & spoke to the lady using it (who is a listed judge). She said she found it good but hadn't noticed a huge difference in her horses way of going. She decided to get one as she has a big strong horse and wanted him to be as comfortable as possible. But she did say that she was disappointed in the leather quality which I must admit didn't look great - at £600 for a double you would expect quality leather!
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For 600 I would expect it to clean itself as well.

I can't see how they can justify the price, especially if the leather is just "ordinary".
 
I've been looking into this a bit. I've been out of riding for ages but have just got a loan horse again and although there's no way I'm buying one of these, I thought it wouldn't do me any harm to get up to date with developments in the horsey world. If you Google Fairfax bridle science (or something similar), a science journal has published something about all the research they've done (which is probably where the money goes). It's way out of my league (I'm happy hacking) but fascinating none the less
http://www.j-evs.com/article/S0737-0806(15)00553-5/abstract
 
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Goldenstar said:
Where the headpiece and browband fit together is very different the browband screws into to place internally and there's a prolite pad between the fixing and the horse which makes the headpiece look bulky .
The two strap 'drops 'noseband is lovely to fit sits really nicely and my horse really liked it he's had jaw issues all his life so it was big thing him to like something that shuts his mouth , I was impressed .
The cavesson has two prolite pads either side of the front of the nose so the bit in between stands proud of the nose , at the back it's a hideous clunky bulky crank .
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Thanks GS, not sure if that was aimed at me, I can see they are different to a standard dressagey bridle but from afar you wouldn't tear your eyes from their sockets in horror, they do look pretty normal, unlike, say the Stubben freedom bridle.

I think I will wait a bit longer and see what the verdict on the leather is in a few months. Mind you, some people have complained about the leather on the girths whereas mine is really nice 2 years on.

I think price is very high, but it does look like a lot of R&D has gone into it. You can pay several hundreds for a 'normal' style bridle these days.
 
The research numbers are so small that I wouldn't read much into them ;). I like the idea of bringing science to the table on these things, I just think it shouldn't be over-egged ;).

I think these sorts of bridles are great if you have a horse with an issue/who is particularly sensitive. I think the stubben is likely better designed for those though.
The rest seem perfectly happy though!
 
And if say your horse hated poll pressure I would be trying the Dyon difference bridle first .
However I think it is good that companies are trying to reinvent the wheel with tack horses are stoic and it would be a shame not to be open to these new ideas .
There have been huge improvements in understanding of saddles and bridles and girths etc are just a bit behind perhaps because the effects are a little less noticeable .
 
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yup, it's just when it becomes a bit too faddy ;)

everyone thought the girth was amazing, now they seem to like the stubben one instead! ;)
 
ester said:
The research numbers are so small that I wouldn't read much into them ;). I like the idea of bringing science to the table on these things, I just think it shouldn't be over-egged ;).

I think these sorts of bridles are great if you have a horse with an issue/who is particularly sensitive. I think the stubben is likely better designed for those though.
The rest seem perfectly happy though!
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I do agree, thing is, you don't necessarily know if you have a 'sensitive' horse unless you try. Horse doesn't have to be violently objecting to being bridled to see a positive difference. Mine was happy with her old girth (didn't mind being saddled and went pretty well) but is better with the fairfax... I saw a difference on video, despite trying not to as didn't want to spend the ££.

I think it's good that they are doing the trial sessions, do wish it was more like £20 to try as I'd spend that on a dressage entry so would happily pop along just to be nosey ;) I think feedback from people who have tried or bought them will be more useful in the longer term.

ETA re Stubben girth. I thought the quality of the finish wasn't great on that considering the price tag - friend of mine has put fluffy sleeves on the long thin straps as THAT was uncomfortable for her horse... horses for courses! :lol: I would hate to go back to the old days though, all of this choice and innovation can only be a positive even if some of it is just emperors new clothes.
 
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Does anybody know the reason for fixing of the browband? I'm not sure that mine moves around too much the loops sit in the depression at the bottom of the ear - therefore not really sure how the Fairfax reduces pressure...

I see that they are testing the bridles based on the use of a normal crank versus their crank. So if you are the type of person that has a tight crank then the Fairfax bridle may give less pressure than the usual crank but if you are the type that has a cavesson with the recommended two finger gap or no noseband at all then I'm not really sure how this bridle would benefit???
 
I really don’t understand the fad of technology bridles. Looking at the fairfax and all the “research” that goes with it and I was musing the other day that the micklem thing: both these have more pressure points than my plain old hunter bridle – my boring correctly fitted throatlash and loose cavesson noseband. Maybe people just need to stop strapping and cranking things shut and then needing to buy special bridles to alleviate the pressure they have caused?
 
ester said:
yup, it's just when it becomes a bit too faddy ;)

everyone thought the girth was amazing, now they seem to like the stubben one instead! ;)
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I like the fairfax girth I have three of them but it's not without it's issues nothing is a cure all with horses .
 
Wheels said:
Does anybody know the reason for fixing of the browband? I'm not sure that mine moves around too much the loops sit in the depression at the bottom of the ear - therefore not really sure how the Fairfax reduces pressure...

I see that they are testing the bridles based on the use of a normal crank versus their crank. So if you are the type of person that has a tight crank then the Fairfax bridle may give less pressure than the usual crank but if you are the type that has a cavesson with the recommended two finger gap or no noseband at all then I'm not really sure how this bridle would benefit???
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Well on the basis that most dressagers have their browband so long and loopy anyway ;).
I guess it means there isn't anything in that depression.
 
Saddler told me that they founds urging the pressure testing significant pressure where the browband fits headpiece to the headpiece .
I would love to know what bridles they where using while testing .
 
yes, that would be handy info to have goldenstar! I just can't see how a standard fitted headpiece with the correct sized browband and a loosely fitted or no noseband can create that much pressure...

Maybe I'm wrong but to me Fairfax just don't provide enough information or enough of a sample to come up with a £500 price tag
 
Merlod said:
I really don’t understand the fad of technology bridles. Looking at the fairfax and all the “research” that goes with it and I was musing the other day that the micklem thing: both these have more pressure points than my plain old hunter bridle – my boring correctly fitted throatlash and loose cavesson noseband. Maybe people just need to stop strapping and cranking things shut and then needing to buy special bridles to alleviate the pressure they have caused?
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I have to agree. I'm going to examine my bridle closely shortly but I don't believe there are any pressure points on it. I do like the comfort head piece as that does make sense. It has a padded crank noseband however I don't tighten it at all so it's just like a cavesson fit wise.

When I bought it the seller told me the crank being tightened allows the horse to relax its jaw. I can't really understand the science of that myself. How can putting a tight band make the horse relax. God knows. Anyway no cranking going on here.

I have had one horse that needed the micklem but I do wonder if a drop noseband would have done the same job, I didn't try one so can't say.
 
in fairness, they would be unlikely to give all of the details behind the design straight away I'd imagine - you only have to look at how quickly designs are replicated. Think of the IR bridle - now there are loads with a similar design, and the fairfax girth - various similar ones came out pretty quickly.

I suspect the proof will be in the riding... I have 2 standard comfort bridles (Sabre and IR) and a cheapo double and I can definitely see areas where pressure could be greater than ideal - browband loops being one, and noseband under the bit rings/cheekpieces being another on the double. I am looking to upgrade Millie's double so will be seeking one where the noseband can't add to any pressure against the cheeks. I also want to make sure the noseband/cheekpiece buckles don't lie on top of each other. Perhaps this is it, perhaps it's not. Nice to have the choice though.
 
FfionWinnie said:
When I bought it the seller told me the crank being tightened allows the horse to relax its jaw. I can't really understand the science of that myself. How can putting a tight band make the horse relax. God knows. Anyway no cranking going on here.

.
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Hmm not sure about "tight" but the first 5 or 6 paragraphs of this may offer some ideas as to where the logic has come from, just gone a bit mis-shapen in the wash :lol:

http://www.sustainabledressage.net/tack/bridle.php#noseband
 
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