Fitting a Bridle for a Thoroughbred

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mad horse 3010

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My TBs current bridle is a cob size, but the cheek pieces are on the top hole. I recently changed her bit which then required to be higher and so I had to punch more holes. Punching the extra holes made the browband sit to high, and pinch.

Surely I am not the only person with a TB with a dinky face, that doesn't fit anything?!
Her headcollar is also a Cob, and is on the highest but she'd have no hope of getting into a Pony size as her face is obviously considerably longer than your average pony!

What makes are best to fit a horse with this type of face? Surely Arab owners have similar issues with a dainty face??

I don't really want to buy individual cheeks as I like a 'whole' bridle as then the quality of the leather is the same all round (fussy, I know!)
 
Find a good local saddler and ask them to shorten the existing cheekpieces for you. Should only cost few quid and it will allow you to move up and down to suit the bit you are using plus no issues with the leather not matching. I had to do this with my anglo-arab mare's bridle.
 
My TB fits a cob bridle but has to wear a full sized browband. Luckily most companies sell matching browbands seperatly and normally I like to buy a pretty sparkly one anyway so I find it works out ok.
I do think bridle sizes vary wildly depending on brand, some cob ones are massive and some seem small! Jeffries cob sized fits my TB well. He may have a longer head than your horse though :).
 
Mine is a combination of sizes so I just buy the relevant size bits

Cob size browband and cheeks, full size noseband & headpiece :)
 
Astra said:
Find a good local saddler and ask them to shorten the existing cheekpieces for you. Should only cost few quid and it will allow you to move up and down to suit the bit you are using plus no issues with the leather not matching. I had to do this with my anglo-arab mare's bridle.
Click to expand...

I did this for my TB and it worked well, the cob size is mostly fine for him just the cheek pieces were a bit long and so not much scope to change if I needed to.
 
My Arab needed a cob browband and noseband, but I ended up buying pony cheekpieces on eBay - that worked. I then bought Shetland sized ones for my hackamore! I'd been stressing about it for ages as it limited what bit I could use at any one time.
 
Took me aggges to find a suitable bridle for my TB boy-he has a really dinky head! Tried a few from the local saddlery and they either didn't fit or they were to chunky so it dwarfed his little head. Eventually settled on a horseware amigo flash bridle which is quite dainty and not too expensive either.
 
I have the same problem as you with my TB girl. She now has a pony size head collar which fits her well and I have a pony size bridle on the way so hopefully that will fit :)
 
I get my show tack from Gerry Reynolds http://www.grsaddlery.co.uk/ I just ring him up and explain what I want and then he costs it up for me. Very pleasant to deal with, excellent service and good quality english leather.

He's happy to provide separate pieces and doesn't ever make me feel like I am being a pain in the you know what :D
 
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