"havana" tack

[Kylara]

An actual tack question in the tack room!

Why oh why does havana tack never match. Trying to put together a bridle and none of the havana matches.

Also can you get havana dressage saddles?

Must I buy bits of bridles in havana and then send back that which doesn't match? Or do I buy a whole brand new bridle so at least the bits all match and then try and find reins that match the havana of the bridle. Or do I just not bother and have a bunch of mismatched havana bridle pieces!?

 

[Steerpike]

I've just started looking for my first leather bridle, it seems a minefield out there!

 

[Kylara]

Don't get me started. Leather quality drives me nuts. Not to mention different thickness of pieces that you don't find out until bits arrive and I know I'll end up having to go to a tack shop miles away and hope I find what I want!

 

[PorkChop]

I don't do black so all my tack, including dressage saddles are havana.

Tbh I tend to stick with one or two brands of bridle, and probably wouldn't mix and match unless its just for using at home.

 

[Steerpike]

I'm off to Burghley next week so will look there!

 

[Fiona]

I buy mix and match from my local master saddlers own range to make sure it all matches

Fiona

 

[Kylara]

That's a thought Fiona!

I'll probably be at Blenheim so can look around then. I'm just stingy when it comes to buying things and always seem to have horses where I need to mix and match as they have fat short heads, or skinny long ones!

Glad I'm not going crazy with havana dressage saddle. Though it will depend what I can find second hand tbh.

It's just finding a brand that does a nice havana and not that weird bright red type of havana...

 

[Merlod]

If it's any help I find sabre, fylde, shires and heritage havana all match well enough

 

[only_me]

It's why I buy black tack - black will always match black but brown is a nightmare lol

 

[FfionWinnie]

You can get a new ascot bridle for less than 30 quid. If this is the horse you are selling on surely that is more than adequate.

 

[spacefaer]

Black tack was traditionally driving tack. It is brown leather dyed black, which is why older black saddles go that strange greeny grey colour.

The colour of brown leather depends on the quality of the original leather and of the tanning process. The "red" leather used to be known as London tan, and was the epitome of smartness at one time!

We generally stick to Jeffries, which has IMHO a lovely havana shade.

 

[Kylara]

I've got plenty of bridle bits that will fit the pony and he came with a bridle anyway. This is for new horse. I prefer brown tack and nothing I have will fit other than perhaps a very old brown browband! But in order to find that I dug out my 'brown tack' bucket and none of the Havana matches!

I'm loathe to spend mega bucks on a new bridle when I have bits lying all over the place, they just won't fit! Saw a new bridle for over £200! So glad you can pick up cheaper haha. I'm bad and tend to buy bits and put them together instead of a whole bridle in one go... Hence the matching colour problem!

I don't think it helps that website pictures don't show the brown option or it hasn't photographed well. Sent back a grackle noseband that was a very ugly colour, not sure you could call it Havana at all!

 

[FfionWinnie]

I would make up whatever you have at home for it and once it's ready to compete decide how much you like it. You can get a nice bridle for well under 100 no problem or spend more if its a keeper. However as its young, I would get it going for a while before splashing out. You don't want it scratching a 200 quid bridle the first day out do you.

 

[Kylara]

I'm not buying a £200 bridle! No way Nothing I have will fit the new horse, just too big. So going to need a new bridle. But as always trying to find a bridle with the noseband and browband that I want as well as a nice style is just a nightmare which I why I tend to buy pieces and stick them together to make a whole bridle. Having not had to buy new bridle pieces for an absolute age I had forgotten the debacle of getting havana to match (probably why I have the "brown tack" bucket where all the unmatchable bits go!)

 

[FfionWinnie]

I think you just like the drama!

 

[Kylara]

Haha, hardly! I am just annoyed that all the tack I have is pony and new horse needs full in everything so none of my rugs, or headcollars, or tack will fit! Frustrating. What's the point of hoarding stuff if it doesn't fit new horse!!!

However, when getting overreach boots for pony (now in large!) I got some mediums which I kept and they fit, so new horse has overreach boots. Nothing else, but snazzy black overreach boots with fluffy tops

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Years ago it was alot easier to get tack that matched but now it's a nightmare. As you will know Walsall is a historical saddlery town however there are several companies that only have an office & store room there, that use their names as " ? of Walsall" to try & cash in on the history and advertising power of 'English made Saddlery'. Unfortunately much of the bridles etc are not made there they are imported. They will also sell the same bridle in two different finishes & two different prices. One will be crap & the other not so bad crap.

Also the term "English Leather" does not always mean what we want it to mean anymore. It can be imported & finished here & it can also be exported & made abroard, reimported & sold at English Made & English leather. It's disgraceful so you never know what exactly you are buying. You need to know leather & be able to see what is good leather v& what isn't. The way it's been dyed also affects the value.

My wife is a time served bridle stitcher & spent her younger days hand stitching bridles, reins, browbands etc. She did fancy stitching, rolled leather in fact everything you would dream of in your ideal bridle. She stitched bridles for the British Olympic Team years ago in fact Princess Anne used bridles stitched by her. Now, unless you want to spend several hundred pounds you will get machined bridles, questionable quality leather & leather that is various shades of havana. The quality that most wish to have they are not prepared to pay for so that's why you get the colour differences & differences in quality of finish etc. Wife no longer works in that field but she maintains our tack beautifully. Her tip is clean your tack regularly, leaving it dirty & sweaty will eventually rot the stitching & repairs to tack normally will cost you more that replacing, assuming you can find someone who can do it.

Forgot to say, yes you can get havana dressage saddles, we have a Stubben havana & it looks great.

 

[Kylara]

All tack gets cleaned after every use

I have noticed that the quality of the leather seems to have degraded. I don't mind buying expensive bridle pieces, but generally one bit at a time, rather than a whole bridle and hope it fits.

I'd love hand stitched - maybe for christmas

I do a lot of work with harness where quality it essential and it lasts. Lovely lovely stuff!

Glad that dressage saddles come in havana, I bet the next problem would be matching the saddle havana to the bridle havana!

 

[Auslander]

I don't quite understand the issue people have with finding bridles/stuff that fits particular requirement. If I am looking for soemthing specific, I type it into Ebay's search box, and it always comes up trumps. For instance-I am forever seeing people on here bemoaning the fact that they can't find bridles with cavesson nosebands, but I have never had any trouble finding multiple options, both new and second hand.
What are you looking for OP - maybe someone can help?

 

[Kylara]

It's not the individual bits, it's the colour not matching!

Looking for a havana grackle bridle basically, with a fairly large browband (which I think I may have due to massively wide pony head I had an age ago). But finding a nice grackle noseband is easy. Finding the rest of the bridle to match the colour and design of the nice grackle noseband is the hard part. Added to this is buying leather items online is a minefield and you get nasty quality or the colour looks crazy different.

Was more of a moan how black is black is black but havana is red is orange is brown is havana!

 

[Auslander]

It's not the individual bits, it's the colour not matching!

Looking for a havana grackle bridle basically, with a fairly large browband (which I think I may have due to massively wide pony head I had an age ago). But finding a nice grackle noseband is easy. Finding the rest of the bridle to match the colour and design of the nice grackle noseband is the hard part. Added to this is buying leather items online is a minefield and you get nasty quality or the colour looks crazy different.

Was more of a moan how black is black is black but havana is red is orange is brown is havana!

I would probasbly go for the same brand,one that I know does decent quality leather, and assume that it would be the same colour! Can you not just buy a bridle with the grackle you like? I've never bought a grakle, as dressage is my thing, but would assume that you can get a decent quality/design one, without having to mix and match.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Evison Equine do decent everyday comfort bridles, and you can mix and match sizes. A grackle bridle ex reins is £90, and is available in havana.

http://www.evisonequine.co.uk/shop/leather-comfort-poll-bridle-with-grackle-noseband/