Help - grackle noseband?

SpottedCat

SpottedCat

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So I bought the GBO a Jaguar grackle bridle, in havanna. It's a nice enough bridle, but the noseband is ridiculously big on him. It's a raised padded one which buckles up on both sides. I tried emailing the address on the Jaguar website asking if they'd sell me a cob sized one, and got a very curt response saying they don't sell the nosebands separately.

Can anyone find me a cob sized mexican grackle, raised padding, buckles up both sides, havanna, ideally with buckle guards? I just can't find one, and I don't really *need* another bridle (though I would like one with brass fittings to match my new breastplate ;))

I'm a bit disappointed with this bridle, shame :(
 
If you take it to a decent saddler they should be able to alter it to fit? I think Izzy at Stroud would probably be able to do it?

Shouldn't cost that much and seems a shame to have a nose band that wouldn't go with the bridle? :)
 
Matafleur said:
If you take it to a decent saddler they should be able to alter it to fit? I think Izzy at Stroud would probably be able to do it?

Shouldn't cost that much and seems a shame to have a nose band that wouldn't go with the bridle? :)
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I know - but the problem is how do I jump the horse in the interim?! ;)
 
But if you can't find one that matches then you'll just have to buy another new bridle... :p

I find this is generally easier then spending hours looking for a matching piece and as you are self employed you can offset those hours saved against the cost. Easy! :)
 
kirstykate said:
Can't you just punch more holes:confused::confused::confused::confused:
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If I could, do you think I'd be looking to buy a new one?! It's on the top hole of the leather that goes over the headpiece, and there is no more space for holes. It doesn't quite sit high enough on his face, and whilst it is a bit big elsewhere too, if I can't find a solution I will ebay it so do not want to punch more holes on the nose straps.

*am now wondering if I actually do come across as a complete idiot whenever I post on here*
 
Matafleur said:
Just tie his mouth shut with baler twine - he'll be fine and anything goes at BSJA!! :p:D
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kirstyhen said:
I find scrunchie highly useful in those situations ;)
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Matafleur said:
But if you can't find one that matches then you'll just have to buy another new bridle... :p

I find this is generally easier then spending hours looking for a matching piece and as you are self employed you can offset those hours saved against the cost. Easy! :)
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Weirdly, these appear to actually be the most helpful posts on this thread so far.... :p
 
SpottedCat said:
The bridle which broke (on the grackle noseband and the throatlash) hence buying a new one....I am not sure why my requirement for buying a noseband is considered to be so questionable ;)
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Ah sorry I didn't mean to be rude. Was killing time before lunch and intrigued why you couldn't just use your old stuff. Sod's law with horses that all the old tack you accumulate never seems to be the stuff you need!
 
SpottedCat said:
If I could, do you think I'd be looking to buy a new one?! It's on the top hole of the leather that goes over the headpiece, and there is no more space for holes. It doesn't quite sit high enough on his face, and whilst it is a bit big elsewhere too, if I can't find a solution I will ebay it so do not want to punch more holes on the nose straps.

*am now wondering if I actually do come across as a complete idiot whenever I post on here*
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I did think I was being a wee bit thick when I put that up, but you never know!!!:p
 
Do you mean the grackle needs to attach to the bridle with a buckle on each side rather than over the head? If so Albion make a nice grackle noseband which attaches like that. They are super helpful if you contact them, they completely customised one for me- the leather is super quality, it was turned around quickly and I have been really pleased with it. TDS stock them and are also very helpful!

If not, a friend purchased one from Pink Equine which was slightly cheaper but perfectly fit for purpose.
 
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lillie07 said:
Do you mean the grackle needs to attach to the bridle with a buckle on each side rather than over the head? If so Albion make a nice grackle noseband which attaches like that. They are super helpful if you contact them, they completely customised one for me- the leather is super quality, it was turned around quickly and I have been really pleased with it.

If not, a friend purchased one from Pink Equine which was slightly cheaper but perfectly fit for purpose.
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Yes, exactly that!

Thanks, I'll look at those and the evision one and see whether one of them will work. Then I can buy one, get the other one altered and have two.
 
Suziq77 said:
Ah sorry I didn't mean to be rude. Was killing time before lunch and intrigued why you couldn't just use your old stuff. Sod's law with horses that all the old tack you accumulate never seems to be the stuff you need!
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It's ok - unfortunately the buckle completely fell to bits on the old one, thankfully at home rather than half way round the XC! I have a great collection of entirely useless stuff at home, but no spare grackle.

kirstykate said:
I did think I was being a wee bit thick when I put that up, but you never know!!!:p
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I have my stupid moments where the blindingly obvious such as punching new holes eludes me, but I do try and keep them out of the public eye ;) :)
 
Bezique said:
As the company was rude over a simple enquiry, I would return the whole bridle and buy another... but thats just me ;)
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Ah, well, it isn't that simple. I didn't buy it direct from them (you can't I don't think - their website looks like a holding page rather than a proper one) and nor did I buy it from Thermatex (who seem to stock the range), I bought it from ebay. I know this serves me right!

Thermatex promised to ask how much one would be and ring me back....that was 3 weeks ago so I am wondering if they have come up against the same 'we don't sell them separately' issue?
 
SpottedCat said:
It's ok - unfortunately the buckle completely fell to bits on the old one, thankfully at home rather than half way round the XC! I have a great collection of entirely useless stuff at home, but no spare grackle.



I have my stupid moments where the blindingly obvious such as punching new holes eludes me, but I do try and keep them out of the public eye ;) :)
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I call them Malteaser moments:D:D:D:D
 
Sabre make them for their Cordoba bridles, but they are pretty spendy.

I have a grackle attachment for such a bridle that I don't need at the moment, it is a full size (but I suppose makes come up slightly different perhaps?) happy to measure it and post it over if that helps, or you could check out the cob sized ones to buy off their website.
 
ihatework said:
Sabre make them for their Cordoba bridles, but they are pretty spendy.

I have a grackle attachment for such a bridle that I don't need at the moment, it is a full size (but I suppose makes come up slightly different perhaps?) happy to measure it and post it over if that helps, or you could check out the cob sized ones to buy off their website.
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The sabre one is not raised, so will not match the bridle :( I have decided that all bridles have now had their sizings altered to fit dumblood heads into full size bridles, as I never used to have this issue!

If you wouldn't mind measuring it that'd be ace - then I could perhaps borrow it whilst I got the other one altered to fit?
 
SpottedCat said:
The sabre one is not raised, so will not match the bridle :( I have decided that all bridles have now had their sizings altered to fit dumblood heads into full size bridles, as I never used to have this issue!

If you wouldn't mind measuring it that'd be ace - then I could perhaps borrow it whilst I got the other one altered to fit?
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No problem, I'll try and remember to bring it home from the yard. It fit the 15.2hh mongrel, although granted he's not got a TB head!
 
SpottedCat said:
Thanks! It'd be useful if we lived slightly nearer each other and could then pass these bits of tack back and forth!
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If we lived nearer each other we could even swap horses every so often!! Get a bit bored/demotivated with one, then get a new one for a week!
 
Good luck having previously tried to get cheekpieces for a bridle I found those that matched in colour were a different width or those the right width a different colour! I gave up and brought a new bridle ;)

I have also found the same with bridle sizing. Fleur is an odd dumblood in that she has a little head, her bridle is cob sized and I still had to put extra holes in the grackle!
 
ihatework said:
If we lived nearer each other we could even swap horses every so often!! Get a bit bored/demotivated with one, then get a new one for a week!
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You could do proper dressage with mine (in that I do rubbish dressage and you do good dressage, rather than that mongrel pony does not do proper dressage!). I would like that, yours is a proper size too, mine is too big. I bet yours is nice to your lorry too....
 
Santa_Claus said:
Good luck having previously tried to get cheekpieces for a bridle I found those that matched in colour were a different width or those the right width a different colour! I gave up and brought a new bridle ;)

I have also found the same with bridle sizing. Fleur is an odd dumblood in that she has a little head, her bridle is cob sized and I still had to put extra holes in the grackle!
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Shush - I do not need encouraging with my bridle addiction. And I am hankering after a Mark Todd one with brass fittings to match my Passier breastplate ;)
 
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