How do you know your bridle fits correctly??

"*2 fingers under the noseband (cavesson variety) or 1 finger under a grackle, flash or drop variety or any other kind that acts to close the mouth."

You can't often fit a finger under the flash noseband when you see them in use. Including when they are used by professionals. So what's that all about?

(To answer the original question, I know how to fit a bridle, but fortunately for me these days my needs are very simple. Headpiece, browband, cheek straps - job done).
 
Shilasdair said:
Yeah, but it's too much like hard work to bother to learn something!
And we all know experience is so much better than vocational or practical education!
So, they continue to either have their ponies gaping in illfitting bridles, or the bridles gaping at the cheeks when they try to give a rein aid.
After the horse has endured say, 10 years of this then they declare themselves experienced.
S :D
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I agree with this - how the heck can someone (and I have known a few) declare that they are experienced in something if they've been doing wrong time and time again? OK, so say you've read a book. That's nice. Still should have an instructor or the like to help make sure you've done it correctly.

RunToEarth said:
If you are going to have horses, you need to know how to do things like fit bridles correctly.
You do not need a pony as a child to do this at all, that is no excuse.
Why do so many people buy horses without knowing half the basics, or having someone close by who does?
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Exactly!
 
Oh for crying out loud, do we really need "bridle fitters"?

I'm not from a horsey family, I didn't have a pony as a child, I wasn't a pony club member, and I don't have BHS qualifications. I can still fit a bridle and a bit, it isn't difficult and can be learnt easily without a special course.

How to correctly fit a bridle was explained in my "Usbourne Guide to Horse and Pony Care" that I was bought for my 6th birthday (nicknamed "The Bible" or "Oh God not that bloody book again" by my parents). It was also explained in Horse and Pony Magazine and the great many horse care/riding manuals I borrowed from the library and aquired second hand or was bought for later christmas and birthday presents.

In terms of practical experience, I was shown how to tack up at the riding school, I can't remember when. I know you were expected to tack your own pony up and strip and clean the bridle and reassemble it if you did an own a pony week. I also know that when you were a "weekend helper" you were expected to tack up for all the lessons, I started doing that aged 9 and would tack several horses and ponies up a day. The instructors would check the tack before anyone mounted. I could certainly tack up and check the fit of a bridle by the time I did my brownie badge in pony riding and care aged 7.

Can't see any excuse for getting it wrong with a simple snaffle and cavesson bridle, I accept that double bridles, pelhams etc are more complicated but it isn't unreasonable to expect someone to look it up or ask for help if they need to use something more complex than a snaffle and cavesson.

Honestly I despair, are people really that dense that that can't pick up one of the many excellent books on horse care and read it before they buy a horse? Or invest in a few lessons? If you can afford to keep a horse you can afford a few preparatory stable management lessons, or to do something like the horse owner's certificate.
 
I too have despaired of getting anything "off the peg" to fit my boy's head; basically he's half way between Cob and Full size, so what I've had to do is buy headpiece & cheekpieces separately, and then put a bridle together with bits and pieces from old (very old!) bridle bits in the tack box, and do it that way.

The bridle he's got now is a good old fashioned working hunter/cob type without any fancies or frills; and we get complimented on how good he looks in it. I think the noseband he's got now, is one I've had from pony club days!!! Leather was good quality in those days, and if you look after it, will last a lifetime, with only just a few repairs to stitching needed.

Most off-the-peg bridles I've seen are total rubbish, imported leather with stitching that woudn't last a season's hunting in all weathers, and totally naff reins to boot.

Incidentally, I remember a previous thread about this: but it drives me WILD when I see bridles for sale and you can't buy anything that comes without the grackle-type noseband. Grrrrggghhh!!
 
orsolya80 said:
I agree with this - how the heck can someone (and I have known a few) declare that they are experienced in something if they've been doing wrong time and time again? OK, so say you've read a book. That's nice. Still should have an instructor or the like to help make sure you've done it correctly.
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Reading books is vastly underrated. I've read tonnes of them. Bl**dy sight better than not bothering at all, wouldn't you say? Fitting a bridle isn't rocket science, can easily be explained in words, as demonstrated by several posters on this thread. If people read more, or even googled more, they would be doing a much better job of looking after their horses and would probably spend less time on this forum asking questions they would've found the answer to in a BOOK. Kindly don't diss books.
 
When we got our boy (he's a 14.2 connie) he was wearing a cob size bridle it was so tight it has scarred his ears and forehead, he is now in an XFS browband...just shows how little some people appear to know :(
 
PapaFrita said:
Reading books is vastly underrated. I've read tonnes of them. Bl**dy sight better than not bothering at all, wouldn't you say? Fitting a bridle isn't rocket science, can easily be explained in words, as demonstrated by several posters on this thread. If people read more, or even googled more, they would be doing a much better job of looking after their horses and would probably spend less time on this forum asking questions they would've found the answer to in a BOOK. Kindly don't diss books.
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no need to be so defensive Papafrita. No one is saying that they dont bother at all. As I said before, my questions wasnt 'how do u fit a bridle'. As I know how to fit one.
 
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