*Rant* Why does every bridle now come with a FLASH these days??!!

Spyda

Spyda

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It's driving me nuts! I've been trying to buy a half decent (but reasonably priced) show snaffle for my F/S filly but everything I like (both online and off the shelf in store) comes with a bl@@dy flash noseband attached. WHY? It's ridiculous. Only bridle that seems to come with a canvasson noseband as standard is a Hunter bridle. But I don't want a wide hunter width canvasson. Grrr......

People used to buy a flash noseband only if their horse needed one in the 'olden' days of 15 plus years ago. Is it now thought that EVERY horse needs one? Grrrrr......

I visited my local tack shop today (purportedly the largest in the West Country) and they had NO quality canvasson bridles whatsoever, except a hunter style one and a black/white dressage bridle with a wide crank noseband. Grrrrrrrrr......

And I couldn't even buy a separate canvasson noseband. Oh, there were plenty of flash/Mexican/Grackles hanging there.... but no plain old canvassons. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......

What is the world coming too.........? :mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
Extresmelly annoying! Gets my goat on a regular basis :(

I've just bought one from Risley Saddlery for £70-something (without reins). They made up what I wanted :). Nice Morris and Nolan one.

Good luck hun :)
 
omg, i KNOW! this annoys me massively. i was looking through some photos of an international 3 day event, and thinking how lovely the riders doing dressage looked in their posh clothes... but loads of the horses seemed to have the little stupid flash flappy thing hanging off their bridle. dear god, if THEY can't find a decent non flash bridle... what hope do i have? i don't like the look of the noseband without the flash strap with the stupid little flappy thing.

i think we should start a petition up. ALL bridles to come with plain cavesson and if people want a flash, they either have to buy it seperately or tie it on with an attachemnt

p.s. excuse awful typing/spelling, am typing with left hand and in a rush. x
 
I have 3 bridles without... I don't find them that hard to find? :o I tend to have the opposite problem! Got round it by just not bothering with flash and praying instead :p
 
My main bridle is a black/white Stubben dressage bridle but even with that one I had to order the plain noseband as a special order and wait longer for delivery. You'd hope a schooled dressage horse mightn't need a flash noseband as standard - but apparently not!

Well, I have sorted something. Have bought a brown Collegiate Swarovski 7 Crystal Flash Bridle from Equestran Clearance and am hoping it comes with the detachable flash strap (as shown in some pictures of this bridle online), but just incase it doesn't I've also bought 2 different Collegiate canvasson nosebands (one crank and one plain raised) in the hope that one way or another I'll end up with the bridle I want. I'll have to return one or the other of the additional nosebands bought though, so it's still a pain. Ho hum.
 
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I actually got a reasonably priced, raised and fancy stitching noseband and browband bridle for my mare last year (took some doing though!) at the big store in Warrington begining with R. I was amazed as the vast majority of theirs were set up with bl@@dy flash nosebands, I hate the thngs! Also agree that if you take the flash off the silly little tab thing makes the horse look very very silly.
 
Absolutely agree. I've been looking for ages for a nice plain cavesson bridle for my Highland. She doesn't need a flash and a plain workmanlike bridle is what suits her. I have her in a rather poor quality one for now as that's all I could find in our area. It used to be so easy! :(
 
When I bought my mare a new comp bridle I wanted a cavesson and couldn't find a decent one anywhere!! So I bought a lovely smart Stubben and paid for my saddler to take out the little flash attatchment and voila-a very beautiful cavesson bridle :)
 
It is a shame :(

I know of a saddler however who hand-makes bridles, I WILL be buying one from her when I have the money; £90 for a hand-made english leather, made to measure plain cavesson bridle with laced reins and shipped from hungary is a good deal! :p
 
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Is weird isn't it. When I first started my lessons with my instructor he asked me why K was in a flash, I said because his bridle came with one. I didn't really have an actual valid answer, tbh I have it on pretty loose but i did feel like a bit of an ass!
 
Agreed and why is almost everything a crank!

I got fed up and am having one made, ok £125 but in all honesly my horse has a funny fitting head anyway so Ive wasted money on bridles that dont fit.
 
It's rediculous! I totally agree. Bridles should come with cavesson as standard.

I've only got round it by buying made to measure by my saddler, who also removed the loop for a flash strap (that was being unnecessarily used) from a noseband my mare came to me with.
 
I have got a Heritage Comfort Bridle for both my horses and you can choose whether you want the attachment or not, they are fairly inexpensive nice English leather bridles.
 
I have got all my bridles from risley saddlery. Great english leather and they stay looking smart for years. My shires is 10 years old. They do everything as separates so you can mix and match sizings. My latest xxf was only £75. they have a website so it might be worth you looking on there
 
I agree it is possible to find a mid-priced quality canvasson bridle, but it's no longer the case that you can make a trip to your local tack shop and take the pick from a nice selection off-the-shelf like you used to be able to.

The lower-end-market seems to have filled the majority of this niche; with lots of Shires, Cottage Craft, Kincade canvasson bridles, etc... available off-the-shelf. And at the other end (the £100+ canvasson bridles), too, seem more easily available than the mid-priced £60-£95 bridle range.

It was just purusing the selection on offer yesterday and seeing 99% of the bridles there complete with a flash that made me cross. And the shop didn't even offer a range of canvasson nosebands to buy separately for those that were forced to buy a flash bridle but wanted to switch to the other!
 
I tried to buy a plain bridle from my local saddlery shop recently, when I asked for a one with a cavesson noseband they looked at me like I was daft! I do agree that most cavessons now are the crank variety but you do not have to fasten them too tight! it is more annoying when you mislay the little keeper off the strap end of the noseband, I have now solved this by attatching it to buckle end with a loop of matching plaiting thread.
 
With you on this 100% Have tried in vain to get a nice plain bridle for my Arab mare it needs to be fairly narrow and she has a shorter head than my old Arab, ideas please, maybe a handmade would be the solution.
 
Sabre do some nice bridles and i'm sure many of those are plain cavessons. I bought the Mistral one with a flash for my mare as she has a pretty head that doesnt suit big wide nosebands but she does need the flash.

I've recently been trying to buy a reasonable priced mexican grackle but none of the tack shops around here have any that are fullsize. Very annoying. I tried to buy one of the new Caldene grackle bridles online but got an email back saying Caldene are out of stock till Sept!
 
I guess it comes down to each individual shop as the ones near me have a wide selection of nosebands without falshes.
Old dairy do quite a few iirc :)

Here's a link to Old dairy
http://www.olddairysaddlery.co.uk/acatalog/Leather_Bridles.html

A lot of bridles, such as the Mark Todd come with the flash connector (the one that loops over the cavesson, so the connector and flash can be taken off rather than leaving the little loop that the flash goes through if that makes any sense
 
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I've just got a bridle for my new girly and it's just a standard cavesson nose band. I had more trouble finding a flash noseband! Gave up in the end!
 
I agree, I'm not a fan of flashes, and it can take a fair bit of searching to find a bridle you like without one. I bought a very nice new stubben one for Star last year though, so I can recommend checking out theirs :)
 
Seriously, just have the flash tab removed. It takes seconds and once it's off you couldn't tell. You can do it yourself too - just cut the 3-4 stitches that hold the tab in place ( on the underside of the noseband so the top stitchs look like they're still there) and it will pull out. If you really want you can sew the little hole back together using plaiting thread.

I just buy whatever noseband I want, with flash, and take the tab off. Much easier.
 
Yerss, I know, infuriating! Mine's got a funny shaped head so I resurrected bits of old bridle from byegone days, and am using that! I think the noseband's the same one I used to have on my old grey 14.2 in pony club in prehistoric days, when flash noseband's were frowned on!

Personally (rant coming up so beware) ...... I wouldn't want to put a flash noseband on a horse anyway: do you really want to jam the horse's mouth shut with a bit inside its mouth? I think gadgets like this cause more problems than they solve, and it seems to be the "fashion" to use flash nosebands. First it was gags, then martingales, now flash nosebands. Result: stressed out, over-bitted and unhappy horses IMO.
 
I know the feeling, I have been looking for a cavesson bridle for my 14.2hh as he does not need a flash. It is very hard to find although I have seen one - think a Jeffries or Kincade (can't really remember) that did have a cavesson.

I have also seen this one in the rideaway catalogue that has a detachable flash (as in the loop bit as well) which would be ideal for my horse as he does not need a flash for general hacking/dressage etc but does need it for jumping.

http://www.rideaway.co.uk/CALDENE-CRANK-NOSEBAND-BRIDLE/default.aspx
 
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