Western tack (well bridles actually)...

[Ginn]

Following up on my reins post I suddenly had a brainwave and thought about western stylee tack! When looking I also stumbled across this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LOVELY-UNIQUE-VAQU...bayphotohosting

Now some of you may think its hideous (and I'm not 100% on the colour but have also seen a lovely black and white one just like it!) but I just want something colourful and fun to hack in - something a wee bit different! I also like that action of the tack to be nice and simple and as we seem to have conquered our tounge over bit issues by changing bit I would be quite happy to do away with the noseband completely!

But, a few questions:
1. Can I still use an english snaffle (loose ring) on it?
2. How "safe" are they? (Being synthetic will they give before the horses neck?)
3. are there any good suppliers of this type of thing over here? Most only seem to do very "blingy" leather

Any other points?

 

[Enfys]

Hi,


Yes you can use any bit you like on it, snaffle should be fine, but it did say that the cheekpieces were 12" long, alteration to much shorter could be a bit tricky?

The similar style ones I have seen here have been very soft and floppy synthetic material, not saying that this one is, probably comfortable for the horse but breakability wise on a par with a webbing headcollar I would guess.

I can't help with suppliers in the UK, I think it is Buckle Bunny who is up on her western riding etc there who could probably help you best with that.

Have Fun.

 

[wattsy]

haven't seen headstalls like these here, although would imagine that one of the western retailers would be able to supply something similar. try www.thewesternshop.com as they have a long list of western retailers who may be able to help. Alternatively you could try a leather headstall which would perhaps be a bit more stable and comfortable, with a pretty browband - these are available with horsehair tassles, montana silver, futurity knots, rawhide, or a combination of these, which look really attractive and different.