Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Anatomical Bridles

A long long time ago the basic bridle was designed and it has stayed exactly the same all these years.  99% of the bridles on the market come in a cookie cutter mold similar to this bridle below.  With the exception of some noseband variations (drop, figure 8, flash) and ear variations in the western world all bridles are instantly recognizable as a bridle.  Represented here we have the harwich padded dressage bridle by Smartpak.




Recently the Micklem bridle came on the market with an innovative design.  It's designed to conform to the horse's skull and prevent uncomfortable pressure points.


I was first introduced to the funny looking bridle in this book but the bridle didn't really reach popularity until recently.  It seems to be most popular with eventers where the style of your bridle isn't as important as the function of your bridle.  Very informative book by the way.  


Other companies have started to follow in Micklem's footsteps with their own versions of anatomical bridles, I found their unusual but well made bridles while stalking The $900 FB pony blog.    Perfect Sit of Sweden has several different bridles available with anatomical points designed with the horse's comfort in mind.  


What do you think?  Are these bridles just clever marketing straying from a timeless design to tug your heartstrings and empty your pocketbook?  Or are they really better for your equine partner?

3 comments:

  1. Obviously I like the look/idea of the Perfect Sit, I've mentioned it a few times now in my blog. I do think there's some merit to these bridles being more comfortable for the horse but probably not as much as some people say. I love my monocrown with the ear cutouts but honestly my horses have never shown much preference one way or the other. I'm sure others out there have more sensitive creatures. I do like having options though, because what works for one probably won't work for all.

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  2. Thanks for commenting, I couldn't remember where I'd seen the Perfect Sit bridles!

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    Replies
    1. I might be a little obsessed.

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