A Well Fitting Bridle (How should it be?)
A well fitting bridle should have all the side buckles roughly in line with the horses eye, when fitted to the middle adjustment holes, with plenty of extra holes so that it can be made larger or smaller.
The browband should be comfortable, not pulling the headpiece into the ears or sagging with a gap at the front.
The noseband should be snug but with space to put your thumb underneath it, and the head and cheek straps should sit just in front of the bit cheeks otherwise the noseband may eventually tip down at the front. There should not be too much extra strap on the back of the noseband as this flaps around and looks untidy.
You should be able to put four fingers sideways under the throatlash.
The split in the headpiece should not be visible above the browband or start too far below it.
The bit should sit comfortably in the horse's mouth when the cheek pieces are buckled on the middle holes, with one or two creases at the corners of the mouth. (This varies according to the type of horse, but basically if the horse looks comfortable it probably is).
The length of rein is very much a personal thing, but as a rule of thumb when the horse is being ridden there should be enough rein for the horse to have a good stretch but not so much that your feet could become tangled in them, particularly for children.
The mouthpiece of the bit should be about 1/2" (1 cm ) wider than the horses mouth, so that the sides don't pinch, but too wide and it will move about too much and not function properly, as well as looking unsightly.
Any bridle should suit its purpose, for instance a cob or hunter with a large head should have a sturdy bridle with a wide noseband and browband, and a show pony with a fine head should have a fine bridle with narrow noseband and browband, with maybe some fancy stitching on the noseband and a coloured ribbon browband.
© Frances Kelly 2003
