The design for bridles for horse riding has evolved a huge amount over the last few years, and with innovation comes new terminology that can make navigating the world of bridles and bridle parts a little more challenging. But don’t worry, we’re here to help with our bridles jargon buster.
Anatomical – this is a word you’ll often seen before different parts of a horse’s bridle – or sometimes the whole bridle is referred to in this way. It means that the product has been designed to accommodate the horse’s shape, so you’ll often find anatomical headpieces are shaped to cater for the horse’s ears and prevent pressure points.
Browband – the part of the bridle that sits across the horse’s forehead. Its function is to prevent the headpiece from sliding backwards. It can be made using plain leather or synthetic material and can also be covered in crystals, ribbon, or any number of other items to add colour and sparkle.
Cavesson noseband – a plain noseband that doesn’t really have a ‘function’ beyond the visual as it splits up the horse’s face. It can also be used as a place to attach additional pieces of tack, like standing martingales.
Cheekpieces – short straps that attach the bit to the horse’s headpiece.
Contoured– a bridle component with a curved design.
Crank noseband – a noseband that has an additional pad at the back to help create a soft barrier between horse and noseband. The strap usually goes back on itself when fastening too.
Detachable/easy fastening browband – this style of browband is usually attached to the headpiece via press stud style fastenings. This makes it quicker to change browbands as you don’t need to take the whole bridle apart to do it. For horses that are head shy, they can be really useful.
Double bridle– a bridle that has two pairs of cheekpieces and two pairs of reins to enable the rider to ride their horse with two bits- usually a bradoon and a Weymouth. Double bridles are most often seen in high level dressage or showing as the way the bits work together helps to create additional refinement in the horse’s head carriage.
Drop noseband – a noseband that fastens below the horse’s bit to help prevent them from opening their mouth to evade the bit.
Flash noseband – a browband that combines a cavesson with an additional strap that fastens around the horse’s mouth to prevent them evading the bit through crossing the jaw.
Grackle noseband – also known as a figure of eight or sometimes Mexican noseband, this component has a padded part that sits on the horse’s nose where the straps cross. This type of noseband is often seen on stronger horses as it prevents jaw crossing and stops them from opening their mouth to evade the bit’s action.
Grip – a rubberised coating that wraps around the rein. Grip reins are available in a range of sizes from small, fine grips to much broader ones. There are also smooth grip reins which are dimple free.
Headpiece – the part of the bridle that nearly everything else is attached to! It sits behind the horse’s ears and has a throatlash, cheekpieces, browband, and sometimes even the noseband, attached to it.
Micklem– a specific brand of bridle that was created and designed to reduce pressure across the horse’s face in five specific areas.
Noseband – the part of the bridle that sits across the horse’s nose. Sometimes this can be simply for aesthetic reasons, but other times it can have a useful function.
Patent– a leather finish that creates a shiny look.
Rein stops – these can be added to reins to help keep the rings of a running martingale in the right position. They’re usually made from rubber or leather.
Stoppers– on reins, these are placed at equal intervals along the reins and can make it easier to keep hold of your reins even if they become sweaty or wet. They can also help riders who struggle to keep their reins at the right tension.
Throatlash – a thin piece of leather that passes loosely around the horse’s throat (four fingers width between the leather and the horse’s face). This is a safety feature to help prevent the bridle being pulled off the horse’s head by accident.
Bridle Fitting
Fit is essential when it comes to bridles for horses. If the bridle isn’t fitted correctly it can cause the horse discomfort which can create pain, behaviour issues, and compromise safety of horse and rider. Do keep in mind that different bits also require different sizes of cheekpiece to work correctly, and some horses will require a mixture of sizes of bridle parts to achieve the perfect fit, this is perfectly normal.
See the full range of bridles and bridle accessories available online or visit us at Milton Keynes superstore and the team will help you with anything you need.
