An Ode to The Frankenbridle (And a blogger thank you)

Behold! The Frankenbridle!

My snaffle bridle was, in many ways, a thing of beauty. However, awkward and slightly ugly it actually appeared.

See, it's really the embodiment of all the goodwill blogging has brought to me. It's the story of collaboration. The story of friendship...

... In 2013, I sold my old too-large black and burgundy bridle.

Yeah. This was once a thing. I'm so, so sorry.

Jen had given me a bridle she'd been given. It was supposedly a Sommer, and cob sized. However, it was so old that all the makers marks had worn off of it, so nothing could really be verified. The leather was nice, so I happily took it and began using it with my Red Barn drop noseband.

Mystery bridle, shown here with Red Barn noseband.

It wasn't long before I began modifying this configuration. I hated the web/rubber reins I had for it, so I swapped them out for a cheap set of SmartPak Harwich rubber reins.

New Harwich reins. Quality = utilitarian (note: these are still in use on another bridle/horse, so I guess you could say they're fine). 

Fancy browbands were in fashion, so I picked myself up a minimally flashy version and kept on trucking.

Nice low-bling browband with a little swoop action. Plus one eternally stretching Red Barn drop noseband. Ugh. Never oil those things, they'll stretch forever.

We kept on with this set up for a very long time.

And, honestly, it wasn't a bad look for him.

Though I did occasionally throw on the original mystery bridle's noseband just to check that our training with the drop was on track.

#hunterland?

Finally, I decided we might be done with the drop altogether. I sifted through a box of random bridle parts Aimee shipped to me, and found a plain noseband I could use.

Oh yeah. That's beautiful right there.

At the same time while experimenting with double bridle set ups, I realized Pig was ready to go in a loose ring bit. The caveat being that he needed one with a friendly metal. I had been using his bradoon, but was looking for an option so I wouldn't have to swap bits.

Enter Aoife, who shipped me Kika's old bit along with some delicious European licorice!

Omg. That licorice. I drool. 

I slapped it on Pig's bridle and off we went!

And back into the drop for awhile.

I was on the hunt for a plain noseband, and finally found a Nunn Finer crank on super clearance for $25. I snapped it up and tried it on.

It fit a bit awkwardly at first...

I also decided the crownpiece had seen better days, and swapped it with a Jerry's Harness one from that box of magic bridle pieces of Aimee's. This meant the cheek pieces are now the only original pieces of the starting bridle left. Their buckles are a bit small for the Jerry's crownpice, but that's nothing a little conditioner can't solve.

Yeah, my horse cuts himself a lot. Sigh. Also, caveson still fiting like shit, but better.

Here. This shows the crownpiece better. And no eye blood... for now.

Sure, the metals don't match and the caveson fit is iffy. But remember. I'm up to a grand total of $50 spent on this bridle. That's kind of crazy. And that number is about to go down. How? Well...

I decide my minimally blinged browband looks much better on my double. To fill the browband need on my snaffle, a barn mate gives me a browband that is much too large for Pig. No worries. I just pull it down so it makes a neat deep swoop. Looks pretty intentional, right?

Oh, sorry. Again with the eye blood. I can't help it if the only time I photo his head seems to be when he's hurt himself...

Is that better?

Finally, the Harwich reins were beginning to see some significant wear in spots, so I used a coupon at a show to pick up a pair of Nunn Finer thin rubber reins. You know, the kind that never ever go on sale?

Hell yeah. That's a nice looking set up! Not counting the reins, it cost me all of ... $25 and some international networking.

So there you have it. The story of how a snaffle bridle evolved over 4 years and with the help of an international group of friends. Thank you everyone. My journey with Pig would have been a lot less fun without all of you contributing to our evolving training aid changes.

Isn't blogging the best? Any one have a frankenbridle to rival this one?