How to Design a Leather Horse Bridle

Bridles are a type of horse headgear designed to hold a bit into the horse's mouth. Reins attach to the bit and allow the rider to control the horse. Bridles are normally made from tanned leather or rawhide and occasionally from rope or plaited fabric. Bridles differ throughout different countries and different riding styles, but all bridles have some things in common. Every bridle has a headstall, a leather strap that runs from the bit over the horse's head behind its ears. This holds the bit in place. Most bridles also have a brow band, which runs across the horse's forehead and prevents the bridle slipping backwards, and a throat lash which runs under the horse's throat and stops it rubbing the bridle off over its ears. Some bridles also have nose bands, which can be decorative or give extra control.

Things You'll Need

  • Paper
  • Pencil
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Instructions

    • 1

      Consider what you want to do with your bridle. If you ride English style, your bridle will be made from narrow straps of tanned leather. If you ride Western, you could use rawhide or cord. If you plan to ride in competitions, the bridle must comply with the rules for that competition. Study photographs of bridles for ideas and check completion rules. If you are making the bridle yourself and plan to work with leather, you will need to invest in some specialized equipment such as a leather needle and saddlers' awl for punching holes.

    • 2

      Look at your horse's head. The finished bridle should not only be suitable for the type of riding you want to do, it should also be comfortable for the horse and enhance the look of its head. Horses with large heads will need a sturdy robust bridle, whilst Arabians and other horses with fine heads will need a narrower bridle that shows off their delicate bone structure.

    • 3

      Plan your bridle on paper. Draw the bit at the bottom on the page. A short strap called a cheek piece is attached to each side of the bit. The attachment can be either via a buckle or a "stud billet", a short metal hook pushed through a slot in the leather. Stud billets look neater as they cannot be seen from the correct side, but are more difficult to do up. The head stall consists of a thick leather strap that runs over the horse's head then splits into two. The thicker straps buckle to the cheek pieces, whilst the thinner strap runs under the horse's throat to become the throat lash. The brow band then slots over the head stall above the cheek piece buckles. If you are using a nose band, this consists of a strap that buckles around the horse's nose and a further strap that slots through the brow band to hold it in place. The reins buckle to the bit.

    • 4

      Design any decoration. Western bridles can be highly embellished, with silver studs and designs embossed into the leather. English bridles tend to be plainer, but can have decoration on the brow band and nose band. This can consist of fancy stitching in a contrasting color or metal studs or crystals punched or stitched into the leather. Make sure that any decoration does not come through to the inside of the leather where it may rub the horse.