Thursday, November 4, 2010

Five Star's New Hunter Bridles!

With the season winding down for both horse showing and eventing I decided to focus this time on some of our products since the holidays will be here before you know it! While Five Star Tack is better known in the eventing and jumper disciplines, it was actually the hunter bridle market that provided the "light bulb moment" to start designing tack. Instead of making another copy cat brand, it was my goal to design a top quality bridle, with it's own look and identity. After seeing the many similar looking bridles on the market and the slide in quality I knew there was a niche Five Star Tack could create.

Five Star currently offers four hunter bridles which are either new to our product line or have gone through revision this year so that our bridles reflect the varying needs of today's hunter rider. The Piccadilly bridle is designed with a narrower browband and noseband and provides a refined look. Our Wembley bridle has the same features as the Piccadilly but has an integrated crown. For those horses with more prominent features the Hickory bridle has a wider noseband and browband. It is also a great look for those riders who like today's wide noseband bridles. Lastly, for those riders who like a quieter look, the Kensington bridle is similar to the Piccadilly but without the fancy stitch.

If your horse is hard to fit we can special order any part to give your horse the best fitting bridle. In addition, the Hickory bridle can be special ordered without fancy stitching and can be ordered with an attached flash. Our standard colors are Australian Nut and Conker Brown but other colors can be special ordered. We can offer you the closest bridle to custom without the custom price!



Kensington Square Raised Hunter Bridle

To sum up the features of our Five Star Hunter bridles, the bridles are constructed so that the raised portions are made with leather not the short cut of using plastic. The leather is skived down only the length of the padded portion whereas other brands skive the entire length of either the browband or noseband leaving a long seal that needs to be glued. The majority of each bridle is made by hand, including stitching and finishing. They are also finished one at a time, not in batches. No matter where you look on the bridle, the stitching is straight and even. This is where a lot of companies cut corners as they figure since you don't see the underside of the bridle, it's okay for the stitching to be crooked.



Wembley Integrated Crown Hunter Bridle

Feedback from customers and fellow riders has been overwhelmingly positive and has helped target the direction of the product line. The tack stores that have seen the bridles are excited to see a new, different looking product and one that is top quality. Look for our hunter bridles to be in better tack shops in 2011!

The latest items we are working on are halters, leads, belts and possibly a second, lower priced line. There is a lot of work to be done before the next AETA industry trade show in January!

Piccadilly Fancy Stitch Hunter Bridle


Hickory Wide Noseband Bridle