Five Star Tack's Chessington Bridle

Every year I try to come up with a few new ideas for bridles to keep Five Star Tack's product line fresh.  I spend a lot of time on the internet sourcing ideas. Sometimes I'll get an idea from a posting on a discussion board, maybe I'll see something that someone in Europe is doing, and I've even gotten ideas from fashion and apparel websites.

Soft is a buzzword in the bridle business right now. Soft padding, soft leather, comfort are words you'll hear people mention when talking about bridles they like. So I decided to design a bridle that encompasses all of that. I also wanted to design a bridle that was a bit simpler, not so much fancy stitching like alot of our other bridles. What I came up with is the Chessington bridle.

The noseband straps where they go across the boniest part of the horse's face have soft padding. There isn't any raising so it's a nice piece to have across the face. It's got a floppy feeling but by no means floppy construction. Like all our other figure eights, it has padding behind the noseband rings which people love. It's not chunky as I didn't want there to be this big visible piece of padding so it provides protection without being noticeable. 

The browband is plain raised but I added just a bit of decoration. The crownpiece has a similar feature. It's a quieter bridle but still with something extra to make it stand out. 

The crownpiece is integrated so there isn't the second strap going over the poll. I did an extra piece of padding, a bumper if you will, that will shape to the horse's ears. I could have done ear cut outs like some other bridles but I didn't want to alter the shape of the crown and the cut outs have to match up with where the horse's ears sit which doesn't always happen. With the Chessington design the crownpiece maintains it's traditional width and the padding will contour to your horse's ears which I'm hoping people like. 

The best thing about this bridle? The leather. I do the touch and feel on every brand of bridle I can get my hands on and I simply haven't found a bridle leather as nice as Sedgwick's. It has just the right combination of heft with softness. It has such a great feel and breaks in so easily. The downside is it's expensive and not always easy to source. While I am always on the look out for something comparable that is less costly to purchase, I haven't found it. I like how this bridle came out. If you think fancy stitching is going to overpower your horse's face this is a good choice.

So the next time you are shopping for a bridle, why not give the Chessington bridle a try?