All about racing

Today's post is about racing and race horses :) I am lucky enough to live close to a big race track, so I have some pretty good shots of race horses and their tack. 

Beautiful green bridle!

This guy even has a red saddle to match his bridle

My favourite shot! I just love that grey!

Is that a breastplate I see on this horse?

I hope these horses and photos have inspired the tackmakers among you :) It sure made me want to make my own colourful bridle!

Here's a sneek peak of a red and black racing bridle in progress: 

Horse mouths and Weymouths

Yesterday I made my first attempt at a Weymouth double bridle. I can say one thing...it confused me. Only after some extensive research I finally got the basic concept.
So, just for all the tackmakers out there and the performance lovers, I will explain how the Weymouth works :)

Lets start off by looking at the real thing.

Weymouth double bridle

The Weymouth double bridle is made up of a cavesson noseband, a normal snaffle bridle headstall and a slip head bridoon (aka bradoon). 

A cavesson noseband is what you will find on almost every English bridle (be it dressage, hunting or jumping). It is basically a noseband that has its own headstall and is held independently by the bit. So a cavesson is a seperate unit. The cavesson is held by its headstall by the browband (along with the main headstall/crownpiece). The picture below illustrates it better than I can explain it. 

The cavesson is a separate unit not attached to the main headstall

The next ingredient for a double bridle is the normal snaffle bridle headstall. This is the main headstall (and with 'headstall' I mean the leather straps that go all the way from one cheek, behind the ears to the other cheek). 

The Weymouth bit attaches to the strap where usually the Snaffle bit hangs from. The red arrow on the picture below points to the Weymouth bit. Pay attention to the strap that it hangs from. This strap and the throatlatch are the main headstall. They are split from the point where the browband attaches, but they are one broad leather strap behind the ears.

The Weymouth bit attaches to the main headstall

And last but not least, the bridoon, which is just a simple snaffle bit attached to a separate slip head (so not attached to the main headstall, but again a separate unit, like the cavesson noseband). 

The leather straps of the bridoon are always a little bit thinner than the straps of the Weymouth bit. The reins on the bridoon, however, are a little bit thicker than the reins on the Weymouth. The reason for this is that the rider has to steer the horse with the bridoon (it is impossible to make a horse change directions with the Weymouth bit or any other curb bit). 

The blue arrow on the picture below points to the bridoon (snaffle bit + slip head).

The snaffle bit has its own separate slip head

The entire bridle (noseband, bits, slip heads, main headstall) are held together by the browband.

I hope that this helped you understand what pieces make up the double bridle and how to attach them correctly :)

My own Weymouth double bridle:

Snaffles

Yesterday I got my order from Utterly Horses in the mail :D It included some new bits (going to make a double bridle with Weymouth bit), buckles and leather lace in rust and black.

I got to work with the rust coloured lace right away and created this pretty snaffle bridle.

 It fits my Strapless model perfectly!

 I used to struggle with the raised nose and browbands, but with this new lace I find it easier to make them.

The bit was custom made using a simple jump ring and adding a tiny silver bead to it. I glued the bead to the ring with some Loctite super glue so it stays in place.

All the buckles are handmade too. They have tongues as well for extra realism (cut from a sheet of very thin metal and bent with pliers). 

And of course I couldn't just tack my mare up with just a bridle... The side saddle was made by Alicia Miller way back in 2009 I believe. The girth was made by me a while back.

It also looks great on my buckskin strapless model :) In the last picture you can also see a bit of the laced reins I did on this bridle.

Next on the list are a black double bridle, a tan coloured figure-8 bridle and a black snaffle.