Thursday, July 11, 2013

Looking at bridles

Now that I've posted about saddles, and I should have one coming at some point in the mail, I decided to look at bridles. Not just to spend money, but the fact is, Baasha's old Zilco marathon bridle is falling apart in one of the places that counts - the chinpiece. The biothane has rubbed away and the "guts" are showing.



My white bridle is that soft lovely un-ribbed beta biothane, but the overall design is not nearly as nice as the Zilco, and there's no way to hook your reins onto the halter when you want to switch to bitless. And it's turning green under the brass.

Zilco uses minimal conway buckles, the buckles designed by the prince of darkness, and my white Sporttack bridle is conway all the way.

Then,today, I find this: (in purple in this example):

Zilco's new SS Marathon (mouse-over for closeup)

Look at that, stainless steel instead of crappy old brass! Also the padding might make it nicer for the horse - or it might look ridiculous on my tiny-headed pony. Hm. Has anyone seen these in RL? I cannot even find a photo online of one modelled by a horse.

The main thing I don't like are the noseband "rings" (squares) - they are a step down in design from the traditional marathon. See the difference in the rings? I like to clip my reins there. It looks like they've made it harder to do so with this model.

Oh man, the new SS comes in WHITE! (mouse-over for closeup of the beauteous thing.) I love my white biothane but then again I love the conservative black. I need both!

Now Zilco, now that you've produced your most popular design with stainless hardware, when is the breastcollor gonna follow suit? Cuz it's gonna look kind of  hokey when I ride with both.




7 comments:

Tara said...

Those look nice...this is one I have been eyeballing...http://www.hought.com/end..end.hsp.3-17.html
Not that I am a endurance rider...just love the ease of care and look of it...
Tara

kbryan said...

All different colors - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zilco-Endurance-Bridle-3-colours-/230833407814?pt=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&var=530070370815&hash=item35bebe4746

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zilco-Endurance-Bridle-3-colours-/230833407814?pt=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&var=530070370815&hash=item35bebe4746

Mara could be a rainbow pony. You could put colored highlights in her tail. And glitter, definitely need glitter.

kbryan said...

She probably needs this - https://picasaweb.google.com/ponyandcarriage/DrivingHorseWear?feat=flashalbum#5618104824559284290.
And something for Bellis too - https://picasaweb.google.com/ponyandcarriage/DrivingHorseWear?feat=flashalbum#5572773187032040226. Yes, I know, I'm silly.

A good link for Eryn - http://www.ebay.com/sch/ponyandcarriage/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686.

I was glad to read about your latest adventures with Mara and Eryn. Is she close enough for you all to go on a ride together? Hope you have a great weekend!

lytha said...

Oh, Tara, they have breastcollars with stainless steel, very nice (but no adjustments possible on the "tugs"?). Also, look at this, traditinoal English laced reins from biothane! I'm looking for an alternative to the rubber pimply grip that disintegrates. http://www.hought.com/end.eng.reins.laced.html OH - 140$. That's a lot for reins. Their bridles sadly have conways on the bit hangers. Look at this - I love it: http://www.hought.com/endhc-3.html I'm starting to like those halter style bridles with no browband, cuz if I were a horse, I would want less straps on my sweaty face. But I'm such a traditionalist, I want my bridle to look like a bridle! Oh dear, I need LOTS of bridles I think.

Kay, the Germans always go for that tri-color look in red, black and yellow to match their flag. watch any FEI endurance ride and spot the nations by their colors: )
omy, a driving apron? cool. i'll have to ask her about that! she wants to teaach bellis to drive. i think bellis does whatever she wants. we'll see!

eryn is close enough to come over and help me regularly, which she is doing. it's great fun.




kbryan said...

That's great that Eryn is close, you guys will have a lot of fun and learning adventures. And if she teaches Bellis to drive, I'll buy her a plume! (Bellis, not Eryn. Unless Eryn wants one too. . . .).

Have a great weekend.

Eryn said...

TARTAN DRIVING APRON. I NEED IT SO BADLY IT HURTS.

I mean, hi.

I have to say I'm not a fan of zilco things because I like my equipment to break when I need it to break, and be able to be cut when I need to cut it (mainly in emergencies) and I'm the kind of strange person who gets some sort of therapeutic satisfaction out of cleaning tack.

And yes, Bellis should totally have a plume. I think that she'd be the cutest driving donkey of all time (and I'm a sucker for driving mules and donkeys).

kbryan said...

I didn't know what a driving apron was - what pretty colors - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tartan-Carriage-Driving-Aprons-Choice-of-6-Colour-Styles-Cotton-Lined-Wrap-/260890771196?pt=UK_Equestrian_Driving&var=&hash=item3cbe4d3efc. You definitely need one, no make that at least two.

It would be a hoot if you could teach Bellis to drive, I can so see her with a plume!

Have fun with the ponies!