Traditional scale bridles and reins

I make so much bridles and reins that I just can't fit them to the same page with everything else anymore.


Page updated: 24-25/9/19 - Page founded!
- 29/10/19: More bridles added; the first ones with split crownpieces. Some new designs anyway. There's also one new "fightmore", and one photo for reins. 
- 1/1/20: The rest of the 2019 bridles added, as well as one pile of reins.  
- 6/5/20: Added the first batch of 2020 bridles (because I forgot to update earlier). 

REINS

I make a lot of reins - they're really simple to do, and it seems that I always need new ones despite having filled two entire partition boxes with them. I need them in different lengths and widths, colors, with buckles or not in the bights. All my reins should fill some criterias: they need to have hooks to attach to the bits and they should be durable, thin enough and hang naturally enough. The leather also should be easy to slide through dolls' hands while adjusting the rein lengths and still be coarse enough so the dolls get a good, steady grip from them. All the reins can't meet these criterias, but many do, and just like real riders, different dolls can like different types of reins.

Yes, I use hooks in these instead of buckles, what comes to attaching them to bits. Reins (and bridles) with clip attachments do exist, and I mimic this by using hooks since I can't have miniminimini clips.

I usually do reins in batches, and like to make at least two reins per color/type: one wide with a buckle and one narrow with a jumpring or nothing in the bight. Why? Because you never know if you need double reins. I like to assemble dressage-like setups with my models, and I have very little tack that matches fully with each other (so usually the saddle, bridle and reins look like they're from different universes). From one old book I own I have read about that bight rule: snaffle rein should be wider and to have a buckle in the bight, while curb rein has to be thinner and lack the buckle. That is because the rider should be able to see the reins apart while on saddle. When there's only single reins, it doesn't matter what the bight is like, but because I like details, I prefer to add the ones with buckle or jumpring in them.

Thin, narrow reins made from fragile leather lace. On the right are reins that haven't been thinned; the lighter the underside is, the thinner it is. 2018.

Buckled reins from bright blue leather. The buckles are hook buckles, which I think is invented by myself. 2019.

Same as previously, but with yellow metal parts.

Pink leather reins with hook buckles in the bights.

Pink leather reins that have jumprings in the bights. So when combined with the hook buckled ones, these will be the curb reins.

Poison green leather reins with hook buckles in the bights.

Poison green reins with jumprings in the bights. These are slightly thinner and longer than the buckled ones, so can be used for curb bits in dressage. (Though the color is way too ugly for that.)

Two poison green reins without anything in the bights, and three bright blue reins with jumprings. 

Next some reins made from suede-like lace. I really don't know how to call that! The material looks and feels quite awesome, but doesn't work as nicely as leather does what comes to the realism in rein behavior. When it's wide, it works for halters and bridle paddings, but when cut half, it makes okay reins. My dolls get a good hold from those, at least usually and when they don't have too open hands (especially the cats get a good grip from this lace). This lace doesn't hang naturally, while leather does, so I don't prefer to use these for, like, western setups where the riders hold reins loose...

Pink suede-like lace reins. Probably made in 2018, for testing.

Lime green reins. 2019. These are hopeless to photograph.

Brown suede-like lace reins.

Red... This is really really pretty red, actually! And I photographed the tint wrongly, so it looks slightly colder than in real life.

Satin lace reins I made at October 2019 to see if they can work...

The rest are leather reins in earthy colors, which are the best ever of course. All lace used for these is/was made by me (cut strips from large leather pieces), some are thinned (flesh side removed with a knife) and some are not. 

A pile of the best reins.

Some of the oldest "best" reins made from soft, flexible and thin black leather. 2017. These have a bit fuzzy flesh sides, but they aren't annoying really. Some of these also ended up in bridle sets so are not piled with their "siblings".

Bights of the previously shown reins. Tongue buckles and five holes in the strap.

All-purpose reins (if that even is a thing) made from soft leather in colors of dark greyish blue and grey. Tongue buckles in the bights. I have made also some with jumprings in them. I need to mention that these are really some of the best reins I've ever had - they may look boring, but they work!

The difference of the blue and grey laces. These can't be thinned, so the buckles can be a bit clumsy to use - glad they don't need to be opened!

Thick, soft, deep black leather with really smooth top surface. 2018. The thickness is enough to make me doubt if these are good or not, but they seem to work okay and match nicely to some bridles, so are worth using.

Reins made from entirely homemade lace. Probably the first ever (and yet only, what comes to color) reins of this kind in my collection. Maybe made in 2018 or early 2019, I don't remember.

The difference between two of the reins shown previously: in the left we have that thick black lace, and on the right we have completely homemade lace. (With homemade I mean that I've made the lace entirely by myself; more than just taken a piece and cut it to strips.)

From left: good soft leather, dark blue leather, and completely homemade. All of these do work nicely and are still very different.

Split-end reins made from leather lace that was bought; technically this is made from it's flesh side that I was able to peel off. It works much better than the top side, what comes to reins. (The top side reins can be seen in top of the page!) 2019.

Same reins as shown previously.

Nice leather reins with either silver or black colored metal parts. There are three snaffle reins for both colors and one curb rein in each color. The leather in these is the same what I use for doll paws and tails, but it makes good tack material as well. Why I decided to make these was because I had already made bridles and saddles of creamy color, and needed reins to match with them.

BRIDLES

I've wanted to make bridles for very, very long, at least after I found the hobby in 2009. Only at 2017 I was able to "officially"start bridlemaking, though I had had some attempts in the years before that. One reason why I got crazy in 2017 was because at that year I finally dared to test to add tongure buckles to narrow lace similar to what bridles have. After that I found out how much easier and nicer tongue buckles actually are compared to sliding buckles - in these days (late 2019), when I've made about 50 bridles in traditional scale - and refuse to get back to those unless it's necessary.

I often give names to bridles, that makes it easier to name photo folders and so on. They can have some personality just like the horses and riders, believe it or not.  

A hackamore bridle I made somewhere in 2014. It has sliding buckles, and the leather is same what I used for some newer bridles as well. Imagine, once this was the best bridle I had!

2017

Knotbrowband, 2017, and it's three phases of development. This was my first proper bridle that had bits and a noseband - and first tongue buckles. I also did some bit and cheekpiece inventions with this, but as I look at them now (2019), aren't they a little poor...

Some kind of "in-hand bridle" I made for my friend Kave, as we had a trade going on and I wanted to make tack for her. The year was 2017. This was the first proper bridle I made that has tongue buckles from the start. I honestly liked this bridle so much - it was so detailed! - that I had to make one for my own collection.

My copy of the previously shown bridle.

Orange bridle I made in the summer 2017. This was also meant to go for Kave, but then I realised it could be cruel to send a bridle that has poor leather and buckles to struggle with, so I decided to keep this monstrosity for myself then. It has some anatomy errors... The martingal and reins belong to the set. (Later I added there hooks in the cheekpieces so the bits can be changed.)

The same set as previously shown.

Bling bridle I made in 2017 to test if I can make that thick leather work. No, don't try...

A wine red bridle with all additoonal parts possible, plus yet reins. 2017.

Another wine red bridle, 2017, fits smaller heads (like PAM and Zippo Pine Bar). This bridle has buckles symmetrically in both sides.

Dreamy's personal bridle. I originally made this in 2017, but it got redone in 2018 (took off the browband and throatlatch and replaced them with a single ear loop). I also changed the bits, as I had invented the technique to make those work.

Halloween bridle, made in Halloween 2017. This remains as one of my personal favorites despite being a bit rough already (the paddings in nose and browband...).

A random bridle from grey leather. 2017. The browband is made from flesh side of some thinned lace.

"Kilsaturpis", a random bridle from blue leather. 2017; got redone in 2019.

Kilsaturpis in 2019 after I retouched it, so it became a hackamore. The noseband sits way too low here, though.

"Hopeadee" (Silver D), 2017. Originally I didn't made a noseband to this, but when I needed one, I simply made the hanger and tucked a random strap (flash noseband I guess) to serve as that... This bridle's name comes from the fact that the first bit in it was a D ring snaffle (something I can't do anymore because I haven't found a technique).

In the summer 2019 Hopeadee got a "real" noseband... It's 'padding' is made from a piece of leather that is not thinned at all - the noseband needs to be adjusted very snugly, otherwise it doesn't conform with the horse's face. (And yes, the noseband strap is made from the same leather as the padding. There is a difference in the thickness.)

"Kultadee" (Gold D), 2017. Similar to Hopeadee but lacks noseband.

A bridle I made for a tutorial, 2017. For some reason it fits drafts better, or at least the crownpiece isn't too long... This got also a noseband + hanger later, and at some point I swapped the throatlatches between this and Rollo's bridle (hence the color difference in metal parts).

In 2017 I wanted to test if I can make a bridle from poor, fuzzy and soft leather. I did.

Green pony bridle. 2017.

Rollo's personal bridle. 2017. (The throatlatch got later swapped with another bridle, as it was too long for Rollo.)

2018

A violet bridle for drafts and others with enormous heads. 2018.

A simple "flowermore" made from wine red leather. There's no much quality, since I used the better parts for better bridles, but it works anyway. 2018.

A violet flowermore bridle. 2018. By removing the noseband part this becomes just a regular bridle and can be used with a bit.

Orange bridle, very simple. 2018. The reins belong to the set.

Reizvoll got his bridle almost immediately after he came in January 2018. He has a hackamore with orange paddings. The snaffle is just additional, but can be removed.

The same bridle as previously shown, now without the snaffle part.

Black bling bridle, made in summer 2018. Made from leather lace that I had to cut half width, and it was too narrow (and fragile) to add tongue buckles in it, hence the sliding buckles.

Chocolate bridle, summer 2018.

Black bridle with chocolate brown padding. Summer 2018.

"Liquorice bridle", summer 2018. Same stuff as the previous ones. The paddings aren't thinned, so the straps must be buckled completely, otherwise they fly around. Later this became a personal bridle for Vissy.

Green bridle made in summer 2018. Reins belong to the set. And as you see, the leather is misbehaving...

"Blood clot bridle", summer 2018. I named this after the color (it really is like a blood clot; not so visible in the photo). The browband padding and throatlatch chain are recycled parts from old projects which I never finished.

Sand brown bridle with pink suede-like lace paddings. Summer 2018. That leather was extremely frustrating to work with so I am not going to do anything from it anymore.

A bridle from dark violet patent leather, summer 2018. This bridle belongs to one of my dolls, he uses it during training.

Okay's personal bridle. 2018.

A boring bridle made from dark brown patent leather in 2018.

Chocolate brown bridle from March/December 2018. Fits mostly stock horses.

Wine red bridle for drafts. March/December 2018. The leather there is bad quality, it's flexible and was hard to measure while making the piece.

Blue dressage bridle I made in March/December 2018. There's my first proper attempt at making a split crownpiece, but it isn't visible... And it's broken. The leather in this bridle isn't the best for such detailed work really. (And I fought hours with the noseband alone!)

"Lesson bridle" that I made from leftover pieces I got when I worked on another bridle and some parts didn't work in it. So I used them to assemble a smaller 'casual bridle'... March/December 2018. (I need to add a knot to the browband to make it shorter.)

"Fragiledressage" made from paper thin leather lace. Made at March/December 2018. That lace is too fragile and narrow for tongue buckles, hence the name (and sliding buckles). I fought a lot with this bridle, but in the end I can say it's one of my personal favorites despite being a total pain to put on. And yes, there's a flash noseband... I know it should never be used when there are two reins and/or a curb, let alone in dressage. Of course it is removable!

2019

"Single-scrag bridle" I designed for the Smarty Jones mold and similar ones that aren't so tack friendly. Spring-winter 2019.

A black bridle with bling leather padding. February 2019. I guess this was the first bridle I made from the leather lace that I made entirely by myself, and I can say that this is better than any pre-made lace I've bought!

A black dressage bridle with bright blue paddings. February 2019. The padding in the noseband is already narrowed, so it doesn't look so flat anymore...

A brown bridle for smaller warmbloods. March 2019. The lace was made by myself.

A brown pony bridle made at the April 2019. Homemade lace.

A brown dressage bridle with creamy-white padding. It has buckles symmetrically on both sides (even in throatlatch). September 2019. The set has also a flash noseband, just because I can make one.

A plain black bridle I made for a tutorial. October 2019.

A brown "therapy bridle" I made after my friend suggested it. October 2019. I got the idea for that noseband since I once (when I was about 13 years old) rode a gelding with rein rings in his noseband. This also is my first bridle that has a split crownpiece.

I made a personal bridle for the Roemer model I have, since he's a dressage horse and I have a "official" rider for him already. October 2019. Since I found out that his head is a bit small for a typical double bridle, and I fight way too much with the bits, I decided to simplify this and added a ring end piece on the noseband.

Personal bridle for the Roy model, who got nicknamed as Limppu. October 2019. The lace I used this time is made from the 3 mm wide leather lace I normally can't use with tongue buckles; with this one, I decided to slice some off from the width, and got it similar in width as the entirely homemade lace I usually prefer. There's a satin lace padding in the browband.

The second "therapy bridle", now in black. October 2019. (The noseband is just loose, and I knocked it down a bit... Nothing is wrong there.)

I call this one a "bitless fightmore", but actually is is just a hackamore with an extra noseband with the ring end piece on it. Due to some accidents I found out that this (or the nosebands...) fits smaller heads only, like not the Salinero mold.

In October 2019 I decided to make an average bridle with only black metal pieces. The noseband has three layers of leather, with the padding being in dark blue color. The browband was one random piece I have made previously and just wanted to find use for. (And that flash noseband isn't a part of the set at all.)

Decided to make a personal bridle for Lanttu, he has to wear a hackamore since the bits can damage his mouth. Oct 2019.

"Toffee-cream bridle". I wanted to make a creamy colored bridle, but had nothing to make split crowns for it from, so I mixed some brown into it. What is unusual in thius bridle is that I first sketched it beforehand, and then I also tested to make different buckles instead of what I have used all the time previously. It works, but the buckles are a bit difficult to handle (at least for now) since their tongues are moving. Nov 2019.

Made a personal bridle for Namu. The buckle type is similar to Toffee-cream bridle's.

2020

A regular bridle which I made for my American friend LittleYoungOne. Feb 2020.

A tongue buckled version of a bridle I designed for models like this; the mane is much less of a problem when you have to unbuckle only one strap! That also was my first time to make leather keepers into the cheekpieces. April 2020.

A regular bridle; my first time making all the "permanent" keepers from leather. The buckles match the straps in width and also have moving tongues. This also is my first bridle where I dared to cut slots into the splitcrown so that the noseband hanger can go through it. April 2020.

Fightmore bridles. I add these separately, because these require some explanation to understand. I use the term "fightmore" to describe bridles who have unusual build and a lot of straps plus yet harsh bits in them. Other names could be multipurpose bridle and monster bridle, since there are many options to how to use and adjust these. The function of these bridles can be difficult to understand unless you pay extra attention to them and how they are assembled. Related contraptions do exist in 1:1 scale. And in case you think these could be cruel on a real horse, I can say I definitely agree. With proper fitting and less pieces these bridles can be okay, but as you can see, there's usually too much stuff and bad fitting in these bridles. Now I leave you to ponder them on your own.

The first Fightmore, which I made in 2018. Putting this on is an extremely laborious process, and usually I have to take apart some of the straps since they couldn't go where they should otherwise. The long shanked hackamore is a "permanent" part of the set, while the other bit varies (I mean, the hackamore can be removed but just belongs to the set). And as weirder the bits are, as more freaky the whole contraption looks like. (I have a plan to make a separate hanger for the noseband.)

In October 2019 I made the first Fightmore a separate noseband hanger. The leather is not the same as with the main bridle, since I can't get more of that. Now this bridle is much easier to put on than earlier!

The Red Fightmore, made in summer 2018. This is yet more of a multipurpose bridle than the first fightmore. There are two throatlatches: one attached to the noseband cheekpieces and a removable one joining with the crownpieces. I had a plan that the browband loops can be fully for the crownpieces, hence the throatlatch solutions. The black lace is practically homemade (thinned and cut from thick leather pieces), and I'm annoyed by the fact that I can't ge it more since that leather really isn't thinning-friendly... To make this bridle work and fit as many ways as possible, I ve made some replacement crownpieces and other parts to have in stock.

The Red Fightmore with the hackamore option. Yes, it sits way too low on the nose. It should not. There's already two nosebands who steal space, that is why. (Of course the flash noseband can be removed.)

The Orange Fightmore, summer 2018. The leather in this is extremely bad but yet useable, so, let's use it then. I designed this so that the noseband could be widely adjusted and set as high as possible, while it still stays away from the eyes and cheekbones. With the same logic the throatlatch is attached to the noseband cheekpieces.

The Brown Fightmore, October 2019. It has some variety in how you want to assemble it. I yet have to make a separate (shorter) throatlatch for the upper version (it attaches to the crownpiece by loops) and shorter cheeks for the hackamore shanks (and two adjustable curbstraps could be nice too). Fightmores have a variety of additional parts to go with them anyway. The flash noseband I stole from another bridle where it was actually useless. (The bit and hackshanks here are just random.)

Hm, I don't know what to say. There's a whole own page for bits as well...