Bitless Bridle/Training Halter

[TomE]

Halter or bridle? This training halter has an additional noseband that attaches to reins, functioning as a bitless bridle. The flexible noseband is made from woven rope wrapped in soft leather. A browband was added to secure the crown.  Made from Hermann Oak bridle leather, nappa leather for the padding, stainless steel hardware from Beiler's Manufacturing and Supply, and Equus rubber grips on the reins from Abbey England.

[DieselTech]

Looks nice. Outstanding work as always. 

Do you use a stitching groover for your sew line? Or possibly heat crease a stitch line? 

Or does the stitch just pull in that tight, due to the nappa padding leather when sewn?

Thanks. 

[TomE]

8 hours ago, DieselTech said:

Looks nice. Outstanding work as always. 

Do you use a stitching groover for your sew line? Or possibly heat crease a stitch line? 

Or does the stitch just pull in that tight, due to the nappa padding leather when sewn?

Thanks. 

Thanks, @DieselTech.  I don't use a stitch groover.  I mark the stitch lines with a divider for machine sewing, and use pricking irons for hand sewing.  I tap the stitch lines on the backside to flatten the blowout from the machine needle.  When repairing tack it's typically the leather that breaks, usually where it wraps around hardware, not the thread.  The only thread I've seen fail is old linen thread that rotted.

[DieselTech]

56 minutes ago, TomE said:

Thanks, @DieselTech.  I don't use a stitch groover.  I mark the stitch lines with a divider for machine sewing, and use pricking irons for hand sewing.  I tap the stitch lines on the backside to flatten the blowout from the machine needle.  When repairing tack it's typically the leather that breaks, usually where it wraps around hardware, not the thread.  The only thread I've seen fail is old linen thread that rotted.

Thanks TomE. I appreciate the feedback. I always seem to learn something every time you post a project.

[Goldshot Ron]

Looks very good Tom.  Is the reins strap part of the nose band, or did you sew them together?  And, you may have told me, but I forgot if you did; do you use a filler in the rounded jaw strap?  I had a new halter come into the shop last week, and the jaw strap was kinked.  I tried to round it out, but it seemed like the filler inside the leather was possibly a piece of wire and did not smooth out like I wanted.

Thanks, Ron

[TomE]

3 hours ago, Goldshot Ron said:

Looks very good Tom.  Is the reins strap part of the nose band, or did you sew them together?  And, you may have told me, but I forgot if you did; do you use a filler in the rounded jaw strap?  I had a new halter come into the shop last week, and the jaw strap was kinked.  I tried to round it out, but it seemed like the filler inside the leather was possibly a piece of wire and did not smooth out like I wanted.

Thanks, Ron

Thank you, Ron.  The round nose strap for reins is a separate piece that can slide across the nose.  There is an additional, fixed noseband behind the halter square to support the halter on the nose.  The throatlatch round is 7 oz leather wrapped around a filler strip of 7 oz leather, sewn, trimmed, and shaped in a rein rounder.  It is described in the PDF linked to this post:

 

[Goldshot Ron]

Thanks Tom.  I'll have to check out the link.

[Mulesaw]

Fantastic looking as always!

You do an amazing job on those!

Brgds Jonas

[TomE]

1 hour ago, Mulesaw said:

Fantastic looking as always!

You do an amazing job on those!

Brgds Jonas

Thank you, Jonas.  Replaced the flexible noseband today.  Trainer said my leather covered nose band didn't slide easily with rein pressure, so I swapped it out for braided rope to match the Monty Roberts Dually training halter.  The client has a Dually halter but wanted something nicer looking.  It took me a while to find a rope clamp to match the stainless hardware.  Found stainless steel rope clamps at Beiler's, cut one in two and ground/polished it for looks.  Learned that the steel rope clamps are A LOT harder to close than the brass clamps.

Edited October 18 by TomE

[Mulesaw]

On 10/18/2024 at 10:42 PM, TomE said:

Thank you, Jonas.  Replaced the flexible noseband today.  Trainer said my leather covered nose band didn't slide easily with rein pressure, so I swapped it out for braided rope to match the Monty Roberts Dually training halter.  The client has a Dually halter but wanted something nicer looking.  It took me a while to find a rope clamp to match the stainless hardware.  Found stainless steel rope clamps at Beiler's, cut one in two and ground/polished it for looks.  Learned that the steel rope clamps are A LOT harder to close than the brass clamps.

Looks lige a very elegang solution, and I would guess that it slides a lot easier compared to the leather. 
Did you sew together the braided rope together?

Brgds Jonas

[TomE]

4 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

Looks lige a very elegang solution, and I would guess that it slides a lot easier compared to the leather. 
Did you sew together the braided rope together?

Brgds Jonas

No, I made it like the original.  The rope is looped through the other ring, I think to even out the pressure from both segments when the reins are applied.

Edited October 20 by TomE

[Mulesaw]

2 hours ago, TomE said:

No, I made it like the original.  The rope is looped through the other ring, I think to even out the pressure from both segments when the reins are applied.

Ah, that makes sense :-)

[jcuk]

On 10/3/2024 at 3:47 AM, DieselTech said:

Looks nice. Outstanding work as always. 

Do you use a stitching groover for your sew line? Or possibly heat crease a stitch line? 

Or does the stitch just pull in that tight, due to the nappa padding leather when sewn?

Thanks. 

The crease line is to give your work a more finished look. The way i was taught to make tack was to cut, mark, edge, stain, crease (Heat Crease) so when comes to stitch marking you lay the pricking iron just on the inside of the crease line as close as you can get prick the work to desired length. Once all your work is stitched re-stain and crease. Only time i have used a stitch groover was on some rolled work that was before i got the correct tool for burying your stitches for rolled work. 

Hope this helps

JCUK 

[jcuk]

On 10/20/2024 at 12:20 PM, TomE said:

No, I made it like the original.  The rope is looped through the other ring, I think to even out the pressure from both segments when the reins are applied.

Can i ask a question does the clamp slide through the Head collar loop freely only ask because i would be worried it would get stuck if pulled through

Regard JCUK

 

[TomE]

4 hours ago, jcuk said:

Can i ask a question does the clamp slide through the Head collar loop freely only ask because i would be worried it would get stuck if pulled through

Regard JCUK

 

Yes, that concerns me as well.  I made the rope noseband several inches longer than the fixed noseband behind it, in an effort to keep the hardware out of the way.  Copied the design of the Monty Roberts dually halter that the client owns - it uses a similar rope clamp made of brass but client wanted stainless to match.  She reports that my leather halter is working well.  She competes in dressage and is using this device to correct some bad habits of a horse with a sensitive mouth.

[jcuk]

15 hours ago, TomE said:

Yes, that concerns me as well.  I made the rope noseband several inches longer than the fixed noseband behind it, in an effort to keep the hardware out of the way.  Copied the design of the Monty Roberts dually halter that the client owns - it uses a similar rope clamp made of brass but client wanted stainless to match.  She reports that my leather halter is working well.  She competes in dressage and is using this device to correct some bad habits of a horse with a sensitive mouth.

Yes it can happen but its more likely it won't, maybe a rubber biscuit would help with that also i think i wound have stitched the rope as Jonas had asked just because of the feeling that rope could work loose or hardware failure so its twice secured. Another good place to source some good and hard to find hardware are ships chandlers.

Hope this helps

JCUK

[TomE]

4 hours ago, jcuk said:

Yes it can happen but its more likely it won't, maybe a rubber biscuit would help with that also i think i wound have stitched the rope as Jonas had asked just because of the feeling that rope could work loose or hardware failure so its twice secured. Another good place to source some good and hard to find hardware are ships chandlers.

Hope this helps

JCUK

Good suggestions, @jcuk.  Thank you.