New To Bridle Making

[elysenj1987]

Hello my name is Elyse. I want to start making western bridles. I need help... what are some basic tools needed? And what type of leather do I need? What suppliers do people buy from?

[Louisianawhipmaker]

Sorry no one else has responded to you, just saw this today. Tandy is a good choice to get started they have pretty much everything you would need from buckles, skiveing knives, needles, thread, rivets, leather and punches

[cgleathercraft]

Tandy also has some general patterns for tack. Thats a good starting point. Springfield leather is also a great place to check out. Give em a call and they should be able to help you out with most everything you have questions about. Prices are also very reasonable there.

[oltoot]

A visit to somebody's tack room with pencil, paper and measuring tape in hand would be helpful, too.

[unicornleather]

Make sure you buy bridle butt and not bridle shoulder, it catches a lot of people out!

I think you call it by a different name in the USA though but all bridles should be made out of the BUTT leather, it has a breaking strain in places of 4-5000lbs per square inch compared to 2000 lbs for shoulder.

Oz

[oltoot]

Unicorn you are right but one should not be subjecting bridles (horse's mouths through bits) to that kind of stess, anyway. So, in theory, you should be able to make bridles for broke horses out of pretty light stuff but there aren't a lot of real broke horses in the real world.

Sort of an unwinnable argument and therefore should not have a lot of time wasted on it. Butt's it should be cause life is what it is.

Edited December 13, 2014 by oltoot

[unicornleather]

Here in the UK it is different, you don't subject the horse's head to that sort of stress as UK saddlery is designed in a way it will break but what you don't want is leather breaking whilst riding. Butt leather is the choice here for bridlework, shoulder is not strong enough as well as stretches too much which in itself can lead to failure of equipment..