A Horse Bridle

Mistress Eleanor fitzPatrick

Period References

The Manesse Codex was my only period source for the making of this bridle. There are numerous depictions of bridles in the document, all of which are variations on one basic style. Some of them have nosebands, some do not. Some have browbands, others do not. Many have decorations on the leather, some are plain. Nearly all have a round or ring element of some sort where the browband meets the cheekstrap. Many have a sort of extra loop around the ears in addition to a browband, a feature which is not found in modern bridles. Modern bridles have one or the other, not both. Samples of each style may be seen below.

Bridle without noseband or browband
Bridle with ear loops, browband, no noseband
Bridle with ear loops, browband, nose band and decorated leather
Bridle with noseband and decorated leather but no ear loops.

My interpretation, modern materials, shortcuts

The version of bridle I choose to make was the one most like a modern English bridle, with a noseband and browband, but no earloops.

This bridle was my first attempt at leatherworking. I did not trust my life to my stitching ability so the bridle is glued and riveted where a period one would have been stitched. I really didn't know much about how to dye and seal leather properly, but I did know that my horse's sweat tends to leach the dye out of modern leather products. I also knew that I'd need to be able to oil and soften the leather so it wouldn't rub or gall his face. Because of this I left the backside of each piece completely untreated.

I used vegetable tanned, harness weight leather, modern dye and modern buckles. The studs are modern as well, and the closest I could come up with to what is shown in the original source.

The round "bridle bosses" that are shown at the junction of the browband and cheekstrap are readily available today from harness catalogs. I choose to purchase plain brass rounds and paint them with model enamel. There is insufficient detail in my source to see exactly what the design on the bosses actually was, beyond one example of a cross, so I chose to use my arms.

The bit attached to the bridle is the modern "French link snaffle" that I ride my horse in ordinarily. It's similar, but not identical, to a very mild period bit. It is here for illustrative purposes only.

In the original source, the reins appear fairly short. They also appear to be separate reins joined together rather than one piece. For safety's sake and lack of a better idea, I made them buckle together. This allows me to keep both reins together when riding, but allows me to separate them easily.