Our friends at SmartPak are running a cool promotion this week to give free shipping on their Wellfleet bridles. They were kind enough to send me a Wellfleet eventing bridle to try it out and tell Eventing Nation a bit about it–one of the perks of writing for Eventing Nation.
I decided to use the horse in the above photo for two reasons. First, he has a cute face and a great smile. Second, he’s a horse that was vetted for the Pan Ams after Jersey and has a good shot at going to the Pan Ams if the rest of the year goes as well as it could for him. I’ll let you guess the horse. That being said, he has a pretty small face and I would suggest using the smaller size Wellfleet for horses with smaller heads–I only had a regular size that SmartPak sent me to use.
Pros:
Quality–Just from feeling the bridle, you can tell it is well put together. The leather is soft and thick and the stitching is very tight.
Comfort–It’s no surprise, but SmartPak was obviously thinking about the horse when they made the bridle. Every point of contact with the horse, including the noseband buckle is padded and very soft. The flash of course is not padded but it is still very soft. If I was a horse, I’d definitely want to wear this bridle. The crownpiece in particular is padded really well and the cheekpiece is integrated into the padding, which is a really nice detail.
Reins: The reins are rubber with the perfect width and feel. Some rubber reins are too small, some are too thick, these are just right for my hands. Also the bumps are just the right diameter.
Flash: Nothing fancy there, but it is thick, well stiched, and I don’t feel like it would stretch out too much like thin flashes.
Cons:
White stitching: This is a personal preference and all stitching ends up brown in the long run, but I like brown stitching better than white.
Raised reins: Again, a style issue, but I like reins that have flat leather rather than raised as I don’t really see the point of raised leather on reins. Anyone who knows me knows that there’s no point in me even trying to be fashionable, so I don’t try with my tack either–it’s function over form for me.
Brand name: If you have to have an brand name bridle, this isn’t an ultra brand name bridle. But, it makes up for it by being similar quality at a better price.
[Click here to check out the selection of Wellfleet bridles]
Thanks to SmartPak for making Eventing Nation part of another one of their promotions and, as always, thanks to SmartPak for their fantastic support of Eventing Nation. They signed on as sponsors and believed in us when most people hadn’t even heard of Eventing Nation and I will always appreciate that. The free shipping only lasts until Thursday. Go eventing.
