Padding on bridles- fashion or comfort?

[KarinUS]

OK. I am in the market for a new bridle to go with my new gear...
I like the padded models but that's what I am used to from my dressage gear.
Is the padding on the bridles really for comfort or is it just a fashion thing?
I intend on buying a good quality leather bridle- nothing terribly stiff anyway.
I am not planning on showing hunt seat but would like to keep my options open for the future.
Any ideas about bridles?

[galadriel]

I don't really have anything to back this up :) but I think that the padded bridles are nicer to the horse. That's just going from the fact that the more area you have taking pressure, the less pressure there is at any one spot. But the bridles with padding usually have padding where there isn't much pressure (unless your browband is too tight, or you feel a need to overtighten the noseband to keep the horse's mouth closed).

There are now bridles with extra padding in places where there is pressure, and designed to be exceptionally nice to the horse. There's padding across the crownpiece, which I think is most of the difference, although there are a few others. I think Lgd has one, and chimed in on a thread about them (I can't remember the brand names just now). Several other people mentioned them...argh can't recall the brands. There were 2 mentioned.

I don't think there's a significant difference between padded & non-padded bridles...but I like padded bridles. On the other hand, I'd love a rolled bridle for Kat (she has such a dainty face), which has a tiny surface across the browband and noseband; I don't think it would seriously affect the amount of pressure anywhere.

[entreat]

Many of the cheaper padded bridles I've seen are crudely padded, and often feel very stiff, which I'm sure is about fashion, not comfort!

I bought a padded bridle a couple weeks ago with the most supple, soft padding and leather that I almost wanted to wear it!

To answer the questions, I think it's both. The cheap ones are about fashion, but the more expensive ones (mine was discounted from $170AUD) can be very comfortable. Personally, I like just plain, no nose-band bridles, if the horse is suited to that.

[Pink's lady]

Be careful if you buy a padded noseband, with the intention of having it quite tight.

The extra padding pushes the horses cheeks between it's cheek teeth, causing them to bite them. Owwww! It's less of a problem of the padding is only on the front and back, but some have padding all the way around.

If you've no intention of having anything tight, it really depends on your horse. For some horses the padding makes the bridle too big for their face, and swamps them. It suits others.

i can't see that it will have much affect on their comfort unless anything is tight.

[virtuallyhorses]

I've umm'd and arr'd about this too. Personally I've come to the conclusion that the padding is there for us not the horse. I haven't seen a single padded bridle where I thought - hey that must be nice ... :( However, looking at finer\thinner leather does look more comfortable and less irritating. I think fit is much more important than padding and the lighter the better - padding adds bulk and this looks more annoying than any advantage it could give IMHO.

I've been particularly interested in the ones where they shape the head band just around the ears to provide more room - quite by accident I purchased a new bridle which was a roomier fit around the poll\ears than my previous one (strange fit at the throatlatch as I have to put it on the last hole but I can live with that)

[kedwards]

For heavy duty halters, which are required to be quite thick, I like padding. For bridles: if you are looking for a thinner bridle, made of very supple leather, then it should be plenty soft. Extra layers can actually add extra stiffness.

I have a padded for my thicker dressage bridle and a non-padded for my regular bridle. The latter is suppler and "looks" more comfortable, in that it seems to fall and contour more naturally on Bud's head. As has been mentioned, the parts of the bridle shouldn't bear any pressure, unless one is using a hackamore of other set-up that involves nose pressure.