Description
Dr Cook style padded leather bitless bridle
Only black leather in cob & full available – quality handmade Spanish leather copy of Dr Cook BB
Since PHS Saddlery have sadly confirmed that they do not wish to have an agent in UK I have been looking for good quality alternatives to offer.
Currently only in black and cob or full size, if they are popular I will hopefully be able to get more. Sizing is similar to the Dr Cook, although the nosebands are bigger.
Made in Spain from Spanish oiled leather, nicely padded and with a shaped headpiece – the difference in price between these and a genuine Dr Cook padded leather bridle imported from USA only serves to accentuate the many air miles travelled by a leather bridle made in UK from English leather to USA and then back again; compared to the Spanish leather version making the simple journey to UK from Spain.
Fitting a crossunder crossover Dr Cook style bitless bridle
We recommend Urad leather products to keep your leather in good condition.
The question of release
There is a long-standing debate about whether a crossover bridle releases…
The question of release is a moot point, with some humans seeming to think there is no release with a crossover bridle like the Dr Cook, but all horses seem to think that there is! We have used the Dr Cook Bitless Bridle for over 15 years – on a great variety of horses, our own & clients’ horses & have also used the bridle exclusively for backing horses over the past 15 years.
We have never had a problem with the bridle not releasing (and that applies to all the materials, English leather, Western leather, beta, webbing) – if the bridle didn’t release, then when a horse had been asked to halt he would refuse to go forward; likewise when asked to turn (right or left) the horse would circle instead of turning if the bridle didn’t release.
I think maybe people don’t think the bridle releases because very little pressure is needed in the first instance, so the release is often imperceptible to the human eye – although of course not to the horse, who is sensitive enough to feel a fly land.
Athene (store manager) –
If I was going to split hairs I would say the rings for the cross under straps are a touch small for my liking however if these were bigger I’d happily swap over to these from the Dr Cook, you can’t beat the quality for the price at all.
[Taking Athene’s comments on board, we now have these lovely bridles with larger O rings on the noseband]