I took a risk and bought my pony a few new bridle parts after her 20 year old Mexican noseband started fraying (new stitching required). This lead me on a hunt to find some new leatherwork of excellent quality. Did the Henry James leather meet my expectations? Absolutely. Not only is the fit perfect for my oddly shaped Connemara x WB mare, it also looks to fit better than her old one too. It’s definitely stopped her incessant itching after riding. Did I mention that you can instantly tell it’s high quality leather the moment you unwrap it? The smell takes me back to my youth when you walked into an old fashioned tack shop with plenty of good quality English leather/ tack and non of the low quality “moderately priced” (yes it isn’t even cheap anymore!) tat that we used to grown upon. It’s become so much easier to find the cheap tat at a moderately priced range all designed for fashion, and rare to find the quality English leather. I honestly couldn’t recommend this enough, the whole noseband is soft and supple, it instantly feels amazing to handle. Pony likes it and it looks to fit her perfectly around her nose too. The crossover leather pad is a little more stiff than I’d have liked but I love the option to switch between sheepskin or leather. I may try the sheepskin on her. Obviously I also needed cheek pieces (to go with the new bridlework) and headpiece too - my old bridle used the old style nosebands which sat independently. The only thing I didn’t add from Henry James was a browband, as I’ve loads of sparkly ones that I love.
Thanks so much! I love my new noseband and the flexibility of it.
