Dressing LH with a side of DIY dyeing

LH's special tongue habit (ie always waving a nice hello with his tongue as he goes around the ring) needs a properly fitted flash for shows. I disagree with the idea that the flash "stabilizes the bit" so I am calling this one what it is - some judges will mark down for the tongue out and I would prefer not to lose those points. I ask LH to keep his in his mouth for roughly 2.5 minutes every 30 days or so. 

Anyways, small explanation aside, Yoshi's tongue truly was an expression of tense hands or a bit/bridle he didn't like. He ended up loving an "FSS monocrown crank" with no flash. Actually, I never tried a flash on him, but since his tongue expressed feelings, I didn't feel like it was right to smoosh it into his mouth. If he trotted down centerline with his tongue out and the judge somehow missed the other signs of tension, they would have been right to dock him points for it. I also hate the way flash tabs look when they're empty. 

So for LH, I ended up buying a used Frank Baines event bridle with a detachable flash. It has now become a moot point because we also have a dressage bridle that has a flash that he'll go in at shows, but that makes it even better that it is detachable. I've never had a bridle with a detachable flash, and I actually love the design. 

Slide the flash piece through a very not noticeable opening in the layers of the noseband

And now you've got a flash attachment!

I don't particularly care for the way the noseband adjusts though. The noseband strap fits through the crownpiece in a way that seems very comfy for the horse, but means if you're trying to adjust it on the horse you have to adjust the buckle on the left side and then fidget with the strap till it hangs evenly. It is also harder to even out if the noseband gets crooked.

Also, because it was what I found, the bridle is (was) oakbark. For some reason, I just hate that bright brown. It looks fine on horses in general, and it looked fine on LH's beautiful dark coat, but I still hated it. I also got him a fun browband off Amazon and bought that in Havana. And every time I put on that mismatched combo, I just cringed. In spite of the way my house looks, I apparently do have a sense of style/fashion (just hidden deep within that only emerges when it comes to horse things...).

Can't quite see the browband color here, but this shows the bridle pretty well

Browband

So, inspired by BreedRideEvent, I bought leather dye... and got to work. 

I'm a terrible blogger, so this is the sole picture I have of the process: 

I followed her steps basically, but here they are: 

1) Acetone on a rag to remove the waxy coating. Per her blog you can buy deglazer, but you can also use nail polish remover (acetone). We have a giant container of acetone, so I wasn't going to go buy something else. I should have checked this step in sunlight, because I think it is to blame for the slight unevenness of the finished product the first go round. 

2) Fiebling's chocolate dye for the bridle. 

I figured this was the color that matched havana (his browband and saddle) the best. Because it was a bridle and because we didn't have a foam paintbrush that I could find, I applied it by hand using a rag. SHOULD WEAR GLOVES FOR THIS STEP! It's still under my fingernails 5 days later... in spite of that acetone... I dipped the tip of the rag into the container and did my best to work it into all the crevices of the leather. 

3) Apply some kind of sealant. I used Obenhauf's heavy duty leather preservative. 

It was highly recommended on Amazon and people weren't wrong. After I finished, the bridle feels much nicer than it did before. It is soft and supple and... 

A very nice chocolate brown with a little ombre... Steps 1 and 2 should be done and verified in the bright sunlight

I redid a tiny bit on the noseband and the cheekpiece by just doing steps 1 and 2 on the tiny bit that was still too oakbark, and...  

No more ombre! 

For his dressage bridge, I got him a Premier Equine "diamante" because he is fancy and MUST sparkle. 

The joke is on me because the noseband adjusts in the same way as the Frank Baines. Must be a British thing. It does make for a cleaner look on the off side, so I can see why they do it. Noseband aside, I really like the bridle. This is my first leather goods purchase from them and so far I'm impressed. It was very, very reasonable price wise and seems to be good quality. LH does stadium and dressage in the same bit, and I am not switching the bit back and forth at home just so the bridle matches the saddle. Which means the Frank Baines is going to continue to be our daily bridle, so I won't truly get to test out the Premier Equine durability. 

But I will get to test out my dye job on the Frank Baines as he sweats and gets rained on. So far we are three rides in and there is no sign of fading or leaving dye on him! 

Unrelated update, Yoshi and his new owner are getting along superbly, and he looks fantastic. It makes my heart happy to follow them on facebook and see the spoiled life he is living.