Meet the Tester
Laura is Redpost’s Merchandising and Promotions lead. Laura has a keen eye for detail and loves to ride out on her loan horse Bailey.
About the product
The Schockemohle Auckland Grackle Bridle has been designed as part of Schockemohle’s Classic Line, which combines performance with quality at a great value price.
Featuring a raised and padded figure-8 noseband with a slightly shaped and softly padded headpiece, this bridle offers high levels of comfort for your horse throughout wear. Real sheepskin at the centre of the noseband helps to minimise discomfort, while the padding behind the noseband buckles reduces the risk of pinching and rubbing.
The cheek pieces have a hook and stud closure and the throat lash is adjustable on both sides.
What were your first impressions?
“Before fitting this Schockemohle Bridle to Bailey I was extremely impressed by the quality of the leather. It has a very smart appearance, yet felt soft, flexible and supple even without any leather oil on it. Bailey is quite sensitive and his skin can be prone to rubbing, so it was great to see that the buckles that fastened around the mouth had padding behind them to eliminate pinching. The straps that sit over the cheekbones are also padded, providing extra comfort exactly where it is needed.”
How was the sizing & fit?
“Bailey is 16.1hh so I chose the full size bridle. This meant the browband, cheekpieces and headpiece fitted perfectly, with the buckles fastening on the central holes to allow for adjustment both up and down. I did find the grackle noseband was quite generously sized, so I did have to add an extra hole on both straps to achieve the fit I wanted.”
How did you test the product?
“Over the past couple of months this bridle has been everywhere Bailey and I have been! Come rain or shine, I have used it for schooling, hacking, fun rides and competitions. Using the grackle has certainly helped Bailey’s way of going, keeping the bit more stable in his mouth and encouraging him to relax into a contact.”
What was your favourite feature?
“The padded headpiece is my favourite part of this Schockemohle Bridle. It has super soft padding to distribute pressure and the noseband strap threads through the side of the headpiece and sits over the top. This reduces the risk of any pinching or discomfort that may occur with traditional headpiece designs.”
Any other comments?
“The only change I would make to the bridle would be the sheepskin pad that sits under the noseband. It would be great if this pad was attached to the bridle by Velcro so that it could be removed to make washing a little easier, or replaced if it started to look a little tired. That being said, even after two months of regular use, the sheepskin pad still looks like new and I feel confident that it has many years of use in it.
Another positive I’d like to highlight is the browband on the Auckland Bridle. When fitting other bridles, I have often noticed many come with quite small browbands for their size, leaving a small amount of room across the front of the head. I think it’s really important to ensure all parts of a bridle fit correctly, so it was great to see the Auckland Bridle came with a generously sized browband that was curved to sit away from the sensitive areas of the face.
Overall, I could not recommend this Schockemohle Bridle enough and am certainly going to look into updating the rest of my tack, such as my reins, to Schockemohle as I have been so impressed by the quality and features.”
