So back during the first week of March (also known as pre-COVID19), I thought it would be awesome to support the Auburn Eventing Team by bidding in their auction. Some of the cooler options (like clinics and lessons) weren’t available to me due to shear geographical issues. BUT they did have a pretty bridle on sale.
I’ve never seen a Flexible Fit bridle in person, and honestly, my expectations for winning the thing were very low. The bridle, valued at over $300, only had a bit as high as like $100. I threw down a bid and forgot about it. Until… I got an email saying I had won. Yay!
I paid for the bridle and shipping, and even as the world started to fall apart, it showed up fairly quickly. Double Yay! The quality was super nice, something I mostly wasn’t expecting. Flexible Fit was, to me, the brand you went to when your horse was outside standard sizes… which mine isn’t. In fact, she is a very standard horse size with the occasional oversized browband (depending on the brand).
Thennnn, as most of you remember, I put it on my horse… and it was TINY. Like clearly INCHES away from fitting in any part of this bridle. UGH. I figured I could resell it for what I paid for it, but the quality was really high, and I had been SO EXCITED about the awesome deal I got.
I reached out to the online auction, and they got me in touch with the flexible fit team. I will admit it. I was skeptical. I had no receipt for the original purchase. I have no idea WHO even bought the thing (or if it was donated). And I clearly had not bought it from them directly. They would’ve been well within their rights to just wish me luck reselling it.
But shout out to Samantha, they didn’t. Once I confirmed what size I had (a COB….) and what size I wanted (a horse). She located the parts I needed. I shipped back the cob size, and she shipped me the horse size. Total cost to me? Just the cost of shipping. I even ended up keeping the cob sized reins because May has no neck…
I will say, given what is going on, the process was no speedy. I emailed them on March 30th, and even though they responded to me right away on April 1st, I didn’t have my new bridle in my hands until April 10th. (For my birthday!) The delivery even came with a handwritten note from Samantha and instructions on how to care for it.
Overall, I was SUPER happy with the experience, and the bridle is REALLY nice. Huge quality upgrade over my micklem, and I honestly think that May is a lot more comfortable in it than the micklem. You can see from the picture below how far back from her ears it is actually cut, and the padding is super squishy. I wish I had gotten better pictures of it, because it REALLY IS PRETTY. And it has one of those truly convertible flash nosebands that you can remove without having the little tab left. Love it!
So… the plan now is to sell the micklem (horse sized with reins and bit clips… if anyone is interested) and buy myself a new jumping bridle through them. My current jumping bridle is 7 years old and was never the highest quality to start with. Given all I have put it through (somehow, it always seems to be the bridle I am using when I get caught in the rain), I think it might be time to retire it… or just save it for those rain rides.
This review is not sponsored and the items discussed in this review were purchased by me with my own money. I received no compensation for this post, and I receive no compensation for the links within this post.
Good customer service goes a long way. They easily could have just offered you a discount or nothing since you bought it through an auction. I am in the market for a second bridle since I have two bits now and am tired of constantly changing them out. I’ll look into them and see if they have anything that would suit.
yeah. They really had no responsibility to me AT ALL. But they were responsive and helpful and never even questioned if I should get to swap out what I had for what I wanted. And a nice product to boot? Already mocked up a custom Jump bridle… haha
That bridle looks amazing on her. So glad the company helped you out and now more people will remember thier name. Win win to all!! YAY.
I am SUPER happy wtih it. Wish I had gotten better pictures hahaha
Thanks for the review on this bridle/company! I’m trying to find a bridle for my beast of a QH and this might be just the option I was looking for! I’m off to play around on their website!
Yes!! I have already played around with a ton of jumping bridle options hahaha.
I will say, definitely measure before you order. The charging for shipping thing applies to any purchases made through their website, so it’s easier/cheaper just to order correctly the first time.
So glad it worked out! It looks beautiful on her!
Your experience is 100% part of the reason I’m getting a noseband from them!
Enabling at its finest 😉
Woohoo! Bumper really didn’t feel the Mickleham style bridles. Hated it actually. So much happier in a plain cavesson, and I also always go the converter nosebands because I hate hat hate that silly little tab!
the little tabs drive me crazy. Yesterday was our second ride in this set up, and she still seems way happier. Go figure!
Yay for that!
Fantastic customer service – that is awesome!
Yes! They even sent me another email the day after this post to make sure I was happy with the new bridle. A+