Forums at The Military Horse

Last year I asked if anyone knew where I could get the triangles for the bridoon on the M-1909 Bridle and I can't remember who said he had some. Does anyone know where I can get some?

Also, does anyone happen to know how long the cantle strap of the 1st pattern M1904 was? I have orginal rigging, but the cantle strap was cut and is missing pieces. The pommel strap I measured at 58". I am working on making new rigging for my 1st pattern M-1904 while I'm cooking in the desert.

Any help on either would be much apprciated.

Thanks


Brian S Colonna

Brian: I presume that you are talking about the early M1904 which was basically the same as the M1896 except for the color. Ordnance Memoranda No. 1719 of 10 May 1905 shows the quarter strap lengths as follows: Pommel strap - 52", Cantle strap - 53". However you stated that your pommel strap is 58". Maybe if you made your cantle strap one inch longer than the pommel strap, it would work ok. The width on each one should be 1.25". Hope this helps.
Dallas

Brian, I don't know if you're making a bridle, or fixing one, but I made one & got the bridoon hangers from Tom Smith. (tomscavalryequipment.com or uscavalryequipment.com or something like that).
If you spend some time with your files on the edges, they'll look real nice. You can glassbead them to remove the file marks and then blacken.

Tom also makes the bridle & other accoutrements and restores McClellan seats. You'll enjoy looking his stuff over. Hope this helps. Slim.

Slim and Dallas:

Thanks for your help, I have two bridle triangles on the way and the leather just came to make the quarter straps for my 1st pattern 1904.

My next question: Does anyone have a copy of the plans for the M-1909 Bridle? I thought I had it but the plans I have are for an M-1896 or earlier bridle. I just want to make sure my dimensions are correct, especially for the widths of the straps. Thanks again for your help.



Brian S Colonna

Bump.