When tacking a horse do you put the bridle or saddle first?

Question

When tacking a horse do you put the bridle or saddle first?

Answer 1

For racing, they put the bridle on first to lead the horse into the saddling area, because there is always a person there to hold the horse by the bridle.  

For other types of riding, it will depend on the type of tack you are using.  As mentioned previously, if you have a martingale, the bridle must go on first so that you can put the reins through the martingale loops before putting the martingale onto the girth when you put the saddle on.  

For most places outside of racing, however, you tack the horse while it is halter-tied or halter-held, and thus you do not put the bridle on until the last minute, as it would be unnecessary to have a bridle and halter on a horse at the same time.

The one possible exception would be trail riding, where you may want to have a halter and bridle on at the same time, so that you can tie the horse by the halter-- it is always unwise to tie the horse by the bridle, as the bit can hurt the horse badly if it is frightened and attempts to escape its tie.

Answer 2

In racing they put the bridle on first, then walk the horse to the saddling paddock to get saddled.  I think it's a safety concern mostly, but also utility...  there's less to do in the saddling paddock if the horse is already bridled... and it's safer since you'd have to take off the halter to get the bridle on...  and horses are already a little nervous before a race...  if they didn't come already bridled, I'm pretty sure that loose horses in the paddock would be a regular occurence.

As for normal riding, I always put the saddle on first.  When you're tacking up alone, you don't have anyone to hold the horse and it's awfully difficult to keep a horse in one place while you saddle it so it's much easier to keep the halter on the horse to the very end so that you can attach cross ties or a lead rope or something to keep the horse still.  I have never put the bridle on first... even if the horse is wearing a martingale or something, I always saddle first, then bridle.  If I bring a lesson horse back to the tacking area to change saddles for a different size rider I will sometimes even take the bridle off of the horse and put it back on after saddling just to make the horse more comfortable instead of trying to shove the halter on over the bridle to attach the cross ties.

Answer 3

It depends what other equipment the horse is wearing.  If the horse also wears a martingale then the bridle needs to go on first as the martingale loop has to have the girth threaded through it.

If the horse is wearing an ordinary saddle and bridle I would always put the saddle on first so that, if the horse is going to be waiting for any period of time, he does not have the bit in his mouth for longer than necessary.

Answer 4

I don't know about it.

Answer 5

Saddle, the horse is usually tied up with a halter and lead rope no there is no need to put bridle on for anylonger than neccessary..

Answer 6

As pointed out, in racing the bridle goes on first since someone is always available to hold the horse. In most other horse activities the saddle should go on first. Usually when you are tacking up a horse for ordinary riding the horse is tied to a post or in cross ties. Leave him tied with a halter while you are putting the saddle on since you should never tie a horse up by the reins of a bridle. After the saddle and other things are are such as any leg wraps, etc., then you put the bridle on last.

Answer 7

I always put the saddle on first. That way if he gets a scare and bolts (he's become very capable of loosening the lead rope from the rail in a very quick time without my noticing, when he does this he just stands there and looks at me with a cheeky sparkle in his eye) he won't be wearing a bridle which he could get the reins caught on an object like a branch or fence and get jerked in the mouth. Of course, some people prefer to put the saddle on first. It also depends on what type of tack you're using.

Answer 8

most people prefer to put the saddle on first so the dont have jumble around with the reins while trying to put on a saddle

Answer 9

For me, its saddle first.  Then the bridle.

Answer 10

Bridle