THIS IS SUCH A GREAT TOPIC!!! However, before I show these, a giant disclaimer: I’m not an equestrian - I’ve ridden horses maybe twice in my life, and although I love them, my knowledge about horses and horse tack is purely limited to what I’ve observed, not what I’ve experienced. Things might not be accurate; I am by no means an expert :’D I am a visdev artist though, which is often about making the fantastical feel real - that’s a lot of what this is!

Honestly there are a lot of dinosaurs where general horse tack could work. Hadrosaurs are a fantastic example of this, though most herbivores have face shapes that work well regardless. It’s mostly about mouth/eye placement! And also about using different dinosaur features to replace horse ears - i.e. the parasaurolophus’s crest, the horns of a triceratops, the spikes of an ankylosaurus, etc. Finding those equivalents makes the bridle placement all the easier. For these, directly referencing horse tack will be your best friend! Though feel free to get creative with it too!

Realistically, when drawing dinosaur tack, you would consider the fleshy bit of skin between the upper and lower jaw (I have no idea what it’s called I’m so sorry LOL, but think of snakes or Komodo dragons), which would push the bit forward a little more, but it doesn’t look as good when I draw it that way, so unless the dinosaur’s mouth is open, I just draw it further back (again, my way of doing it, feel free to be more realistic with it though!).

When it comes to the classic predator face-shape, I secure the reins by way of a triangle shape rather than the rectangle of the horse/parasaurolophus. But you can do so much when you get into the visdev side of things! As you can probably see with the examples on the right.

When I’m designing tack (I didn’t do it with the Rdr2 pieces since those were FAST, but for anything else that takes more time), I think about the character that rides that dinosaur/the personality of the dinosaur itself. The first one on the right might have a rider who’s very connected to their mount - it doesn’t need much direction at all to get them where they need to go. The one beside that, with the armor - maybe there’s a war going on and the rider is decking the dinosaur out with as many spiky bits and pieces as they possibly can. The third one’s rider might like to show it off - adding as many fancy trinkets as they possibly can. And the last one? Maybe the rider is cruel, forcing the dinosaur to obedience through violence, and uses meat hooks dug into the dinosaur’s skin to get it to move from place to place. Evil! But all part of the visdev process. Consider all types of characters and how they might respond to the creatures/environments around them.

ALSO! The bottom left sketch depicts what I wouldn’t typically do with bridles. I.e. wrapping it around the dinosaur’s whole mouth so that it keeps it shut. That wouldn’t be very comfortable for the dinosaur and also takes away its offensive capabilities. HOWEVER, it does work for specific storylines (i.e. the dinosaur is usually aggressive so the rider ‘muzzles’ it to keep it from biting), so it’s not necessarily wrong, just keep that in mind when designing tack!

Saddles are a similar story! Again, it’s just about finding the best way to keep things stable with the build of the dinosaur you’re designing the tack around. With bipedal dinosaurs, I like adding an extra band on the tail to center the saddle almost above the legs. For quadrupeds, I like the typical saddle designs used for horses - although for this one I referenced people that ride cows?? So, y'know, there are a lot of references in many different places LOL. For good ol’ flying reptiles, due to the nature of how their wings attach to their bodies, I like to add a breastplate(???) style connecting piece to make sure the actual saddle stays in place. Again, have fun with it! I often enjoy drawing things that are somewhat based in reality but have a lot of fantastical flair to them :D

And then, balance! Placement of the tack matters a lot. If you add a saddle closer to the neck, it’s more likely that the dinosaur will topple over because the added weight isn’t being supported by the legs. The example to the right shows how the saddle/rider placement is just above where the feet touch the ground, making the image feel balanced. The one in the middle features a bit of a trick. If you want the saddle closer to the neck, then all you have to do is make sure to draw a leg closer to the front of the body so that the main bit of weight is BETWEEN where the two feet are placed. Would the dinosaur still fall over if it wasn’t standing that exact way? Yes. Does it matter if you’re drawing a still image? NO! You get to cheat your way out of it and it’s my favorite thing to do!! The red line shows how it can look super unbalanced - so just try to avoid placing saddles (and riders) in a way that might make them feel like they’ll fall.

Also featuring Kieran and Branwen (KINDA LOL) because I was thinking about how I first drew them and how I fucked up the saddle placement so…

Anyways!! Hope this helps/gives a little inspiration! Again, I’m no expert, but this is just how I like to do things <33 Thanks so much for the fun ask!