Cleaning an Ancient Bridle

I have a western bridle I use for trail riding sometimes. I got it as a goodbye present from my old trainer before I left for the barn I'm at presently. She's had it forever and it's obvious its older than dirt. It was probably hanging in the tack room uncleaned for quite some time and it is really brittle and all the silver is rusted. I oiled and cleaned the leather up and it looks all but new! It's pretty conditioned now and looks a few years newer. Although, all the silver on it is gross. I don't know what to do about the rust. The curb chain is completely brown! What can I do to shine up the silver and take away the rust? And is there no hope for the curb chain? Should I just invest in a new one?

Unfortunately, that looks like it was a cheap "Poco" style headstall to begin with. Not much hope for salvaging the pretty, but the rust on the curb won't hurt anything. And speaking of, your curb chain is on the wrong spot. It belongs on the same ring where the headstall is attached to the bit.

If it was nice silver it would tarnish not rust, so if you have rust you have a base metal. It will be very tough to try and clean it up, so if the leather is good it would be worth buying some new conchos for it, the curb chain, well it will work just as well brown so it's up to you, either keep going, or buy a new one

Poco Bridle | saddlediscounter.com | Saddle Discounter
Poco Bueno Bridle Includes Reins Poco Bueno Style Horse Bridle With Leather Reins [Bridle 14115331H] - $18.95 : Twenty Hooves Tack, Quality Tack at Affordable Prices

Thanks for the info on the curb.. I am pretty dumb about western tack xD

And yup! That first link is my bridle exactly! Haha It's just used for trails occasionally, so I guess it's fine if it does the job. Is there any way to get the rust off, though?

Not that I know of. I don't even think a metal brush would do the trick. I suppose you could always spray paint it with a silver metallic--they sell some kinds of paint that shouldn't interfere with the chain's movement.

I'm a dog groomer and I have this stuff Andis Blade Care Plus | PetEdge.com to clean my clipper blades, it works well for removing rust off blades. My mom also had a really nice pair of old tailor shears that someone ran through the dishwasher and they got really rusted and using the blade cleaner and some metal sandpaper got all the rust off.