According to my horse nosebands are EVILLLLLLL!!!

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NicoleS_007

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Work of the devil in her books :p When we viewed her she was lovely, soft and light in the contact, automatically in an outline as soon as i gathered the reins (this was 5 months ago and she is 4yrs old). Got her home and put her in a normal french link with a grakle (was the only noseband i had) She hated it and went around with her head in the clouds, not at all what we viewed!! So changed to a cavesson done up quite tightly, still head in clouds and gobbing at the bit. Changed to a crank to stop the gobbing, which it didnt. I then changed her to a flash last week to stop the opening of the mouth and noticed she was quieter in the mouth but started grinding her teeth, which isnt normal at all for her. Oh we also had numerous bit changes inbetween all that with no results although she goes better in a kk ultra (what she had when we viewed her). So today i committed the ultimate deed of removing the noseband all together :eek::eek::eek: And she was AMAZING!!! No gobbing/opening of mouth, automatically went into a soft outline and stayed there, was alot more forwards and swingy and her canter was alot more settled and uphill ... just like she was when we viewed her!! If I had of done this 5 months ago it would have saved alot of hassel!! Thank you to the person (whos name escapes me at this moment in time) for suggesting nosebandless :) Iv never had a horse fight against a noseband but i will deffinatley no for future reference that if you have difficulties go back to the beginning and work from there. So we are ditching the gob closing gadgets in exchange for a simple loose cavesson :) Happy horse and equally happy rider :D Boring thread but might help someone with the same issue :)
 
Funny that. Took the noseband off one of mine recently as he had a small cut on his cheek. Although he was never a problem, he was very happy, much softer and lighter. So its stayed off.
May have taken you 5 months, but I've had this horse for 8 years.
 
alright, i dont want to attack you (as often happens here) but REALLY?! why would you jump straight to a tight noseband of any kind? surely if you tried her without one what would be the need to add one? what gave you the impression she needed anything but a loose cavesson?
 
Only noseband i had at the time was a grakle (was old horses) which is why that was first choice. They werent over tightened just enough to keep her mouth closed, i could fit one finger inbetween noseband and face. She was gobby and strong which is why i kept the noseband on and then swithed to the crank to see if it gave me more control which it did. A loose noseband for a gobby horse never occured to me tbh, Iv always rode with an appropriatly tightened noseband. But what works for one may not for another, which is the reason for post!!
 
a horse objecting to a noseband (especially a tight one !!) would scream to me of a problem of sharp edges on her teeth. when were they last done ?

if you imagine having your cheeks strapped to the edges of your teeth and then the edges being sharp im sure it would make you throw your head around too.

maybe she would be happy with a loose fitting cavesson once her teeth have been checked ??
 
pleased to hear she went well, my mare goes really well in a french link and no noseband but she does need a drop noseband on for jumping otherwise i have zero control! need to do some serious schooling jumping wise with her to get nice and steady again :rolleyes:
 
I've given up using nosebands. I don't do dressage, so why would I want one? My mare goes fine without one, and that's the way it's going to stay. OK so she doesn't go round with her neck bent double to her chest, but I'd rather she looked about her and saw the hole in the track. Hope your horse has a lovely life without one!!
 
Rose Folly said:
I've given up using nosebands. I don't do dressage, so why would I want one? My mare goes fine without one, and that's the way it's going to stay. OK so she doesn't go round with her neck bent double to her chest, but I'd rather she looked about her and saw the hole in the track. Hope your horse has a lovely life without one!!
Click to expand...

Nice post.
 
whiteflower said:
a horse objecting to a noseband (especially a tight one !!) would scream to me of a problem of sharp edges on her teeth. when were they last done ?

if you imagine having your cheeks strapped to the edges of your teeth and then the edges being sharp im sure it would make you throw your head around too.

maybe she would be happy with a loose fitting cavesson once her teeth have been checked ??
Click to expand...

Wouldnt like to think it was her teeth as she had them done when i bought her and i check them every few months, I can put my hand in her mouth to feel the teeth :) She is by no means erratic or violent with her head, by head in the clouds i mean going in an outline then putting her head up then back down the up again, an inconsistant contact maybe would have explained it better sorry.
 
I don't use a noseband on my mare as she always has an itchy face and seems much happier without it. Why would you want to keep a horses mouth closed with a noseband? Surley there is a reason why they open their mouths such as discomfort.
 
4yr olds have lots of things happening in their mouths with teeth and to put on a grackle because it's the only one you have is no excuse. Maybe you should have duplicated what she had on her when you tried her.

To do a cavesson up tight is rediculous. Buy yourself a Pony Club manual and learn how to do up your tack correctly.

If you really think that you must keep her mouth shut you could use a drop noseband with a Fulmer snaffle - the Drop doesn't interfere or put any pressure on cheeks/teeth - which is probebly why it was used in the first place by the Spanish Riding SChool. The Fulmer is a lovely still bit which will help her regain her confidence in the bit.

To do up a drop correctly ensure that the front strap is above the cartilage in the front of the nose, then the lower strap is done up to allow two fingers between the strap and the horse. The idea of the drop is to prevent the horse learning to open its mouth and evade the bit but it must also be loose enough to allow the horse to relax its jaw which means that it can keep it's teeth apart.
 
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With your approach, your poor little babe is right, they are evil. Why on earth did you want to tie her mouth shut in the first place. did it really not occur to you that she would react to that?
 
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