Drop nosebands

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parsley

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Following on from the post about flash nosebands..... Why don't people use drop nosebands anymore. When I left horses behind (22 years ago
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) if you had a horse that opened its mouth to evade the bit (usually accompanied by trying to dissapear over the horizen) you put a drop noseband on. I had never seen a flash attachment - 20 years later drops are out and flashes are in?

Why?
 
Is that all!
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I did wonder whether the fact that it closed off the nostrils when the horse tried to open its mouth was frowned upon. They were considered to be a quite severe noseband - not for nearly all and sundry as flashes are now.
 
can`t never understand this---how can you have a horse which has a jaw that is relaxed and responsive when its gob (gob???) is clamped shut.?
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When I was riding all those years ago my ponies were for just messing around on then at 14 I went on to help ride out point to pointers. Nobody was bothered whether the horse's jaw was relaxed and responsive. As I say - a drop noseband wasn't used often - mainly for horses that bolted by opening their mouths wide.

Lots of years later I am loving having a go at dressage and quite agree with you - my horse always wears a fairly loose caverson.
 
my pony had a dropped noseband (and a twisted snaffle because he was a bugger for running off with me with his mouth wide open). None of the kids in the pony club knew what it was. That was 3-4 years ago. They all had flashes.
 
mm.i know this has been done on here before.i would class a drop as a gadget that could be used in certain circumstances.in the right hands.
what makes me really mad though is when you get an average person with riding issues which,instead of sorting them out they cast around and find something extra for the horse to wear.(ofter without understanding all the implications and sutlties of how it works)
 
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i would class a drop as a gadget that could be used in certain circumstances.in the right hands.

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Do you mean hands that put it so low that the poor horse can't breath
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I did use to occasionally see that. If it is fitted correctly and used with a snaffle do you think it is a lot different from a flash?
 
i have seen dn`s fitted too low.
no not a lot different.
i also hate to see flashes used with pelhams.
as you see from my siggy i`m not one for nosebands.
i do feel that some folk would dismiss a correctly fitting cavason without trying it.
 
You can not get a horse relaxed in the jaw if it is trying to open its mouth and evade. With a flash my horse does not even try to evade the bit. I hacked him the other day without the bottom strap on and he was horrible. He was evading by opening his mouth, he tensed his jaw and I could not get the degree of flexion I normally do. In a perfect world we would all school our horses till perfect but if I did that my horse would never be out competing. I always had drops till about the age of 15 then moved the the flash as used a standing martingale.
 
You can't use a standing martingale with a drop noseband. Perhaps that's why they've gone out of fashion.
I use a flash on Antifaz, but would much rather have a drop noseband.
ETS; Oops, had a blonde moment and forgot I can't use a drop on A because I ride him in a standing martingale
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You can't use a standing martingale with a drop noseband.

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That is why the flash was invented. I normally use all mine with no noseband, but had some issues with one and so, ocasionally, I use a drop noseband. I took professional advice and was taught how to fit it correctly. I think the flash became a 'fashion' but also easier for the 'novice' to fit.
 
the spanish riding school still apparently use drops on all their young horses.
i have a drop in my attic but havent used it for years. if fitted *correctly* it cannot affect the horses breathing
 
Drops are back in?? Whoo hoo! Glad I saved my super adjustable one that I looked everywhere to find 20 years ago.

Some people feel a properly fitted drop is LESS restrictive than a cavesson and a flash because it merely keeps the horse from opening its incisors rather than strapping the whole mouth shut. There is some pretty compelling proof (digital xrays, movement analysis) that in order for the horse to position the poll and jaw in a correct and relaxed way on contact the molars actually have to slide over each other, which a tight cavesson prevents especially if the teeth are not PERFECT. There's some sense to the idea this might in fact be easier and more comfortable in a drop.

Personally I'm not a noseband fan and I've actually had better luck at least starting/retraining horses completely without them. But I recognise we don't live in a perfect world and the one thing horses teach us is never say never. Tools have their place so long as the action is understood and the end result is kept uppermost.
 
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