Flash/grackle/drop nosebands?

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chaps89

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Personal preferences/experiences please? And also are any of them not competition legal (at any level)?
Post for curiosity purposes mostly as put a flash on the horse I ride on Sunday and he was like a different neddy and mine goes best in a drop, so just intrigued really.
 
Crank
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and I use a flash or pony would be catching flies
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Im just about to pm you actually about MM
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Mine won't tolerate a flash or a grackle. With a flash he just wants to stop constantly to rub, in a grackle he tosses his head around all the time. I like him in a drop as it just encourages him to to open his mouth rather than strapping it shut like a flash. He also seems to like the drop.

Have been using it purely for jumping but he's a bit gobby on the flat ATM so am going to pop in on for a couple of flat sessions to see if that cures the prob (and before anyone says anything...he had the physio 2 weeks ago, vet a week before that, saddle just been refitted, and teeth not due for 3 months).

My YO made me laugh last week when she said he was the first horse she'd seen in a drop in years
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As far as I know a grackle isn't dressage legal, though no idea when it comes to eventing dressage. That's about it though isn't it?
 
Drop- Legal for all dressage (presuming thats what you mean)

Flash- Legal for all dressage

Grackle- only legal for BE dressage not BD.

Out of the above prefer drop everytime
 
I prefer grackles and drop nosebands, tbh.

I used to ride my old pony in a flash noseband, but I mainly ride Ali in a grackle now, whether we're doing dressage (they are dressage legal over here), XC or showjumping. If I'm using a pelham I will use a cavesson though (and when I use a double bridle of course).
 
Iv started using a drop and my mare likes it (just not her bit!) I prefer it as she has a slight wave formation in her teeth and the normal noseband puts pressure on those teeth!

the one iv bought i really like as some drops can be quite ugly! its a pretty black one with white binding i was over the moon with my find!
 
Schpug- pm away
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We were catching flies on Sunday before putting the flash on.

Chestnut cob- will be interested to hear if your boy goes better on the flat with the drop on? They do seem to be coming back into fashion now don't they
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Eye Spy- helpful to know, will be a while before we go anywhere competing mind you!

Tend to prefer the drop myself if something other than plain cavesson noseband is needed, so might suggest a new bridle/noseband
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(Owner is going to hate me, he's already had to buy boots for the horse and is getting his teeth and backed checked because I dropped hints. All in a good cause tho
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)
 
Going to hijack for a bit here, but along the same lines - drops - are they less effective at keeping gobs shut than flashes? or just different? And different how?

I used to ride a pony years ago who went lovely in a drop, but couldn't tell you anything about how it works now! At a guess I'd imagine it is half way between a cavesson and flash - am I sort of close?
 
My opinion is drops don't 'clamp' the mouth shut, they still allow for salvation and movement. Therefore shouldn't be fitted too tightly. Most flashes now adays are for just clamping the mouth shut and are normally fitted to tight, making the nostrils flare and pulling the cavesson part of the noseband down- this is my absolute pet hate!

Also if you look at a drop it sits more horizontal around the mouth and nose compared to the flash fitted diagonally.
 
Ditto Eye Spy. Personally I think there's nothing worse than seeing a horse with a loose noseband being pulled down because it's mouth is strapped shut with a flash.
The drops seem to be a little more kind in this respect, still allowing for the horse to move in it's mouth without clamping it shut or letting them wander round, mouth wide open, evading the bit! I am assuming the same would go for a grackle? (never really used one)
 
Much prefer drops and grackles. The only point of a flash is to enable you to use a standing martingale with a drop noseband -they are otherwise pointless and they are all too often fitted incorrectly. It is hard to fit the drop element properly without the cavesson element being too low. As I said in another post on this topic, plenty of people do use flashes to great effect and I'm all for using them if they work; I'm just not a fan!
 
It is very rare I use any noseband at all, but if I had to choose one of the three listed, it would always be a drop.
 
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