Noseband advise please

Changing to a drop worked for me, my pony was leaning on the bit in his cavesson noseband and really hated the flash (made the problem worse) when i tried him in that, he goes brilliant in his drop though!
 
They don't need to be tight at all to be effective
smile.gif
 
A horse hangs on the bit for a reason - changing nosebands is unlikely to make a huge difference although a lot of horses don't like a flash! But if they don't like a flash, chances are they won't like a grackle or a drop either.

The key to stopping a horse hanging is not to give it anything to hang ON - and that means improving your hands. Every time horse starts to hang on - say - the right rein, push your right hand forward so there's nothing for him to hang on. Then quietly take the contact back. Don't fiddle with the reins, keep one hand still and gently 'sponge' the other hand - ideally keeping outside hand still - and sponging and giving with the inside hand, but depends a bit on which side the horse is stiff on and what he responds to best.

Don't pull back on the reins - open the rein to turn. Keep the lightest contact you possibly can. A horse who hangs is objecting to too strong a contact - and probably not coming through properly from behind.
 
I had this problem with George as he has a tendency to hang on the left rein and I suspect it is because I am left handed and that is my stronger hand. So with my instructor we are working hard to improve things, but in the meantime I changed from the flash to a drop (he hated the flash
frown.gif
frown.gif
) and it has really helped
smile.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top