Why does everyone wear flash nosebands?!?

[camilla4]

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I've always used drop nosebands, and see more and more of them at BD now - they are coming back into fashion!!!

I used to show jump in one, a gorgeous rich brown Stubben drop noseband, which unfortunately got lost when I split up with my boyfriend and Stubben don't make them any more!

Ps in Germany drops are known as Hannovarian nosebands, which is how they are described by a lot of continental saddlers/shops.

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I've always been a fan too Halfstep. My dislike of Flashes, I do admit, tends to be because they are so often badly fitted and it does seem to be the trend lately to use them as a "default" noseband! However, I guess drops tend to be fitted badly quite often too?

Didn't know that about the Hanoverian term though!

 

[BBs]

I do think a lot of it is fashion.
My big horse switches between a cavesson and a flash. I use to ride him in the drop but didn’t find it any different to the flash, and because the look of the drop didn’t suit him I went back to the flash.
However, when looking for a replacement bridle I was hard pushed to find a cavesson noseband bridle

My other neddie is a complete super sensitive whatsit. He was ridden in a cavesson when I bought him, although I tried him in a flash.
He was a cocky git and the flash helped but I switched to a drop to see if he would prefer it... He went sky high and so we've compromised with the flash.

 

[georgiegirl]

Ive always used flashes when needed but my 4yo came with one and actally goes much better without. she tends to lean if she has a flash on.

 

[TarrSteps]

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In the SRS, all young horses are started in a fulmer snaffle and drop noseband.

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To be fair though, that encompasses a very small, homogenous pool of horses, ridden within a very codified system, with a very particular goal in mind. I'm not saying it's not a valid point - or practice - just not always applicable to the norm.

Most trainers who start a lot of young horses have a favourite "default" that suits their riding, the majority of the type of horses they concentrate on, and that's worked for them in the past. Then they use that as a jumping off point to individualise the program depending on what the horse tells them, using their knowledge and experience to judge the most probable best next step. They also - hopefully - have a the ability to figure out what is the horse and what is the tack, so they know when to persevere and when a change is the way to go.

Lots of horses are uncomfortable in even a snug flash because in order to hold the flash strap up, the cavesson has to be done up tightly, which can press the cheeks against the teeth to a significant degree. Teething young horses - anything younger than 6 - can find this particularly uncomfortable. Of course, many will get past it, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea in the short term.

I'll freely admit I've used a flash on horses that open their mouths for the duration of a dressage test because some judges freak out if a horse opens its mouth ever/at all and I don't want a horse to be penalised harshly for a work in progress. That said, I know many horses that open their mouths LESS without a noseband and I'd love to go that way (I don't agree cavessons have no effect but that's another debate) but it's not allowed. Which always seems silly to me but there it is.