The Noseband

Old engraving showing absence of
noseband.

In old engravings of manege riding you hardly see any nosebands, either. That is because they were not needed, and thus not used. That''''s because the true purpose of the noseband is safety in war and velocity sports. Old style manege mounts hardly ever went out on the battlefield, nor did they ever reach any high speeds. They did not even ride the extended trots or canters at that time. But nowadays...

Imagine that a horse and rider come galloping across a field. In the middle of the field there is a huge log tied stuck between two trees. They are to jump this natural obstacle. The horse slips on take-off and does not manage to get the forelegs over the log, so he and the rider stoops over and down on the other side. Now, horsey has a noseband on, and even though his rider has lost all control, and is pulling on the reins with his whole weight to keep his balance, horsey cannot gape open. Such luck! Because on impact, the nose is first and it takes a real blow, but then the neck bends to the side and the horse rolls over on the side. The rider is somewhere in orbit.

If the noseband had not been there, the horse might have hit the ground with its mouth wide open, and dug the dirt like a shovel. The risk is high that the weakest part may have given in, and the horse have broken its jaw, instead of just jarred his whole head before rolling over to the side. This was actually not uncommon in the times of Udu Bürger, as he relates in his book "The Way to Perfect Horsemanship".

In dressage, there''''s very little risk of nose-diving, at least actually diving into the dirt. So the noseband is used for other purposes. Well, the same purpose, of course, shutting the mouth, but for a different reason.

The rider has no other means to position the head and neck than to guide it with the reins. When a certain neck position is needed to work the horse in a certain way, the horse might find it easier to just resist by opening the mouth, than to hold his neck in that certain way, because it loads the hindlegs or relaxes the back. He''''d rather gape than work. Many exercises are heavy and demanding for the horse, and so the temptation for the horse to just open his mouth instead, is great.

When the young horse seeks the bit, he might do it rather crudely at times. Might seek support in the bit, so to say. When he does so, a lot of weight rests on the jaw joint at the temple of the horse via the lower jaw which is supporting the horse''''s head on the bit. This joint is NOT made to take this kind of force while the jaw is wide open. So the horse will shut his jaw to avoid pain. By tensing his jaw muscle, which is the one we are trying to relax, anyway, so we''''re back to square one. But in this young horse, a noseband can support the relative closedness of the jaw and let the masseter muscle relax, which relaxes the poll, which stops the horse from leaning on the bit altogether, and the problem is solved. Unless...

The noseband can also be used to shut the mouth of a horse that is ridden with too much contact, in unnatural and uncomfortable positions, by a tactless rider. This is, I would say, the norm. The young horse above can only be correctly trained, if, when he relaxes (as in the example) the backwards traction on the reins is light. Less hand 1/2 pound. If you pull harder than that on the reins (constantly, in the name of contact) you will cause the horse pain in the mouth, jaw and poll. This will generate tension, and the horse will try to escape the tension and pain by opening up his mouth, pulling the tongue up, sticking it out one side, tilting his head or crossing his jaws.

These kinds of resistances can be concealed by a snug noseband. Especially one which can be tightened by tackle action to really "plaster cast" the horse''''s head. This is not only bad because it conceals resistances - it also creates other resistances. It blocks the horse from arching forwards out of the withers. This arching movement relies completely upon the ability to open the jaw 1/4 inch or so and letting the jaw and the tongue drop down slightly in relaxation.