The Crank Noseband - The Swedish Cavesson

A crank noseband.

Hrmph! As a Swede, I''m offended. The Germans have named this piece of riding gadget "Swedish". I object, you Honour!

To crank is to twist. This noseband was not made to be loosely fitted, that''s for sure. The pulley action of the turned back strap, is the same as is used to secure cargo on waggons and trailers. It''s a way to exert much more power than one otherwise could. But this is around the horse''s head!

There''s no need for this kind of contraption when you should be able to fit 2 fingers under the cavesson, for the horse to be able to relax and drop open his jaws (although still have the lips closed) as in throughness. This one is needed when rein contact is too heavy, or when the horse shows such blatant resistances as to gape widely, or cross his jaw. Nor does it "help" any of these flaws, it only conceals them. And this one is used with the double bridle because the double cannot be used with a flash or a drop (which could also be shut too tight) or any other means of mechanically shutting the mouth so that no resistances can be seen.

I have heard many excuses for the use of this gadget. Some think it looks nicer. Why? Some say it''s better padded and thus softer for the horse. But you can get any kind of cavesson padded to any extent. Some say it exerts an even pressure and better support. What pressure is that supposed to be? Some say it''s easier to buckle. Because it''s easier to pull tight? Some say it''s hard to find a nice bridle without it. And that''s sad but true.

Another problem with the well padded crank is actually the padding.

What!? The padding is what''s nice about it! Soft and cute...

When you shut such a padded strap, there''s always some "give" in the padding. The horse can gape just a tad unless it''s really snug. But the padding will softly, but still, push the cheeks against the teeth. Remember the cheeks are super soft and cannot fight the pressure from the noseband. If the horse were to gape slightly, it will get alot worse. There will be an opening between the rows of teeth, so that their sharp edges are facing the cheeks, and the horse will press the noseband firmer because he tightens it by opening his mouth.

One solution might be to modify the padding so that it only spans across the bony parts of the face, and has no padding across the teeth. This would make the side parts stand out away from the teeth, so that the cheeks cannot be pushed against the sharp rows of teeth. The cavesson would still have its closing effect on the jaw.

The thick padding can also fool the rider (or groom) that it''s not very snugly shut at all. There''s still some give in the strap when you decide on the looser hole instead of the one you actually could pull it to, if you wanted to. But the padding makes it resilient. The horse is not very strong at opening his mouth. He is, however, strong at shutting it. So the resilient padding makes it hard to open the jaw and let it drop forward and down, like a relaxed horse with a soft jaw and poll should.

To the right is a popular crank noseband with all its parts. The red part is the regular well-padded noseband part across the nose. The blue part is the strap used to shut it. As you can see, it turns back from both sides so it can be buckled right under the chin. The yellow part is a specially padded cushion to avoid rubbing and shafing against the two narrow ridges of bone under the chin. And finally, he green part is the flash strap, in case the crank leaves just a slight chance of still opening the mouth.