Trainer’s Forum

Trainers’ Forum A Case For No Nose Bands

By Jill Diaz

In this era of bridle-less riding and natural training techniques, I would like to make a case for removing the nosebands from our horses’ bridles. Yes, I’ve seen all the new-fangled ergonomic cavessons and “drops” and read endless articles on how to properly adjust them so that they are more comfortable for the horse. But why not try going without?

My wintertime eventer boarders cringe and roll their eyes when I say this, and perhaps they have their reasons. But hear me out. Firstly, if dressage is all about harmony between horse and rider – fluidity, softness, lightness and so on – then how does an apparatus that is designed to hold a horse’s mouth tightly closed fit into the equation?

I do agree that sometimes we may need a noseband temporarily, to give a horse the idea of keeping the mouth closed or to get through a rough patch of training. However a horse, or human for that matter, uses its mouth, tongueand potentially the entire respiratoryand digestive system to process information and emotions. Think about watching someone intently tinkering with something. I recall watching my neighbor working on his tractor when I was a kid. His tonguewas always sticking out the side of his mouth when he was fully engaged in the project. Could he have worked as efficiently if he were not allowed to stick his tongue out, if his mouth was tied closed? Maybe. But this unconscious action clearly helped him to concentrate.

We are all familiar with the concept that licking and chewing in horses is a good thing, during therapies and training sessions. Why? Because it lets us know that the horse is trying to process information and its feelings. Monty Roberts, the great horseman who gave us the concept of “horse whispering” places a lotof importance on the licking and chewing phase of “joining up” – the method by which he convinces a horse to want to form a partnership with a human. Roberts believes that this shows submission and a willingness to interact.

Think about ulcers too. What does that have to do with nosebands? Again, processing feelings around what is happening in a training session. If the horse is not allowed to work through his feelings, it could be the start of a problem. I’ve bred horses for 25 years. I would feed the weanlings in a group situation and they would all eat out of long troughs – Young horses, like young people, like to do everything in the company of others. But they can be quite competitive over the feed, and every now and then I would notice a youngsterpausing while eating and getting an inward “I don’t feel so hot “ look. I always take this look very seriously because I know that stress around competingfor food could manifest as something more serious later on when the young horse goes into training, including a tendency to get ulcers. I sprinkle peppermintand ginger essential oils over the feed to help with the horses’ ability to process their emotions. Italways seems to work – or maybe it just resolves on its own, but it certainly doesn’t hurt!

So back to nosebands. If licking and chewing is so desirable in all other facets of working with horses, then why are we tying their mouths shut when we ride them, especially if they are young horses that don’t understand what we are asking? I have 40 years bringing along green horses and I have seen some patterns. The pattern that emerges around the horse becoming accepting of the bit will often start with a lot of mouthing: Sticking the tongue out, moving the lower jaw from side to side, pulling down on it, etc. The horse isn’t being bad, he’s just trying to figure it all out. The right answer can’t be to to force his mouth to be still with a noseband. Instead, if you ride the horse’s body in balance and have patience, you will get through this phase. When my horses mouths get quiet, I know they’ve accepted the process and now I can move on. If things start going sideways, it’s time to back up a little.

That’s all, easy-peasy.

Of course it took me many frustrating years to get to easy-peasy, but here we are. Now I rarely use nosebands. I almost feel that they are a hindrance, because they give me a false sense of where I’m really at in the training process, since they force a horse to behave as though he has accepted the bit, when maybe he has not yet.

In conclusion, if we are truly looking for harmony then we should be in harmony. Patience and persistence pays off handsomely. We live in an instant gratification culture, but who amongst us learns and accepts everything instantly? Beating our horses over the head with incessant demands for instantly perfect results is only beating ourselves up too. It’s better to relax, take some time to enjoy the process. And give up the noseband. You don’t need it.