Is it the "training/tools" like a bull hook or whip, that are wrong? Or is it the uneducated "trainer/presenter" using it wrong, that is the issue?

A drop noseband. This picture shows a correctly fitted drop noseband. When the bit is added, the corners of the mouth will be drawn up a little, and the chin strap of the noseband will be drawn down. The noseband will be buckled below the bit. The bit then exits the mouth above the chin strap. The noseband will constrict the opening of the jaw as low down towards the mouth as you can get. This is where the jaw will open the most, compared to higher up towards the eye. This noseband mustn''t be too snugly adjusted. It will need to leave some room for a slight opening of the jaws, which stems from relaxation of the poll and jaw muscles. It must also be loose enough not to compact the nasal cartilage and the nostrils. When the horse is at standstill, you must be able to fit two fingers under it, easily. When the horse works and breathes hard, the nostrils widen to take in more air. This must not be hindered!

The different effects of the placement of the straps. This kind of cavesson is rare nowadays. The Spanish Riding School, who actually invented it, and some other classical institutions still use it, but apart from that it seems to have gone out of fashion, because it makes the horses head look plain, or ugly. It can, cause long heads to look longer than they would in a regular cavesson, or a flash. That is vanity, and that is wrong because it is a very useful piece of tack. How many bull hooks became smaller and more severe, because they "looked" better, or the use of the more severe "buggy whip" because it didn't make a "crack"?

A flash noseband. This is a kind of "newish" invention. You hardly saw it before the 80''s. What it is, is a regular english noseband/cavesson commonly used with the double bridle, and attached to it is an extra strap that is supposed to do what the drop cavesson would do - shut the mouth further down towards the mouth. It is now frequently the only kind of cavesson you can find on snaffle bridles.

An excessively tight flash extension asphyxiating the horse. In a young horse, as in the picture above, the molar teeth (at the sides of the jaw) are a lot bigger compared to the rest of the skull, than in the mature horse (which would be working in the double bridle and its standard english cavesson at his age, anyway). You can see the upper and lower teeth bulging out through the cheeks like two ridges along the side of the face. These are a good reason to use the drop noseband, instead of the flash. The upper cavesson band will press the cheeks towards the teeth if too snugly adjusted, or even loosely adjusted if the horse resists the bit and gapes against the noseband. In a young horse the corners of the mouth can bulge upwards with the rein aids and help with the squeeze. And common are the ulcers and lesions on the insides of the cheeks of horses, young and old. This type of noseband is the main reason for it. This is also the favourite strap to tighten too much. The horse''s nostrils are soft, and compress as you tighten the strap. When the horse works, the nostrils flare to allow more air in, and this strap can constrict the nostrils, as can a regular drop.

The attachment above, is strapped tighter than the cavesson, pulling the cavesson down. The attached lower strap is not even very good at doing its part of the job, since it runs diagonally across the face, and not straight. This also goes for the more common way of fitting this kind of cavesson, that is, with the cavesson part further down the nose and thus more diagonal or slanted, and the flash strap more straight across. This would be to mimic the drop noseband even further. This would work, but you''d still have the teeth-to-cheek problem arising from the cavesson part. So why not just use a drop? Because vanity say's it makes the horses head look ugly. Why not use a bull hook or whip, or stick properly? Because vanity, "I am gentle and loving" in a effort to hide your incompetance, cause the most abuse.

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