JUNE 2006 • VOLUME 10 • ©HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine

The Cavessons are padded, are enlarged way beyond anything they were a few years ago. We see cloth, gel, and other assorted assundries used to try to help with the chafing.

From Theresa Sandin Sustainable Dressage: Reprinted with Permission Shut with a crank and a pad to soothe it. To hold the head back, either the horse has to lean on the riders hands, or he has to pull the head back himself. He does so by shortening the Scalenus Medius going between the top of the jaw to the middle of the neck and the Sterno-mandibularis that goes from the lower edge of the jaw to the breast bone. This pulls the jaw back and the middle of the neck forward. If the pulling back of the jaw shall not result in the horse opening his mouth, the horse needs to tense the Masseter (chewing muscle) or have his mouth shut by an snug noseband, such as the crank. Many top horses trained deep are fitted with crank nosebands plus gel-pads to stop the crank from chafing. This stops the horse from relaxing his jaw and chewing gently on the bit.

So in other words the horse's head is brought back either by the rider's hands or by the horse. Either way the horse's head is brought back through the lower jaw. We don't push or pull back on the front of the face.

So we in effect require the horse to open his mouth as he brings his head back. So one reason for the crank noseband is to keep the horse's mouth shut .

Why is no one stopping and asking why the heck all of a sudden would you need a padded cavesson of this dimension?

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