An Objective Measure of Noseband Tightness and Its Measurement Using a Novel Digital Tightness Gauge

Abstract

Noseband tightness is difficult to assess in horses participating in equestrian sports such as dressage, show jumping and three-day-eventing. There is growing concern that nosebands are commonly tightened to such an extent as to restrict normal equine behaviour and possibly cause injury. In the absence of a clear agreed definition of noseband tightness, a simple model of the equine nose-noseband interface environment was developed in order to guide further studies in this area. The normal force component of the noseband tensile force was identified as the key contributor to sub-noseband tissue compression. The model was used to inform the design of a digital tightness gauge which could reliably measure the normal force component of the noseband tensile force. A digital tightness gauge was developed to measure this parameter under nosebands fitted to bridled horses. Results are presented for field tests using two prototype designs. Prototype version three was used in field trial 1 (n = 15, frontal nasal plane sub-noseband site). Results of this trial were used to develop an ergonomically designed prototype, version 4, which was tested in a second field trial (n = 12, frontal nasal plane and lateral sub-noseband site). Nosebands were set to three tightness settings in each trial as judged by a single rater using an International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) taper gauge. Normal forces in the range 7–95 N were recorded at the frontal nasal plane while a lower range 1–28 N was found at the lateral site for the taper gauge range used in the trials. The digital tightness gauge was found to be simple to use, reliable, and safe and its use did not agitate the animals in any discernable way. A simple six point tightness scale is suggested to aid regulation implementation and the control of noseband tightness using normal force measurement as the objective tightness discriminant.

Practice of Noseband Use and Intentions towards Behavioural Change in Dutch Equestrians

“…The horse is a species used for all these purposes and, in order to obtain a social license to use them for sports or leisure, the equestrian industry has to prove that horse welfare is protected. Since 2012, the use of the noseband for horses, with respect to how tightly it is applied, has received considerable attention [1][2][3][4].…”

“…It is attached to the head, one of the most sensitive parts of a horse's body. By applying pressure on the horse via the bridle, a rider tries to control a horse through both their training and the restraint brought about by this bridle [2]. The nosebands on the bridles can be applied with varying levels of tightness.…”

“…There are a wide variety of nosebands commercially available. The most commonly used noseband at elite levels of equestrian competition in dressage, where a double bridle is mandatory, is the Swedish cavesson, more commonly called the crank noseband [2]. This noseband provides the user with a mechanical advantage to tighten the noseband more easily by way of a leveraged pulley system [2,8].…”

“…The most commonly used noseband at elite levels of equestrian competition in dressage, where a double bridle is mandatory, is the Swedish cavesson, more commonly called the crank noseband [2]. This noseband provides the user with a mechanical advantage to tighten the noseband more easily by way of a leveraged pulley system [2,8]. The crank noseband allows for a doubling of the tightness for a given amount of handler tightening effort [2], which may have welfare implications for the horse [7].…”

“…This noseband provides the user with a mechanical advantage to tighten the noseband more easily by way of a leveraged pulley system [2,8]. The crank noseband allows for a doubling of the tightness for a given amount of handler tightening effort [2], which may have welfare implications for the horse [7]. The use of these crank nosebands and extreme tightening of the noseband is thought to be increasing in equestrian sport [4], and is therefore likely to have an impact on the welfare of horses.…”