Media Vrs Noseband Study: What are the actual results?
Last month a new study was published named: “Facial pressure beneath a cavesson noseband adjusted to different tightness levels during standing and chewing” (Clayton et al., 2024). This study looked at the pressured under the noseband while horses were standing and while chewing a treat. A news headline I saw describing the study prompted me to write this post to ensure correct information is being spread.
The Study
The researchers used eight high level dressage horses, all ridden to Prix St Georges and above. Horses were equipped with sensor pads on the bridge of the nose under the noseband, and on the mandible, at the back of the noseband. Blink rate and eye temperature was also recorded to record stress levels. Horses were then tested under two conditions, standing and chewing a treat, while having five different noseband tightness’s (0.0 fingers, 0.5fingers, 1.0 fingers, 1.5 fingers, 2.0 finger spacing under the noseband). The noseband tightness was measured using an ISES noseband taper gauge.
The Results
What the researchers found after running each of the tests was that the pressure under the mandible was much higher than the bridge of the nose across the tests. This is new information and should be taken into account when designing and tightening nosebands. They also found that the lowest pressure was when the noseband was at 2 fingers spacing and increases as the noseband tightness increases.
Chewing a treat at all tightness’s had higher pressure compared to standing. The range of pressure under the bridge of the nose and the mandible while standing and chewing a treat is below: (Mean Force in Newtons).
One Newton roughly equates to 100g so for example the 0.0 finger tightness while standing at the mandible is 70.7 ± 25.7 = 7.7 kg ±2.57 kg. Imagine 7 kg of force applied to the jaw.
Even at the lowest level of 2 fingers spacing while the jaw is moving is 12.3 ± 8.2 = 1.23 kg ± 820g.
This study has shed light on the pressures that occur under the noseband, and that they shouldn’t be ignored.
It was seen from the results of the blink rate and eye temperature measurements that no change was made compared to baseline levels. The researchers concluded that horses were not showing signs of stress when the noseband was tightened to the tightest of 0.0 fingers, and there was also no change in stress levels when the horses had the range of tightness (0.0-2.0 fingers) while eating a treat.
The issue with this, is that readers, owners and horse riders will now think that tightening a noseband to 0.0 fingers doesn’t cause stress.
It must be taken into account that this study used a small pool of high-level dressage horses, who are used to having very tight nosebands. We have seen photos of horses with grey marks on their noses from tight nosebands. We have seen in surveys that 44% of competition horses have no spacing under the noseband (Doherty et al, 2016).
Using high level dressage horses to test if tightness causes stress is like putting a trained police horse into a crowd and, because the horse shows no signs of stress, concluding that crowds don’t cause stress for horses.
The News Headline
The news headline I saw for this particular study said “New Study Muddies The Waters Around Nosebands For Horses” from Paulickreport.com and MSN News.com. Naturally the media makes an effort to make the news more sensationalized than it is to attract readers. It is important to read the results from these studies and take into account the number of horses and the type of horse they used.
In the news report it said:
“nosebands on the tightest setting did not prompt any change in eye temperature or blink rate, suggesting the horses weren't stressed by the tightest setting…when horses were offered a treat at each tightness level…they still didn't show a change in the measured signs of physical stress although the pressure from the noseband was noticeably increased as they moved their mouths.
The researchers had hypothesized that tighter nosebands would produce signs of stress, and that horses may be unwilling to chew if they perceived the amount of facial pressure from the noseband to be stressful; the results did not support that”.
So, with this particular pool of horses, tight nosebands didn’t have an effect on stress measurements. But what about other studies?
In a study investigating if double bridles cause changes to eye and skin temperature in horses (McGreevy et al., 2012) found that when horses (Thoroughbreds & Sport Horses) were wearing a double bridle, there was a significant increase in eye temperature over time and a decrease in skin temperature over time. The increased eye temperature of the horses over time suggests that physiological stress responses increased. The temperature changes in the horse's skin suggest that the pressure from the noseband, even when adjusted correctly according to guidelines, is enough to reduce blood flow to the area.
Furthermore, a study found that there was a statistically significant increase in heart rate and eye temperature with horses wearing a noseband with no area underneath (no finger space) (Fenner et al., 2016). These horses range in breed from Thoroughbreds, to Clydesdale crosses, Australian Stock to Andalusians. When looking to training young horses, inexperienced in wearing a bridle, it has been seen that wearing a bridle increases conflict behaviors compared to a bitless bridle or a halter (Eisersiö et al., 2021) (Quick & Warren-Smith, 2009).
It would be interesting to see if changes to the noseband tightness from 0.0 fingers to 2 fingers has an effect on eye temperature and blink rate in horses naive to the bridle, riding school horses, leisure sport horses and trained horses not used to wearing a noseband.
Conclusion
The levels of pressure recorded under the noseband from this study is on the alarming side. Pressures over 10 kg found on the mandible while the jaw is moving. From these results that it is advised to always have at least a 2 finger spacing under the noseband.
In terms of noseband pressures causing stress, it should be noted that these high-level dressage horses have become habituated to high noseband pressures and that this does not represent the equine population as a whole. Other studies have shown that bridle pressures, bitted and bitless, cause stress in a range of horse breeds and age.
Remember to read the study results and draw your own conclusion, rather than take media headlines at face value.
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References
Clayton, H.M., Murray, R., Williams, J.M., Walker, V., Fisher, M., Fisher, D., Nixon, J. and Mackechnie‐Guire, R. (2024). Facial pressure beneath a cavesson noseband adjusted to different tightness levels during standing and chewing. Equine Veterinary Journal. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.14451.
Quick, J.S. and Warren-Smith, A.K. (2009) ‘Preliminary investigations of horses’ (Equus caballus) responses to different bridles during foundation training’, Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 4(4), pp. 169–176. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2008.12.001.
McGreevy, P., Warren-Smith, A. and Guisard, Y. (2012). The effect of double bridles and jaw-clamping crank nosebands on temperature of eyes and facial skin of horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, [online] 7(3), pp.142–148. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2011.08.001.
Doherty, O. et al. (2016) ‘An investigation into noseband tightness levels on competition horses’, Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 15, p. 83. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2016.08.026.
Fenner, K. et al. (2016) ‘The effect of noseband tightening on horses’ behavior, eye temperature, and cardiac responses’, PLOS ONE, 11(5). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0154179.
Eisersiö, M., Byström, A., Yngvesson, J., Baragli, P., Lanata, A. and Egenvall, A. (2021). Rein Tension Signals Elicit Different Behavioral Responses When Comparing Bitted Bridle and Halter. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8. doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.652015.