How To Fit A Noseband Using A Taper Gauge. 

This is so important! There are too many tight nose bands out there☹️

I expressed concern to a dressage trainer that she was cranking my horse's noseband way too tight. I told her that I kept 2 fingers width in the noseband of my horse. She had tightened the noseband so it was actually pressing into the skin on his muzzle. She wedged her finger into the groove between the mandibles of the horse, on the bottom of his head, and said, "See! I can still fit a finger in there." I explained that you would have to break his jaw not to have that groove, and that you actually measure the space on top, but it made no difference. The trainers don't just ride their own horses like that; they insist that their students bridle their hoses like this for lessons. It's getting to the point that if you want to avoid nerve and other damage to your horse's face, you feel like you can't take a dressage lesson at all. This is not the reputation that the sport should want. This fad of squashing horses' mouths shut as tightly as possible is going to lead to more rule changes if they won't quit it. How can you say your horse accepts contact if he can't even move his mouth? I am disappointed that more judges aren't responding.