Why don’t you use a cavesson or noseband with the bridle?

For the same reason I drop the double bridle as soon as possible: ?this extra gear simply conceals otherwise glaring resistances and the incompleteness of the horse’s training. ?This is not to say I may not use a loose cavesson/noseband as a temporary aid with a horse en route to developing a bad habit. ?But if I cannot ultimately remove it and still have the same performance, we’re not done.

I want my horse to operate with a relaxed jaw. ?I want him to chew his bit comfortably – a feature many novices (and mis-educated ‘experts’) mistake for its opposite: ?a noisy, unhappy mouth. ?There is such a thing as a noisy unhappy mouth … chewing the bit is different than gnashing it. ?The “show dressage” solution is to add a muzzle: ?instant “quiet mouth”! ?The valid solution is more and better training to reduce the horse’s anxiety and tension – not a muzzle. ?The muzzle literally?prevents?the horse from giving with his jaw (a precept of Baucherism), so the logic of double-crank nosebands is only sensible in the context of Germanized dressage, where heavy traction against the bars of the jaw is desired. ?You can produce a fake headset, “quiet mouth”, and “steady poll” prematurely in this manner -?but?self-carriage, lightness, brilliance, and collection become mirages. ?You will never quite reach them.

Take some time to review actual historical works of past masters. ?You will see that with finished horses, they are often portrayed riding with one hand on the curb – and in the absence of a supporting bridoon or noseband. ?The truly finished horse needs neither. ?The Duke of Newcastle of adamant: the less you can get away with in terms of bits and tackle the better, so when I no longer need the bridoon, I drop it; if I never have reason to add a noseband, I never do. ?Some argue nosebands are conventional. I would argue: for whom? ?Not anyone I care much about impressing.