HELPFUL QUESTIONS

What is a Cavesson?

The Cavesson isa soft yet precise peice of equipemtn used for horse training and lunging, as it works on the neck and nose bone of the horse. They usually have three circles on the nose band so lunge lines/auxiliary reins can be connected. The cavesson is specifically designed for groundwork and lunging. 

 
What is a lunge Cavesson used for?

The Cavesson is a amazing tool to help in your lunging session to help inmprove your horses straightness whilst allowing your horse to bend around a circle encouraging lateral bend. This allows you to strengthen the horse’s muscles which wouldn’t ordinarily be reached by riding, this level of bend is not available when you are using a halter. The cavesson also encourages your horse’s head to move forward and down, therefore stretching his long back muscle.

 

What Cavesson is the right one to buy?

What are you wanting to achieve with your horse? This is the first question. 

The Cavessons come in styles for different purposes, there are many different ones available that differ depending on your location. 

Can a halter or bridle be used in place of a cavesson?  There are safety reasons to not using a halter, but we also encourage cavesson use because it’s suitable for all levels of goals that our learners are trying to achieve. No matter what goal you have in Training, the cavesson is the best tool we have to help our horse’s straightness. With a cavesson, the horse can bend, keep his head straight, and keep his shoulders and hindquarters over his frame without being touched in his mouth at all.

How to Fit the Cavesson Correctly?

A correctly fitted Cavesson is essential for full and precise use is really important. This means it needs to be fitted so that it doesn’t turn, twist, or come near the horse’s eye.

A correct fitting noseband, What to look out for?

• The noseband should sit 2-3 fingers under the cheekbone.
• If the noseband is touching the cheekbones, the cavesson is too high.
• If the noseband hinders your horse’s breathing or sits over the soft part of the nose, it is too low.
• It’s important to be sure the cavesson is placed far enough down the nose to allow for precise cues and actions. The noseband needs to be tight enough so that it doesn’t move over your horse’s nose, but not so tight that it is painful.

 

A correctly fitted chin strap, What to look out for? Your horse should still be able to lick and chew during your lunging session.

• If your cavesson slides over your horse’s nose, the chin strap is too loose.
• If you can’t comfortably fit two fingers under the noseband, your chin strap is too tight.
• The throat latch of your horse’s cavesson should then act as a stabilizing element. Unlike on a bridle, where you’d put a fist or 4 fingers between the throat latch and your horse’s jaw, the throat latch on a cavesson should be tighter. This keeps the cheekpieces in place and out of the way of your horse’s eyes

PHOTOS OF CORRECT FIT (NOT EXACT PRODUCT)

 
Lunging with a Cavesson versus a Halter
There are two ways to look at it...

1. The Western style perspective

When using a halter and putting the horse on a circle, we tend to bend to the inside to much.  When we look for a bending horse, what do we usually look for? We can feel the bend, see their eye, and see their jaw turn.

When you pull on a halter, it actually makes your horse’s headstall rotate the opposite way. Whereas the cavesson asks your horse to bend the way that it should. This makes the cavesson an excellent tool for the lunging circle.

As you move farther away on the circle, the cavesson allows you to still be able to play with balance. Your horse now has a free-flowing line from their poll all the way through to their hind legs, giving you a more precise ability for communication. The cavesson also allows you to see the position of your horse’s natural head carriage. It doesn’t create head height but shows where your horse’s natural head height is.

2. European style  perspective

The cavesson places mild pressure on the nose, lifting your horse to bring his nose in and place his shoulders more out. You are immediately then get better communication as your horse is able to move his shoulders slightly out and his nose slightly inward, allowing him to see you directly out of his inside eye.The halter places pressure beneath the jaw. This in effect causes your horse to actually lose its balance, causing him to move his head outwards. You now have a crooked horse with all of his weight on the inside shoulder. The inside shoulder leaning in makes his head turn away, cutting off your communication. Using a halter on the lunging circle is not good for the functioning or for effective communication.

Lastly, the halter can often turn or rotate on the horse’s head, leaving it dangerously close to injuring the eye, and leaving you without the ability to properly communicate with your horse.