The new harness is here, pics of first fitting

[Marsha Cassada]

I would forget worrying about a caveson or noseband. What purpose does it serve anyway? The only reason you might need a noseband or caveson is if you have to use a flash. And if a gullet strap is basically useless, why worry about that either? I think I'm going to take mine off my open headstall after reading recent posts. Even a browband is actually superfluous. Maybe I'll take that off, too... Just gets in the way of the forelock. I think most of those are just there to support ornamentation and serve no real purpose.

Did you say the crupper was rolled? I might have missed it in some of the posts.

 

[SappyAppy]

Crupper is rolled and soft. I guess that's ok anyway lol

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Sorry I thought you had said it was $700 hence the small breakdown on my part!!

The noseband holds the bottom part of the cheekpieces closed, that is what it is there for on a driving bridle and why, in European harness bridles, anyway, it slots through the cheekpieces instead of being separate

I would definitely have a noseband on that bridle....

The breeching looks fine to me.

 

[SappyAppy]

I'm sorry rabbitsfizz, I may have mentioned that number meaning it would have similar elements to harnesses costing 700, which was my intention and hope!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Sorry I thought you had said it was $700 hence the small breakdown on my part!!

The noseband holds the bottom part of the cheekpieces closed, that is what it is there for on a driving bridle and why, in European harness bridles, anyway, it slots through the cheekpieces instead of being separate

I would definitely have a noseband on that bridle....

The breeching looks fine to me.

I've never seen a miniature driving bridle with a nose band. I've ordered 3 in the last few years and none had a noseband. They came with cavesons, but, it is my understanding that those are not used to secure the headstall as they go under it.

I did attach a flash to a caveson for a mare that kept getting her tongue over the bit, and actually attached my sidecheck to the caveson for a show as it would not work on my myler bit. Other than that, they just seem superfluous.

I think a noseband would be effective on a headstall. I wonder why none of mine ever came with one? My open bridle does not have one either. Maybe I will root through my stash of leather parts and see if one could be fabricated. If so, it would be interesting to see how it affected the bridle fit.

 

[Minimor]

In actual fact a noseband does help hold the cheeks steady, preventing the blinkers from moving and allowing the horse see what is behind him. With the Morgans, who always show with colored cavessons, we would use a shoe lace tied from cheek to cheek, over the nose. Look closely at a picture of a Morgan harness horse and you will likely see this lace.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

That's interesting- so, what for you is the difference between a cavesson and a noseband - here they are the same thing really, although maybe a cavesson might mean a padded noseband.

 

[Minimor]

These are cavesson sets.which is what is always used on the Morgan show horses (well, always used on properly attired Morgan show horses! Thats not to say someone might not show up in the ring with improper attire!) http://www.victorcustomtack.com/cavesons.html I might be inclined to call the noseband portion a noseband sometimes (though not usually) but I would never refer to an actual noseband on a driving bridle as a cavesson. For me a noseband is simply thata nosebandthat piece of leather strap that goes through the cheekpieces on the bridle and goes over the nose and buckles under the jawit does not have its own crownpiece.

My Mini harnesses all have cavessons, and I am okay with that. I rarely use a cavesson anyway (only for showing). My horses generally start driving in open bridles so if the bridle cheeks were to gape a bit & allow the horse to see back past the blinkers it wouldnt be a problemif there is much gaping on a particular horse & I think its enough to be a problem then Ill tie the shoelace from cheek to cheek. I really do not like the simple nosebands that run through the cheek pieces.

Of course to cloud the issue there is the dropped noseband which does have its own crownpiece but because it fits differently than a cavesson it is a noseband & not a cavesson. :lol

 

[Jetiki]

I don't like just nosebands (single strap with no crown piece) They come off (when not on the horse), they get lost, they too me seem more of a bother than useful, I specially ordered a cavesson for my harnesses, I like the look, the feel and they way the lay on the horses' noses better.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Sappyappy, what's the latest on the harness? Keep us posted!

 

[paintponylvr]

I've got my new harness from the shop now too. I am loading pics in a new post...

So... how goes the harness design?

 

[rabbitsfizz]

A caveson is a noseband, it's as simple as that, it is just a slightly different sort of noseband, that's all.

As far as driving goes, I doubt you would get a European driving horse with a caveson on the bridle, so it's just one more example of the US doing things differently from the rest of the world, I guess. In fifty years I have never lost a noseband....