When I was a teenager, back in the Ice Age, I spent every possible moment at the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  Every evening, some mornings, and sometimes all day.  I loved the smell, the excitement, the most beautiful horses and the top riders of the 60’s.  I loved standing by the ring next to the jumps watching the take-offs and the flights.  At the old Madison Square Garden you could do that.  You could go down to the stable area and speak with the riders.  My fondest memory was talking with my idol Bill Steinkraus.  What a dear sweet man to take the time to speak with a bunch of silly teenagers.

While I watched I always noticed that the horses seemed to have trouble with the yellow and white jumps.  Going to other shows in the Tri-State area I noticed the same thing.  Always the yellow and white jumps.  I brought this up one time when I was speaking with knowledgeable horsemen, and they insisted that horses were color blind and it was just a coincidence.  Everything I read back then supported the view that horses were color blind, but I just couldn’t buy into that.  Several years ago I read an article that said they found out that horses can see colors.  Really?!!!  I could have told them that in the 60’s.  They didn’t have to do all this expensive research to prove that.  They don’t see the wide range of colors that we see, but they sure do see yellow and white.  Plus they see other colors too.

Well once again research has proved me right.  About time they caught up with me.  I’m not by any means a rocket scientist, but I do have common sense.  Or good old “Horse Sense.”  The article was in Equus and the title was “What Your Horse Wants You To Know About Nosebands.”  Years ago when people started using dropped nosebands I didn’t like it.  Horses looked agitated.  Then Figure Eight nosebands became popular.  Now people didn’t even know what the purpose was, it was just the new “in” thing and everyone thought they looked cool using one.  Then with Dressage becoming popular here in the U.S., Flash Nosebands started being used.  Now I do understand their reason behind all this stuff.  It’s just that it gets into inexperienced hands and becomes a danger to the horse.  And even people who do know what they are doing are not aware of the cause and effect it has on their horses.

I’ve seen horses that were being pushed to their limits and couldn’t get enough air because the noseband was not properly adjusted.  Nostrils flaring, eyes bulging, sweating, nerves frazzled.  Wait, sounds like me when I’m running late.

Well this study was done at Kandoo Equine in New South Wales and the University of Sydney.  “A noseband tight enough to immobilized a horse’s jaw can cause measurable stress, according to new research.”    Heart rates were recorded and their eye temperatures were measured via a thermal camera every minute.  “The eye is often called the window to the brain.”  Interesting article, try to read the whole thing if you can.  It measures the amount of stress the horse experiences when the noseband is tightened.

Quote – “Activation of the nervous tissues, including the brain, is associated with increased blood supply, and so, in essence, the eye gives off heat when the nervous system is challenged.”

I will quote the last paragraph. – “These findings, says Fenner, raise questions about a practice commonly seen at horse shows.  “On ethical grounds.” the paper concludes, “the use of relentless pressure to eliminate oral behaviors in pursuit of a competitive advantage may be difficult to justify.”

Then we wonder why our horses misbehave, and have ulcers.

It never ceases to amaze me at what people will do to a horse for a $3.50 blue ribbon.  Soring their feet, broken tails, injected tails, tying their heads between their legs, or up to a beam, tightening a noseband.  I just saw a picture the other day of a horse with a piece of bale cord around his bottom jaw and it was tied to his neck so his jaw was just about touching his neck.  I would love to do these things to people who believe it’s alright.  Lets see how they respond.

Well that made me smile.