While I totally agree, in my experience, here in the US a lot of folk don’t know how to adjust dropped nosebands correctly, and they often end up putting too much pressure on the soft part of the nose just above the horses’ nostrils. This is not helped by the fact that a lot of bridle manufacturers make the front/top part of the noseband way too big, and the bottom part too short, further making it difficult to sit it up high enough to stay on the solid, bony part of the nose. Maybe I’ve not looked at the right bridles, but when I was in the market, I couldn’t find any dropped nosebands that were both affordable and correctly made/sized.
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I agree that is a problem, and has been for a long time.
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I am not using a drop on my current horse, but I have two dropped nosebands in my tack room.
One is adjustable (the part on top of the nose has two small buckles to adjust its length).
The other one had the top part shortened after purchase.
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Both of these ideas are brilliant. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the type with buckles to adjust the top, and while I don’t think I would like the aesthetic for showing, I could see this being really useful for schooling (especially if you have several horses). While getting a fancy patent noseband shorted might be tricky, it’s true that there’s no reason a good leather worker couldn’t shorten a simpler one, or even maybe make one to custom fit?!
I genuinely don’t really understand the idea of the flash being used to stabilize the bit while using a loose ring snaffle, which is the most common setup I see in dressage (at least in my local area). The loose ring bit is inherently going to have more movement than any kind of fixed cheek bit so why not use one of those if the horse prefers stabilization?
Not trying to come off as attacking or anything, I’ve just been told to use flashes to stabilize the bit for my own horse. I changed to a D-ring and found that the stability of the fixed cheeks was what my horse had preferred instead of the loose ring even with a flash.
Of course that was just my personal experience and n is very limited but I do sometimes wonder if using a flash for stability with a loose ring is counterproductive. Am I missing something on the benefits of the loose ring?
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For instance like this
I think this is the same one, but different angle
or this
or this
https://www.equiport.co.uk/products/horse/bridles/d-collection-adjustable-drop-noseband-bridle-dy69/
and a bunch more.
I just googled adjustable dropped noseband
I ride without a noseband. If it is loose, what is it’s perceived value?
It depends on how it is attached to your bridle, but it should help to keep the bridle in place. It is also great for lunging and reducing the pressure of the lunge line on the bit, by running the line through the bit and then around the noseband and to the bit on the other side…but also, it shouldn’t be cranked tight, but it can create a boundary. Again, you shouldn’t use it to compensate for bad hands, but it can prevent a horse from completely gaping and avoiding the bit (and yes again, some retraining for the horse is in order if it does that–ground work is good, adjusting how you hold the reins, etc. etc.)
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Mine is a separate noseband, not part of a mono-crown, so I can take it off.
I have never understood it’s intended purpose when riding, as there is no way to use it to influence the horse while aboard.
I would think it takes a LOT of gaping before the nose band comes into play, but maybe not, I should try it again and see. I know it must be effective somehow, or the design would have changed by now.
Yes, a drop noseband does prevent crossing jaw and does stabilize the bit. BUT the flash noseband does not do either of those. They do not work in the same way. A drop goes higher up and outside the bit, it lays against he ends of the bit. The flash sits in front of the bit.
I don’t think that’s correct. Can you find and post a picture of this?
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Adjusted correctly it is pretty useless. Drop or figure 8 noseband would be more effective.
drop nose bands are harder to fit though.
The flash sits on the solid bone part of the face, the drop does not.
I find it lets the horse breathe easier than a drop.
But as Big Mama said, it’s not the equipment, it’s the handler.
As far as tightening the nosebands…it has gotten better lately, but the fashio of the crank nosebands - urgh - terrible.
Sadly the style caught on because of Olympic medals.
A correctly fitted noseband has room for a couple of fingers under it. Flash, drop or other, plus of course the rider has to listen to the horse.
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Whatever it is for, my horse doesn’t need one. I want a wide, simple noseband.
It bothers me that, due to what essentially were fashion trends (how long ago?), close to every dressage bridle has a flash by default. I don’t wan to cut off the damn tab, I will probably mess that up, and I am not sure if there is a way to cut it off so it will completely disappear. There are a (very) few with the totally detachable attachment.
I ended up getting a caveson from a full bridle. Made me pissy.
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Expensive young warmbloods are pushed to show flashy steps so as to command high prices but they are really too young and too weak to do it without displaying stress such as an open mouth. So design a flash noseband that straps the mouth shut and the problem goes away. Then as the flashy young European WB wears one, everybody starts to use a flash. Hopefully, like most fashion, it will pass.
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I feel like it is a fashion thing, a lot of the time. People here just put them on because of the “look” or “it came with the bridle”
I, personally, don’t and never have found a use for them so I’ve always just taken them off. Occasionally my horse chomps a bit…usually from a problem that I’ve created and need to fix.
I also don’t like when people put them on upside down (the buckle) and just leave the extra sticking out.
I’m not sure who designed the flash or when the flash was “invented” or made its first debut. 
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You can see it here. The noseband sits higher up and goes on the outside. The drop sits over the arms of the bit (not the rings). A flash would be further up
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After a lifetime of riding, many of them seeing and using drop nosebands, I have never ever seen a drop put on like that until I saw your picture. IMO, it is very wrong. Is that your horse?
Here is a whole page of images of drop nosebands. Not a single one is sitting on the bit like the one in your photo.
https://www.google.com/search?q=drop+noseband&hl=en&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ALiCzsa1AR68PopYDOQeILwehQ274v69tQ%3A1651579380642&source=hp&biw=1536&bih=714&ei=9BlxYtfWJJHNytMP-tKXmAg&iflsig=AJiK0e8AAAAAYnEoBL2b2KzSwlFWP0c4PGedDpIKER0V&oq=drop&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAxgAMgcIIxDvAxAnMggIABCABBCxAzILCAAQgAQQsQMQgwEyCAgAEIAEELEDMggIABCABBCxAzILCAAQgAQQsQMQgwEyBQgAEIAEMggIABCABBCxAzIICAAQgAQQsQMyCAgAEIAEELEDOggIABCxAxCDAVAAWLMJYOkeaABwAHgAgAFEiAH9AZIBATSYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZw&sclient=img
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The drop nosebands I have seen sit lower.
I am currently using this bridle much of the time: https://www.lumiereequestrian.com/collections/lumiere-bridle-collection/products/mila-black-italian-leather-bridle I use it with an eggbutt snaffle and it works well for my horse.
When he was younger this bridle or another flash type helped him understand and be comfortable with contact. We tend to think of opening the mouth or excessive mouth movement as “evasions” but to the horse they are another guess at what is wanted. They dont know what is “right”. Some type of flash helped my horse understand that light contact was okay and more comfortable than oral gymnastics. Now that he understands I can ride without, but we both seem comfortable with it as well.
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tempting the universe…
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it’s not adjusted right.
the drop is supposed to sit about a hand’s width above the nostrils.
This one is almost adjusted as a caveson.
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