A barn mate who saw my struggle with a bully horse suggested I experiment with her tack noseband. I did with a moderate martingale. He never touched the martingale. But during downward transitions when he opens his mouth and stiffs me, the tacks really changed him. when he opened his mouth he felt the tacks and gave in immediately. Any effort in the past to close his mouth has resulted in belligerent stiffening in his poll and jaw. I ride him in a loose ring hollow mouth, and as long as I am not asking him for any softening he is fine. has any one else had experience with this piece of equipment? And does anyone know where I could purchase one?
can work wonders, don’t rely on it however!
Since this is something I use maybe three days a year, I made one. Not a tack noseband, but a chain noseband which I am fairly certain works the same way.
A small piece of chain, some fishing line and a leather needle. Just poke holes through where the stitching is and voila!
I am a fan of “self-executing” equipment. A horse learns very quickly what to do to avoid the tacks – it is so much better than relying on the rider to react instantly (even if the rider is good enough to react instantly) when disciplining or rewarding the horse.
With a strong bit or draw reins the horse is at the mercy of the rider to relieve pressure when the horse has given the appropriate response to the aid. Not so with a self-executing aid.
Good for you to have thought this through and found a way to let the horse learn on his own that being a partner, rather than a bully, is the path he wants to follow.
The good news is that you will soon be able to return the noseband.
Your time would be far better used in tracking down a decent trainer who can teach you to ride than in slapping gadgets on your horse.
Thanks for the vote of confidence LH…and tinah…I can ride. Have trained, shown, raced, hunted for 60 years. Warmbloods are a newer addition to my string…they are not as smart as the TBs that taught me over the years. A cowboy told me, " you ask a thoroughbred a question, count to one, he answers. You ask a warmblood, count to six, slowly." This particular WB was weaned incorrectly, has attachment issues, is not a smart horse, is 17.h and I would need to count to ten most times. This tack noseband, fitted correctly, would not affect a horse that was listening. But when he gaps his mouth preparing to resist and stiffen, it was a new voice saying, “no no”…not mine…outta the blue…and HE can control that voice…he figured that out and for the last ten minutes of our canter trot walk transistions he silenced that voice…I sat by benignly, following his mouth, with consistant leg pressure. It was all between him and the noseband. When we finished and I dismounted, his eye was soft and his ears were up. A lovely contrast to the pissed off horse he has been before.
Pretty sure Beval sells them, just the noseband. Both tack and chain. Dunno if it’s on their website but I have been Beval brand nosebands with tacks and chains.
I got one, pretty reasonably priced, from Schneider’s a few years ago.
Dover has one, they call it an Abrasive Noseband.
I have a big, dumb warmblood and an occasional ride in this is all he needs now. He is very well broke on the flat but occasionally needs a reminder at shows. It is an excellent tool and sounds like you are using it accordingly. Nothing is wrong with that!
Edgewood also sells them.
I was unsure about what this was so I looked it up. Are you all crazy - who puts one of these on a horse
I use to use one, but only for shows, I home I used a figure-8 and a 3 ring. The tack noseband made a huge difference for my bull headed former barrel horse!
I think Beval can add at least a chain to your own noseband too. Not sure about tacks.
You can make one yourself, with zip ties. Tie them to an old noseband with the little plastic knob on the inside, trimmed off. Use as few or as many as you like.
I have used them in the past and ended up making my own. I found that the ones you can purchase were a bit more aggressive then I had actually wanted. The one Dover sold looked like 15 “pen tip points” in a row and looked more ouchy then what I had created.
My trainer at the time had one I could borrow and I made mine to fashion after hers. I use the rounder conical “tacks” to create mine.
I have never had a reason to use one, but for CERTAIN kinds of situations, used sparingly and with good hands, I think they can have a purpose. I think the chain kind is way less harsh then the tacks, I really don’t care for the tacks.
" you ask a thoroughbred a question, count to one, he answers. You ask a warmblood, count to six, slowly."
Indeed
Dropping in from the Dressage forum. 
Having evented, hunted etc. warm bloods, TB, QH, grade horses, for some 60 years. I can say that each horse is an individual.
I can also say that transitions have nothing to do with hands, and mouths. Someone goofed in this horse’s education, and a tack nose band is an short cut response,to what should be a back to the basics re-education. This whether the horse is 4 or 24. And the rider 7 or 75.
Have to agree with “tinah”,and “willitbe”.
Flame suit on! 
Dropping in from the Hunter/Jumper forum (no, wait, I live here.)
I think you dressage people have enough of your own issues to worry about.
Flame suit on!
I have the kindof noseband with the bumps, which is 1/2 way between a sharp tack and a chain. I call it a tack noseband, as a generic name. It was bought for me (he bought it and I paid for it. 
) when I trained with Ronnie Mutch waaay back in the 80’s. I have used it from time to time when it was the best aid to communicate with a horse.
Claudius chooses not to use her real name and I am sure that 80% of you would not know who she is anyway, because she is of, ummmmm, my generation. But she has found and started some of the best show hunters in the US and is one of those people who “have forgotten more than we will ever know”.
If she used a tack noseband on a horse, you can be sure that she had tried every other alternative and, as she said, the horse just resisted more and more until her rides were not learning sessions, but arguments and backtalk from the horse.
As for the poster who , snarkily, told her to find a trainer ---- she was one of the “go to” people (now she only starts her own) for starting young horses. IMO, if that poster has more knowledge and experience than Claudius, only then is she in a postition to be rude.
