mouth for licking/chewing and/or resalivation of the
tongue). If, as is suggested by data from the current
population of horses, an external jaw circumference of a
minimum of 68.6 cm is required to allow horses to perform
a natural response and also one that is considered desirable
in dressage, then tightening without a taper gauge or using
a taper gauge at the mandible is contraindicated.
Second, preventing a bridled horse from opening its
mouth means that it cannot show any oral conflict behaviors.
This is of particular importance because, in the sport of
dressage, horses are judged on their ‘‘submissiveness,’’
which includes their ‘‘lightness and ease of movements,
acceptance of the bridle and lightness of the forehand’’
(FEI, 2009). This is to be assessed by the lack of ‘‘resistance,’’
‘‘evasion,’’ ‘‘putting out the tongue,’’ ‘‘keeping the
tongue above the bit or drawing it up altogether,’’ as well
as ‘‘grinding the teeth’’ (FEI, 2009). However, if the horse
has its jaw clamped shut, it is not able to show these
responses and therefore judges may mistakenly consider
that the horse is showing submission when in reality it is
not. Recent evidence suggests that submission marks are
subject to the most variability of all the collective marks
in dressage (Hawson et al., 2010). This is most unfortunate
because submission is the only element of the dressage
score that may act to safeguard horse welfare (McLean
and McGreevy, 2010b). Masking horses’ responses with
gadgets such as tight nosebands may contribute to this
evident lack of consensus among judges.
Using the taper gauge on the nasal planum resulted in
the loosest fitting of the noseband. However, it was still not
loose enough to allow the horses to chew gently, a response
considered to be desirable in a dressage horse (Podhajsky,
1967; Anon., 1990). For instance, the noseband fastened
using the taper gauge at the nasal planum was on average
at hole 6.8. This equated to a circumference of 68.3 cm,
which, from the measures of the external circumference
of the noses of the horses used in this study, is barely
enough to permit sufficient movement in the jaws for gentle
chewing to occur (68.6 cm required). Clearly, other normal
behaviors such as yawning would be prevented even at this
most conservative level of tightening. Differences in the
noseband circumference with the varied placement of the
taper gauge (on the nose, mandible, or absent) highlights
the need for clarification as to the precise location at which
any standard gauge should be applied. As horse comfort
and welfare are at stake, any reliance on fingers as a gauge
should be abandoned.