New research has shown promise around noseband tightness in dressage – but that stress behaviour increases with competition level and judges are not penalising it.
In a study, published in Animals, Czech researchers aimed to assess whether noseband tightness at national competitions would influence how horses “express stress”. But when nearly all of the more than 200 evaluated combinations were found to have correctly fitted nosebands, measured with the FEI tool, the researchers looked at equine stress behaviours across the levels from elementary to grand prix. Noseband type, bridle choice and scores were also considered.
The research found that stress-related behaviours increased with test difficulty; at lower levels, horses showed a wider range of behaviours including mouth opening, tail swishing, behind-the-vertical posture or reluctance. At higher levels, horses showed fewer types of behaviours but more frequently, and mouth-related responses became dominant. Other findings included that horses showed more conflict behaviours in double bridles than snaffles, and from medium level upwards, judges’ scores did not reflect the amount of stress-behaviour shown.
Lead author Simona Fialová of the Brno University of Technology told H&H there were “several important” surprises.
“The disconnect between stress and judging above medium level was striking. Even when horses showed high levels of conflict behaviour – over 70% of the test at grand prix – scores remained unaffected,” she said.
“Perhaps most interesting was the strong effect of noseband style at lower levels; horses ridden with a Swedish crank noseband (with leverage buckles) showed significantly fewer mouth-related issues compared with a plain English cavesson and flash. This deserves deeper investigation, because the reason may relate to pressure distribution.”
Ms Fialová said the findings are consistent with earlier studies showing that technical difficulty and more complex movements “tend to increase stress behaviours” – and that this research “contributed something new”.
“We provide a large set of data across six national levels, demonstrating how the expression of stress narrows as horses progress upward. We also show a remarkably high level of compliance with FEI noseband rules, which has not been documented clearly before,” she said.
“We also want to highlight the practical challenges judges face. At levels like grand prix, where they must count steps, tempi changes and pirouette rotations, their attention is understandably drawn to technical execution rather than welfare-related behaviour. This suggests the potential value of a dedicated harmony or welfare-focused mark.”
- Read the full study
Danish vet and leading animal welfare researcher Mette Uldahl told H&H this was a “thought-provoking” study.
“While noseband tightness is central to the research question, the findings reinforce something that has been shown repeatedly: discipline and level significantly influence the horse’s lived experience under saddle,” she said.
“Across studies, horses competing at higher dressage levels consistently display increased reactivity, more conflict behaviours and more frequent open-mouth behaviour compared to those at lower levels.”
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