Balotade® Darco Anatomical Leather Cavesson

The Balotade® Darco anatomical leather cavesson is a tool for groundwork and for riding that opens up many ways of working with a horse, depending on what that horse needs. The pressure goes onto the bridge of the nose, onto a wide, softly padded noseband — the signal is clear and the horse’s mouth stays free.

And it is not a case of „either a bit or a cavesson”. Two detachable bit straps come with it: clip them on and you have a cavesson and a bridle in one; take them off and you are back to a plain cavesson for lunging and in-hand work. Swapping takes a moment — no unbuckling the headpiece, no threading the browband through, no hunting for a second bridle.

Lunging is where the difference shows most. A lunge line clipped to the bit ring drags the bit through the horse’s mouth and teaches it to lean on your hand; clipped to the centre ring of the cavesson it leads the horse by the nose, evenly on both reins. And when the horse is to work in side reins or draw reins, those go on the bit while the lunge line stays on the cavesson — neither gets in the other’s way. One piece of tack covers the young horse that does not know a bit yet, the horse with a sensitive mouth, everyday lunging, in-hand work and riding.

What you will use it for

• Lunging — the lunge line clipped to the centre ring leads the horse by the nose, not by the mouth. The horse works freely and you are not teaching it to lean on the bit.
• Lunging in a bit — bit straps attached, side reins or draw reins on the bit, lunge line on the cavesson. The horse has contact where it is meant to work and takes no jerks in the mouth.
• Double lunging — the two side rings let you run lines down both sides and work on the horse’s position.
• In-hand work — flexions, positioning, yielding to the hand and learning to answer the lightest aid.
• A young horse before the bit — before it accepts a bit you can work with it normally: lunge it, teach it to go in tack and to answer the lunge line. When the time comes you clip the bit straps on and nothing else changes for the horse.
• Riding — with the bit straps on it works like an ordinary bridle; without them it is a gentle alternative for warming up, for hacking and for riding after a mouth injury.
• A horse with a sensitive mouth — after an injury, when changing bits or while the teeth are coming through, working in a cavesson lets you keep training.

Detachable bit straps included

Each strap has its own buckle for setting the height of the bit in the mouth, a loop for the bit and a snap hook that clips into the fitting at the end of the cheekpiece. You adjust each side separately, and once the straps are off there are no loose ends left on the cavesson. One bridle instead of two — and one less thing to clean.

Three rings, three ways to lead

The noseband has one ring in the centre and one on each side. The centre ring is the standard place for the lunge line — the horse is led centrally and evenly on both reins. The side rings are for double lunging, for side reins and for work on position; a side attachment acts more sharply, so you use it deliberately and for short spells.

Anatomical cut

The noseband is wide and softly padded — it spreads the pressure instead of concentrating it on a narrow strap, which matters on the lunge, where a cavesson is working all the time. The headpiece is widened, shaped and lined, and the browband is profiled so that it does not press at the base of the ears. The jaw strap holds the whole thing in place and stops the cavesson from twisting when the lunge line pulls.

Features of the Darco cavesson

• Real leather — top-quality natural buffalo leather.
• Detachable bit straps — two included, on snap hooks, each with its own adjustment.
• Rust resistance — stainless steel fittings and buckles, in silver.
• Three rings on the noseband — one in the centre and two at the sides.
• Padded noseband — wide, soft, spreads the pressure.
• Profiled browband and widened headpiece — no pressure at the base of the ears.
• Adjustment — noseband, throatlash and jaw strap.

Sizes

The cavesson comes in three sizes — PONY, COB and FULL — in black.