Tell me about Longeing Cavessons

[KarinUS]

I own a Nylon Longeing Cavesson for DJ and Bixby. It has fake sheepskin on the nose. It's worked fairly well and it is very lightweight.
Since it is too small for Minose I was looking into buying a new one for Minnie.
The leather ones are nice but the metal hardware seems to be super heavy on the leather ones.
What is the reasoning behind that? I figured the only reason to buy a cavesson instead of using a halter would be so it doesn't slip sideways. Why does the metal band on the nose have to be so heavy?
I don't want her to accidently get hurt. Are leather/metal cavessons as safe as the lightweight nylon counterparts.
What would be advantages/ disadvantages of each?

[KarinUS]

bump

[Mehitabel]

i never got on with the leather one we had, i much prefer the webbing ones. afraid i don't know why they are so much heavier, but they definitely are.

as far as safety goes, the leather ones are suppposed to break, a bit like leather headcollars rather than webbing ones for field use. but i would tihnk that the strain needed to snap one would be pretty extreme.

i vaguely wonder if the weight of them is to do with clearer signals, a bit like the western riding awith severe bits and very light rein contact? for the more 'serious' lungeing and long reining. that is a guess though. although it would fit in with my experience - i am not a terribly skilled lunger, so may have been giving too heay signals with the heavy leather one we had.

[KarinUS]

Thanks! There's a nice leather one for sale on Ebay right now and I was thinking of getting it but I think I will feel more comfrotable with the nylon one (like the one I already got).
I appreciated your thoughts on this. :)