I'm seriously considering hogging Molly's mane, does anyone have pros/cons of doing it? I've been told it takes absolutely ages to grow back if I do and goes through a spikey, stick straight up in the air phase also.
BUT - her winter cover has rubbed out the bottom of her mane again and there is only something like 4 strands of hair left, which is impossible to plait anyway. Plus with the arthritis in my hands I get quite stressed about plaiting, as they just aren't as neat & tight as I used to be able to do. So it would save me quite a bit of time and save me worrying about whether they look good enough or not.
But I haven't seen any dressage horses with hogged manes, so I'm not sure if its the done thing or not? And we don't really show, and if I do I tend to put Molly in the cob classes anyway (where it's acceptable to hog).
So I think I'm leaning towards hogging it, but just can't bring myself to pick up the clippers!
I wish I could hog Hattie's mane as it just never grows on the lower part of her neck properly but she's a TB so not really appropriate. If she was a cob however....
ReplyDeleteI used to have a cob which did dressage with a hogged mane!
If it wasn't against my breed specifications (as if I would ever got to a show LOL!) Grey's mane would be off in a second.
ReplyDelete~Smartalex
I roach or hog my horse's mane. She rubbed it out years ago and it never grew back thick enough to do anything with. It is super thick to about half way down and then super thin, so it looks bad. I decided to roach it and have never gone back! It looks really nice, is easy to deal with and makes show prep a lot quicker (yay no braiding!!). You can even make little "bumps" along the mane and it looks like you've got your horse's mane braided, people only notice that you don't when they come up really close.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't take that long to grow out, at least a couple of months I'd say but not years or anything like that.
Like, Brita, I can't roach Owen's mane due to breed regs. I was sorely tempted this spring when he rubbed out about half of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I second the "yay, no braiding!"
Decision made! I need to get hold of some cordless clippers so I can do a tidy job. I'll post a before/after photo when I am done.
ReplyDeleteAnd I sent off my entry to the show on the 17th, so the only thing I will have to braid will be her forelock :)
Ahh - to have a sidesaddle 3-gaited Saddlebred (perfection in the Saddlebred 3-G division!!) which is the only division that we roach the manes!!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to stop by and say Hi as I have been away for a while!