Alternatives to mane pulling

[Spiritedly]

These are my plaits, now that I use the Smart Tails rake (it is the same pony in all the photos, she just changes colour regularly).

(Please ignore the forelock plait, she'd rubbed it on her haynet in the lorry, and I hadn't yet had time to redo it).

I was rather hurt by your harsh comment, as I personally don't think it was at all fair.

Out of interest how do you manage to get your plaits to lay flat whichever side you plait your ponies mane on? My Foresters mane falls on the left and although I've tried plaiting it on the right the plaits look awful

 

[ridefast]

Out of interest how do you manage to get your plaits to lay flat whichever side you plait your ponies mane on? My Foresters mane falls on the left and although I've tried plaiting it on the right the plaits look awful

Wet the mane, comb it on to the right side and plait it - don't roll- leave in for a few days. It's called laying a mane. Some manes you have to do it a lot

 

[EquiEquestrian556]

Out of interest how do you manage to get your plaits to lay flat whichever side you plait your ponies mane on? My Foresters mane falls on the left and although I've tried plaiting it on the right the plaits look awful

I use a lycra hood and showsheen - yes I know, it makes it slippery, but I find it also helps to make it 'flexible', so that it will lie on whatever side I put it on. Her mane naturally falls on the left side, but when I feel like plaiting it on the right it works. Using a needle & thread is really helpful, as you can then get it really tight, and gel too, so it looks 'smooth'.

Try leaving it plaited on the right side, in long plaits, and put a lycra hood on. If you repeat the whole thing regularly, it should then be able to be put on any side of the neck

 

[Spiritedly]

Wet the mane, comb it on to the right side and plait it - don't roll- leave in for a few days. It's called laying a mane. Some manes you have to do it a lot

I've tried this numerous times and they just seem to stick out at right angles

 

[JFTDWS]

I do love a poorly executed photoshop

I've tried the half hog thing. It's a real pig to grow out :eek3:

 

[Caol Ila]

I discovered that I hated pulling and plaiting the mane, the horse hated the pulling part of it, I was crap at the latter, so I let her mane grow out. When I was showing, I would put it in a lattice which is cool, and nowadays I just let it go feral.

 

[FlyingCircus]

XD I love Photoshop jobs.

9/10 for effort but less so for execution!

I personally cut and then pull my boy's mane as he doesn't seem to care what I do, so I cut to get rid of the length to save my fingers!

 

[Honey08]

I'm just waiting to see if the person criticising the plaits has posted any of theirs yet.

 

[Dave's Mam]

How can you beat fake plaits?

 

[JFTDWS]

How can you beat fake plaits?

Ooooh ready made plaited hair extensions. Just hog and clip 'em on!

 

[Summer pudding]

100 comments about mane pulling or plaits..hot topic - show us your plaits then..let the people decide!

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Evening all

Just thought I'd pick your brains about mane pulling/tidying etc, I was trying to tidy my mare's mane up this evening and I got to thinking there must be a better way.
She's a Welshie with quite a thick mane and I try to keep her tidy looking, however she (understandably) doesn't like her mane being pulled, and I hate using a solo comb.
I'm about ready to give up with the comb, it falls apart every other cut, and IMHO it takes 5x as long and the results aren't as tidy as pulling
So basically what I'm asking is, has anyone found any decent alternatives? I can't bring myself to take scissors to it!
Thanks in advance

I don't pull my welshie as I leave her mane long and lush as I want to show her. I use cowboy magic and mane conditioner. So no mane pulling here I prefer my horses to have natural manes.

When I had to in BHS yard we had to pull or thin or snip with sissors

 

[ester]

Glad it wasn't just me that thought the photos looked odd, and not particularly helpful to anyone looking to see how raking and plaiting can actually look.

I pull my welshie so can't help on the alternatives. His mane is super wirey and thick - much nicer down the bottom end, so I think anything but proper pulling would really get it plaitable, though the current issue is the bit I clipped off on the near side near the top :eek3:. Do use copious amounts of wella (or similar extra hold gel and sew them in too )

they are definitely functional rather than show quality plaits still though. - he has this right annoying fluffy bit round his forelock that I don't know what to do with!

thought I'd throw in a non edited pic for good measure

His mane when first pulled from long which perhaps shows how thick it still was post pulling - and no I didn't use scissors first but it did go on to become shorter than this after hho said so and is now quite a lot thinner! but still requires gel/baby oil in quite large quantities to get it to behave when showing as welsh. I'm not sure that solocombing/raking would ever have got it to a more reasonable point. He doesn't particularly like it but he doesn't like other things too so I tell him we all have to suffer for our beauty and it will mean he gets treats, and then hunting .

 

[Auslander]

I may put a plait or two in Alfs (raked) mane later. IF he doesn't get wildly over-excited and think he's going to a party

 

[ester]

would be interesting to see Aus for future reference

 

[Carefreegirl]

Plaiting is one of the very few things I'm actually quite good at (along with falling off)

Must of been having an off day here as I count 11 and I normally do 7 :biggrin3:

 

[Shantara]

Plaiting is one of the very few things I'm actually quite good at (along with falling off)

Must of been having an off day here as I count 11 and I normally do 7 :biggrin3:

I can vouch for that!! (The plaiting that is, not falling off haha!)
I don't think Ned's plaits have ever looked so good even though he was being rather annoying, if I remember rightly!

 

[Carefreegirl]

I can vouch for that!! (The plaiting that is, not falling off haha!)
I don't think Ned's plaits have ever looked so good even though he was being rather annoying, if I remember rightly!

He was just a bit fidgety :wink3:

 

[EquiEquestrian556]

I just wanted to say, I didn't use fake extension plaits. I'd never hog my pony's mane, for one she wouldn't let me, and two, she wouldn't suit it at all, and to be honest (no offence to hogged horse owners) I don't really like hogged manes, unless it's a heavy cob type.

Apart from me trying to make my hand look better in the last photo (utter fail :rolleyes3: - it looks worse now, but at least you can see it *has* been edited, so people won't think my hand actually is like that) I haven't used fake plaits, that is my plaiting, and my pony's mane.

 

[Auslander]

I just wanted to say, I didn't use fake extension plaits. I'd never hog my pony's mane, for one she wouldn't let me, and two, she wouldn't suit it at all, and to be honest (no offence to hogged horse owners) I don't really like hogged manes, unless it's a heavy cob type.

Apart from me trying to make my hand look better in the last photo (utter fail :rolleyes3: - it looks worse now, but at least you can see it *has* been edited, so people won't think my hand actually is like that) I haven't used fake plaits, that is my plaiting, and my pony's mane.

Maybe you should post the unedited version - that should shut people up eh?

 

[MagicMelon]

I always use a thinning rake (the Smart Tails one) and while I've found it does a great job of thinning, I find after a few months the hair starts growing back in and of course its on the underneath so it plays havoc with pushing the rest of the mane over to the wrong side and it sits up like a bush! What do people do to deal with this? I try to rake it but its hard to rake only one bit...

 

[EquiEquestrian556]

Maybe you should post the unedited version - that should shut people up eh?

Fine, here is the original.

I hope that now people will believe me.

 

[Moomin1]

Plaiting is one of the very few things I'm actually quite good at (along with falling off)

Must of been having an off day here as I count 11 and I normally do 7 :biggrin3:

I used to plait my old pony's forelock like that but my mare now won't keep her head still enough or low enough for me to do it, so I have to go for the bog standard normal plait instead of the french plait type :-(

 

[Dave's Mam]

Plaiting is one of the very few things I'm actually quite good at (along with falling off)

Must of been having an off day here as I count 11 and I normally do 7 :biggrin3:

That forelock is amazing. My fingers would have dropped off.

 

[JFTDWS]

Plaiting is one of the very few things I'm actually quite good at (along with falling off)

Must of been having an off day here as I count 11 and I normally do 7 :biggrin3:

CFG- those are delightful! And not photoshopped The forelock is divine. If you'd like to come and do mine every time I compete, I'd be much obliged

 

[dingle12]

I had a massive pulling session yesterday and tidy up, after doing 5 I had very sore fingers. People that cut the manes do you mind posting a photo I would never use scissors on any or my manes however I do pull short for plaiting so tend to end up with rock star manes !!!

 

[Carefreegirl]

I don't do the forelock like that very often.
It depends on the amount of poo I have to clean off the rest of her body. That was a 'not many poo stains' morning :wink3:

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Plaiting is one of the very few things I'm actually quite good at (along with falling off)

Must of been having an off day here as I count 11 and I normally do 7 :biggrin3:

That's it we are defiantly having that coffee soon and you can show me how to do a forelock plait like that!

 

[siennamiller]

Z's mane had got long (prob not in comparison to a welshie), I used scissors to chop the length down, the chop into it to remove some thickness, and create a feathery effect, then I pull it last to get rid of the blunt edges, it works for me, you can't tell it's cut with scissors, plus it takes a lot less time.

 

[siennamiller]

I have never understand why you'd want to pull a mane. Yanking hair out by the root is pretty painful and not something I'd ever want to inflict on my horse. I leave my pure bred arab au naturel, and take a pair of scissors to my part-bred when it gets too long. I've never shown so not needed to plait traditionally. If I've wanted to plait (for endurance or on the rare occasion we venture into the dressage arena), I just pop in a running plait, high up on the crest.

It's easy for an Arab owner to say pop it in a running plait, but I would look pretty bl**dy stupid eventing my ISH with a running plait.