Anyone been through the hell of growing out a hog?

S

skewby

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 October 2006
Messages
1,940
Visit site
After years of debating it, I hogged my horse. It's not that he doesn't look good, he does. Loved it at first but quickly decided I prefer him with mane.

So now I have to grow the thing back.

Any tips? Need it to be plaiting length by hunting season, the rate it's going that shouldn't be a problem. But on a large portion of his crest his mane is a good few inches wide, it ain't gonna lie down easy. Do I just sit it out until it's long enough to wash/wet and band over? Or clip underside and band top over, or...what? Help! :o
 
Step away from the clippers! If you clip off the underneath, you'll either have to keep doing it forever or the mane won't lie down.
My opinion, went through it last year, leave it to grow until it's long enough to band over (Brylcream works better than water), then pull to take out the thickness.
Got my loan mare's to about 3 inches, all on the correct side, then realised she looked hideous with a mane (little Irish cob)! She's going back to her owner's at the weekend mane free!
 
Yep I have, against my better judgement I let someone hog my last horse. I hated it so grew it out, it was interesting at times! But in the end she had a gorgeous thick mane xx
 
skewby said:
After years of debating it, I hogged my horse. It's not that he doesn't look good, he does. Loved it at first but quickly decided I prefer him with mane.

So now I have to grow the thing back.

Any tips? Need it to be plaiting length by hunting season, the rate it's going that shouldn't be a problem. But on a large portion of his crest his mane is a good few inches wide, it ain't gonna lie down easy. Do I just sit it out until it's long enough to wash/wet and band over? Or clip underside and band top over, or...what? Help! :o
Click to expand...

Oh dear....me too !!!! bad move, mine currently looks a loo brush, I've been so tempted to re hogg....but I'm sticking it out, I've stopped putting neck rugs on as they rub the mane and make is worse, once it gets to a certain lenght I'm going to plait it to train it to lie straight. Sorry I cant be of more help but thanks for posting this ...
 
My horse was hogged when I got him, mane is now nearly 2 feet long (he is that type by the way, not a TB!). It does stick up for a while then sticks at right angles and finally lays down and behaves itself. Best not to fiddle I think :)
 
Hi Skewby,

How long have you been growing out the hog for? I am in the same boat but he was only hogged a week ago, and has been hogged for many years. Like you, I hunt but if started to regrow it now am debating whether it will be long enough to plait by Oct, as don't want to look scruffy!

Thanks
 
Oh you lot have given me heart! Thank you.

Superted - I would send the clippers to you but I need them to do his legs ;) great tip re the brylcreem can see that totally working, will do that, thanks.

Supertrooper and Rebelrebel - so great to hear people have done it. I have been told horror stories of hogging manes ruining them forever (not sure how or why but they still scared me!!)

DressageDiva, stick at it, and Sidney - you and I will be at around the same stage, I did him a month ago and it's just starting to grow...shall the 3 of us have an ongoing "who looks the most ridiculous at the moment?" photo comp over the summer?!

It shouldn't be such a big deal but I am a bit of a turnout freak (my friends say to me "your horse goes to bed smarter than mine does to a competition" :D) and I'm really worried vanity will get the better of me and I'll take it all off again! Argh!! :eek::)
 
I believe it's just patience, but someone I know bought a connie at the beginning of the year who had been hogged recently. She wanted to show so let it grow and religiously applied Mega-tex hair rebuilder every day. It's now about 4 inches long!
 
Leave it well alone, my TB was hogged when I got him (polo....) so wasn't too bad to grow out as his mane was only about an inch or two wide and the hair fine so flopped over very easily. Sported a nice mowhawk for a while though!

Invest in a lycra hood and put it on then stick you arm up the neck and lay the mane on the right side, so then it will get pressed down by the hood.
 
Decided to grow my traddie cob's mane since the New Year. We're getting there - gradually. Mane has yet to decide which side its gonna lie on; he has to wear a sweet itch hoody so not really helpful.

At the moment it seems to be parting a little bit on each side; not that I mind that, coz I don't compete so it really doesn't matter to me what his mane does TBH.

The difficult part is the first month or two when the mane stands up and looks totally awful and you keep looking at the clippers and thinking what you could do .....
 
Hogged my girl when she was clipped in October as she had rubbed half of it out, its still only about 3 inches long! I don't know whether to stick with it or shave it all off again, wanted to do some showing this summer and she looks like a bog brush!
 
I last hogged my gelding in November and we just about have a mane again! I pulled it for the first time this week as it is sooooooooooo thick. It looks better where I did it and it is probably about 5" long. Only near his forelock where it still sticks up a bit!

I think it is better to leave it to grow and not interfere with it too much. Luckily when it looked really ridiculous was when he was wearing rugs with a hood so as long as I was careful the mane was laying flat it did help to train it to the correct side.

Bear with it you will get there!!:)
 
Unfortunately yes - a lycra hood will be your best friend for growing it out!
My boy only took about 6 months to grow out so that it flopped over to one side, but it took religous hood wearing to achieve it - good luck!
 
You could use mane weights.

Plait the mane when long enough, and add the weight to the ends. Fishing weights work well plus they are cheaper.

Leave in for few hours/over night, the plaits can be left in longer if you wish, and put a snuggle hood on, a perfect mane in a week (or 2) you just have to wait to get the length .

And another tip, let it settle a wee bit before pulling, let it grow an extra 2 inches longer than you normally would, otherwise when you pull, it will then likely stick up again :o
 
My beautiful Welsh D isn't hogged but has managed to "lose" part of her mane a few inches up from her withers! It looks horrendous as there is a section only a couple of inches long compared to the rest which is about 9 inches. She lost some over the winter due to rugs with neck covers ( won't have them this year). It started to grow back but she's either rubbed against a tree or been "groomed" by her next door neighbour over the fence.
 
Noooo Skewby..you have a super stamp of cob there who cries out for a smart hog and pulled tail.Nothing looks nicer than a cob turned out for show classes or hunting!:D
 
Rolo was hogged when I first tried him in Ireland, last May

Mid June, when he arrived, with hog growing out

DSC00971.jpg


August,

P8074918.jpg


October

P1410034.jpg


So 5 months for a lovely length mane, but it was actually plaited, just, way back in July, albeit badly :o

Don't panic- -it will be fine. And I didn't do anything fancy to get it on the right side - just brushed it over wet occasionally.
 
It took mine about 4 months to grow out to be long enough to plait but it still stuck up! I used to just band it all the time and after 5 months it kind of laid to the side.... I wish I had thought of bryl cream too!
 
EAST KENT said:
Noooo Skewby..you have a super stamp of cob there who cries out for a smart hog and pulled tail.Nothing looks nicer than a cob turned out for show classes or hunting!:D
Click to expand...
Shhhhhh!!! :D yes I am anti hair so his (excuses for - Suffolk) feathers are clipped off regularly plus the thick hair on his legs as they're not actually that heavy and very good and I like to show them off, and tail is pulled. And fully agree with you, adore the hogged cob look! So I went for the hog, plus of course the mane is a lot of work to pull and plait and keep under control. But he is 16hh so not really a cob, we don't show anyway and he looks great but like a man's horse! He was just cuter with a mane!

Bakedbean he hunts all winter so can't possibly do it then :( I do have a lycra hoody tho ;)

Mucky Shavings (great name btw :D) mane weights are another great tip! And Heucherella thanks so much for pics he looks absolutely fine all the way through. Is he full ID or something else, he's lovely??

Barbann it was a situation similar to yours that drove me to hog in the first place! :( I'd attacked it for plaiting all winter, made his bridlepath too big so less to do, but it looked ok cos the plaiting and rug kept it over, tho it was short. Cue spring, no longer plaiting, mane rubbed off by rug, and vanity got the better of me so rather than work at it I got the clippers to it! :(

Snowy 4/5 months is less daunting than 6, thank you :D xxx
 
Week I keep umping and aching about what to do. My new horse too has a 6 inch wide section that has been lost due to neck rugs over winter, and is now sticking straight up in a mow hawk and fluffy :( the rest is quite long, but with a 1cm section running the length of his mane at the roots that is only about 3 inches long (again rugs) and his bridle path was tooooo wide and really long, was tempted to cut it all back again but I don't like long bridle paths so only cut about an inch/inch and a half. I don't know what to do with it!!

He is a loan horse so come winter I don't really want to be splashing out on all new rugs with no neck covers! Ideas?
 
Get some Megatek. Makes the hair grow faster

My girl had been hogged in the Oct when I bought her and by January it had flopped over one side, although would have been a bit short to plait. It is better to grow it out in the winter cause the rugs weigh it down. Was about Feb time for it to be plaitable.
 
You could try a hair gel that will hold a flimsy plait together & you can also take some hair from the tail to bulk out a plait aswell. Put a rubber band on the piece of tail you want before cutting & don't remove it, put it in the underside of whatever mane you have & plait into it, but LEAVE the band on so you can reuse it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top