anyone else have a wimp who doesn't like mane pulling...

Cortez said:
Thankfully I now have breeds that are shown with full manes and tails, but back when I worked with competition horses I have seen some horses running blood after their manes were pulled super short all in one go, and the vast majority obviously found it at least unpleasant. Perhaps this practise is equivalent to the angora rabbit plucking that some people were getting very upset about recently?
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Absolutely this ^^^
 
i think the people on the forum who do pull manes have gone quiet for a reason! i am another who does not pull my horses manes. i brush them one day and put lots of conditioner in, then the next day i use scissors and a thinning rake :) works really well and my horses actually relax while i do it. because he used to get a very short pulled mane as a race horse my boy is still cautious with me just brushing his mane- if i have a to tug a not slightly he doesn't like it- but then i don't like my friends little girl tugging knots out of my hair when we play hairdressers! again, agree with others comments- waxing hurts but i chose to do it- horses don't care if their mane is thicker or not.
 
Havent read all the threads but imo mane pulling is cruel and must be very painful, so i do not mane pull, i use a thining knife and scissors and it looks good enough for me
 
Me - mine starts shaking her head as soon as you hold on to the end of the strands of her hair. Previous owners twitched her. I am happy to say that she now has a long mane as nature intended. She is a native cross though, so can easily get away with it :) As to the clipper scenario, again she needed sedating or twitching, but with confidence in me and a pair of quiet clippers with low vibration, she now stands stock still instead of kicking out sideways, always an improvement :)
 
I'll go against the grain here.

I pull all of our horses manes, they stand up squarely whilst I do it, the little one usually falls asleep. I always do it after exercise when they are warm and their pores are open. I am not a fan of leaving it and then spending 3/4 an hour pulling half a mane out, I will tidy them up once a week, a few hairs at a time.

Having watched many horses groom themselves in the field, I am not convinced their pain threshold is really comparable to our own. I accept there are many horses who won't stand for their manes pulling, but mine do. I can understand why people are opposed to it, but I would hardly describe it as barbaric.
 
RunToEarth said:
I'll go against the grain here.

I pull all of our horses manes, they stand up squarely whilst I do it, the little one usually falls asleep. I always do it after exercise when they are warm and their pores are open. I am not a fan of leaving it and then spending 3/4 an hour pulling half a mane out, I will tidy them up once a week, a few hairs at a time.

Having watched many horses groom themselves in the field, I am not convinced their pain threshold is really comparable to our own. I accept there are many horses who won't stand for their manes pulling, but mine do. I can understand why people are opposed to it, but I would hardly describe it as barbaric.
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If your horse isn't bothered by it, I don't see anything wrong with it :)
 
My bad - just cranked the Weirdo's mane out - most annoying mare! She curls round you to mutual groom you whilst you do it! She doesnt need a headcollar on at all.
 
RunToEarth said:
Having watched many horses groom themselves in the field, I am not convinced their pain threshold is really comparable to our own.
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I'm not sure that mutual grooming can be compared to pulling hair out or horses pain threshold myself. They give each other constant feedback and can walk away if they wish for a start.

I know horses can learn to accept it and taking your approach is certainly a better one imo. I just think its unnecessary and isn't done for their benefit.
 
I trim my horse's mane with hairdressers scissors and then go all the way along with thinning scissors. Looks neat and natural. She has a beautiful thick, lustrous, silky mane which falls the full depth of her neck, why on earth would I want to get rid of it?
I compete at dressage and it is frowned upon if your horse is not plaited, so I am becoming expert in different ways of doing running plaits. They now last the trip in the trailer and the first class. Fortunately they are so quick to do that it is easy to redo them between classes, if required. Must remember to keep a supply of plating bands in my jacket pocket, though.
 
amandap said:
I'm not sure that mutual grooming can be compared to pulling hair out or horses pain threshold myself. They give each other constant feedback and can walk away if they wish for a start.

I know horses can learn to accept it and taking your approach is certainly a better one imo. I just think its unnecessary and isn't done for their benefit.
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I can completely understand your point of view.

I would never persevere with a horse that truly hated having their mane pulled, and I have in the past raked horses who wouldn't stand to be pulled - I am lucky in that all of ours will stand nicely untied whilst I do them.

My main reason for pulling is because I find it a lot easier to evenly and smartly plait a well pulled mane, with the solocomb it seems to be a much more abrupt end to their mane and it makes it rather clumsy to fold up and sew in - they never seem to sit flush.
 
amandap said:
I'm not sure that mutual grooming can be compared to pulling hair out or horses pain threshold myself. They give each other constant feedback and can walk away if they wish for a start.
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I have mutual groomed with numerous horses over the years and it didn't hurt me. However, pulling my hair out is painful.

Of course, it's not really possible to compare across species like that - some things that are painful to us, like standing barefoot in ice cold water, are tolerated by horses. What surely matters is the individual horse's behaviour in response to the action. It isn't so hard to tell if something is uncomfortable or painful for a horse. Some horses clearly react to mane pulling as if it is painful, while others don't. I'm not generally in favour of subjecting horses to pain merely for convenience or fashion.

ETA: RunToEarth, I think your approach is pragmatic and humane.
 
RunToEarth said:
My main reason for pulling is because I find it a lot easier to evenly and smartly plait a well pulled mane, with the solocomb it seems to be a much more abrupt end to their mane and it makes it rather clumsy to fold up and sew in - they never seem to sit flush.
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Completely agree. I've never had one that moved when pulling before & always prefer it as it looks much smarter. I can't pull tails so ive never attempted to! The current mare head shakes like crazy as soon as you back comb so I've had to change to a rake & scissors & don't attempt to pull with her. Obviously she finds it uncomfortable. Same as people I suppose, some are bothered by things that others aren't. My son swears it hurts like crazy when he cuts his toe nails ;)
 
I am another who thinks that nothing can compare aesthetically to a properly pulled mane and tail. I don't believe it is barbaric it seems to be very subjective on a horse by horse basis. We have one pony who cannot stand his mane pulled (a WHP who is now retired from showing and hogged to keep him smart without causing him unnecessary trauma) but the same pony would stand quite happily and indeed doze off while we pulled his (very thick) tail with pliers!!! If one of ours strongly objected we would always find a way round it but it varies very much from horse to horse.
 
I cut Pip's with scissors and it looks fine. (in fact had comments on how smart he looks) I just point the scissors upwards to soften the line a bit.
 
RunToEarth said:
I'll go against the grain here.

I pull all of our horses manes, they stand up squarely whilst I do it, the little one usually falls asleep. I always do it after exercise when they are warm and their pores are open. I am not a fan of leaving it and then spending 3/4 an hour pulling half a mane out, I will tidy them up once a week, a few hairs at a time.

Having watched many horses groom themselves in the field, I am not convinced their pain threshold is really comparable to our own. I accept there are many horses who won't stand for their manes pulling, but mine do. I can understand why people are opposed to it, but I would hardly describe it as barbaric.
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Agree. Mine will fall asleep when he is warm and pores are open. Obviously doesn't mind too much otherwise I wouldn't do it!
 
But then runtoearth, you are doing it how it should be done, now please go out into the horsey world and teach those that think grabbing a handful of mane and pulling it out, is the way it is done, yes i have seen this done all too often with the poor horse terrified when you go near it with a brush let alone a comb.
 
putasocinit said:
But then runtoearth, you are doing it how it should be done, now please go out into the horsey world and teach those that think grabbing a handful of mane and pulling it out, is the way it is done, yes i have seen this done all too often with the poor horse terrified when you go near it with a brush let alone a comb.
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Are you suggesting that mane pulling doesn't have to be painful for any horse if it's done the right way?
 
I can clip my 4 year old not a problem, she was fantastic from her very first clip as a 3.5 yr old however I can not pull her mane, I tried when she was a yearling and never will again! I use thinning scissors and a solocomb :)
 
fburton said:
Are you suggesting that mane pulling doesn't have to be painful for any horse if it's done the right way?
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I don't think that is what putasocinit meant - horses react differently to things and I am sure their pain thresholds differ from horse to horse as ours do.

The difference is that pulling a mane once a week, when warm and taking a few strands at a time is surely much more sensible and presumably much less painful than not pulling a mane for months, and then pulling it cold, and taking a large amount out.
 
yes- Billy hates having his mane or tail pulled. He will kick if i even try to do it.

I use a solocomb, its taken a while for him to realise that it doesnt hurt with the solocomb, but getting there now.

It cant be nice for them. The solo comb leaves a lovely finish on the mane anyway so i dont see the need in pulling it? His tail just stays unpulled and cut at the bottom.

He is also very scared of clippers, but i manage if i take it slowly and do a little bit at a time.
 
I pull, used to do a load of RS ponies and few minded.

I always do Frank when he is warm/after work and he doesn't enjoy it but doesn't mind that much and I do it frequently enough that it's only a 10 min job. He's welsh and has a thick mane (not one of these sleek welsh ones) and I just cannot fathom only using scissors/solocomb on it and it being thin enough to plait. I wonder if most of the people that extol how amazing solocombs etc are only have TB manes to deal with. - Contrary to this thread most of the people I know do pull properly.

I pull my own head hair out so that comparison doesn't really work for me :p.
 
ester said:
I pull, used to do a load of RS ponies and few minded.

I always do Frank when he is warm/after work and he doesn't enjoy it but doesn't mind that much and I do it frequently enough that it's only a 10 min job. He's welsh and has a thick mane (not one of these sleek welsh ones) and I just cannot fathom only using scissors/solocomb on it and it being thin enough to plait. I wonder if most of the people that extol how amazing solocombs etc are only have TB manes to deal with. - Contrary to this thread most of the people I know do pull properly.

I pull my own head hair out so that comparison doesn't really work for me :p.
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I use solocomb on my welsh cob too. It does take more doing but you can get it thin enough.
 
How? when you are only cutting it? The laws of physics say that you have to actually remove things to make them thinner.
 
so you cut from the base? - I thought you back combed and then cut (ie not from base and not completely removing the hair like pulling) I am honestly curious as I have never seen a solocombed mane that I thought looked smart/didn't turn out looking bushy.
 
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