Correct turnout of horse

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skewbaldmillie

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Could anybody help me with how my mare should be turned out. She is skewbald and is a cob X tb. She is not particularly chunky but not very thin either, similar shape to an Irish sports horse (calling her my welsh sports horse) What tack and turnout should she be shown in.
 
Are you planning on going to a show? It really depends on what class you hope to do :) Tack and turnout varies hugely depending on the discipline - eg. hunting, showing, dressage etc
 
Starting point would be to remove any feathers/clean the fetlock and trim the hair above coronet band.
Next would be to pull the tail and cut it to just below the hocks and bang it - although height you cut the tail to also depends on tail carriage. But just below the hocks is a good starting point :)

Then would need to cut a bridle path in mane, and trim the ears & any ear fluff. Then pull the mane to shortish (but plaitable!) length. Chestnuts on legs should also be neat to the leg. The hair under the head (from mouth to throat) should be neat to the head, you can shave/cut/wick as necessary.

Next depends on if you show as a hunter, cob or riding horse. A cob should be hogged, but the other 2 are plaited.

As for general tack, a thin-ish bridle (a more dainty type) would generally suit a finer head (such as a riding horse) whereas a normal bridle usually suits a hunter and a thicker noseband and browband will usually suit a cob more, but depends on head really. Saddle is your choice! :)

For showing, it's double bridles for all!
A riding horse should have a coloured ribbon style browband and non-flat noseband, but I've seen a lot of riding horses recently that have thinner flat ones.
A hunter and a cob both have plain flat hunter style bridles, with the cob bridle again usually having a wider noseband and browband.
A saddle that is comfy and shows off the shoulder is good for showing as well, and either a nummnah that is fits the saddle neatly or no nummnah. :)

You can also remove whiskers, I do, but it's a personal choice and shouldn't really be a factor in showing them.
Quarter markings for showing as well, but can be more difficult on a coloured, as they don't tend to show up on white areas.

At moment that's all I can think of :p
 
only_me said:
Starting point would be to remove any feathers/clean the fetlock and trim the hair above coronet band.
Next would be to pull the tail and cut it to just below the hocks and bang it - although height you cut the tail to also depends on tail carriage. But just below the hocks is a good starting point :)

Then would need to cut a bridle path in mane, and trim the ears & any ear fluff. Then pull the mane to shortish (but plaitable!) length. Chestnuts on legs should also be neat to the leg. The hair under the head (from mouth to throat) should be neat to the head, you can shave/cut/wick as necessary.

Next depends on if you show as a hunter, cob or riding horse. A cob should be hogged, but the other 2 are plaited.

As for general tack, a thin-ish bridle (a more dainty type) would generally suit a finer head (such as a riding horse) whereas a normal bridle usually suits a hunter and a thicker noseband and browband will usually suit a cob more, but depends on head really. Saddle is your choice! :)

For showing, it's double bridles for all!
A riding horse should have a coloured ribbon style browband and non-flat noseband, but I've seen a lot of riding horses recently that have thinner flat ones.
A hunter and a cob both have plain flat hunter style bridles, with the cob bridle again usually having a wider noseband and browband.
A saddle that is comfy and shows off the shoulder is good for showing as well, and either a nummnah that is fits the saddle neatly or no nummnah. :)

You can also remove whiskers, I do, but it's a personal choice and shouldn't really be a factor in showing them.
Quarter markings for showing as well, but can be more difficult on a coloured, as they don't tend to show up on white areas.

At moment that's all I can think of :p
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Only me your advice is fab! For riding horse inhand would this be flat or raised noseband? Thank you!
 
Riding horses should always have flat nosebands, it is only hacks who can have raised but most don't.
Be aware that a riding horse is a specific type not just any horse intended for ridden work and depends on bone and depth.
Most ISH make hunters not riding horses, my cobxtbxID is defiantly a small hunter
 
Thank you for the pics connie girl. My yearling is a Connemara x TB and have been told she's too fine for a hunter but not fine enough for hack. So here's hoping! What do you think?

OP as above have said, it very much depends on the class you're in. There are lots of small changes for each...as I'm learning ��
 
Personally I would leave the whiskers alone. They are needed for sensory perception, both while grazing and in the dark. You shouldn't be penalised for leaving them on.
 
Nudibranch said:
Personally I would leave the whiskers alone. They are needed for sensory perception, both while grazing and in the dark. You shouldn't be penalised for leaving them on.
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I'm glad to hear this, I'm just getting into in hand showing and wouldn't like to do anything to whiskers. So even at county level it's ok?
 
I have never been penalised for leaving whiskers, showed a PBA/hack up and down the country up to county level, though never at the very top levels (so not HOYS classes or the like). Had one judge comment on it in 10 years. I feel very strongly that they should be left, though I have neatened them up occasionally if they got a bit wild :D.

x x
 
crystalclear said:
I'm glad to hear this, I'm just getting into in hand showing and wouldn't like to do anything to whiskers. So even at county level it's ok?
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At county level there is no rule to say you have to trim whiskers but it will look very amaturish if you don't.
In 25 years of owning show horses I've never had a horse react badly to having no whiskers.
 
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Whiskers are a sensory organ - they 'map'directly tothe brain in the same way as dogs' and cats' whiskers. Leave 'em be. If your horse needs a tidy-up for the showring then trimming hair under the jaw will neaten up a head. Sometimes traditions are overtaken by scientific discoveries - FYI In Germany it's now illegal to trim whiskers.
 
catkin said:
Whiskers are a sensory organ - they 'map'directly tothe brain in the same way as dogs' and cats' whiskers. Leave 'em be. If your horse needs a tidy-up for the showring then trimming hair under the jaw will neaten up a head. Sometimes traditions are overtaken by scientific discoveries - FYI In Germany it's now illegal to trim whiskers.
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Nicely said. Quite agree.:)
 
spottybotty said:
I have been showing horses/ponies for 40yrs and have never had an issue with their wiskers being removed.
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Same here. Unless turned away for whatever reason all of my horses are trimmed well, even the horses who hunt. Ears trimmed out, whiskers etc and again never had an issue. It's something I don't like to see in the show ring - hairy, untrimmed horses and too long tails
 
conniegirl said:
In 25 years of owning show horses I've never had a horse react badly to having no whiskers.
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A lady at my yard trimmed her horses whiskers and he wouldn't eat his feed for about 2 weeks until they started to grow back as he couldn't feel where it was. Not every horse will take kindly to it.

I had a cob (Hogged and trimmed) who I will be showing this year and I wouldn't dream of cutting or trimming her whiskers. As it has been said previously, trimmed the "Beard" underneath the jaw will neaten the profile of the head up.
 
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