Do you of you not trim your horses/ponies?

Mine is a D and just gets his tail trimmed when it's trailing in the mud and mane trimmed a little in summer as its pretty thick and he gets quite hot under there! Nothing else is trimmed. I often think about doing it but I love him just the way he is and he doesn't need it!
 
Where's the comedy? he's just very, very hairy.

He's not untidy, either, Starzaan :mad: just well endowed... :D

Ha! I think he's gorgeous. I had to sell my lovely hairy cob three years ago... I do miss her pretty feathers and ridiculous mane. I trim mostly because my lot, and the majority of my liveries are warmblood or TB competition horses or hunters, so trimming is the norm. I love a good hairy cob, but equally think some really suit being hogged and featherless... I think it depends on the horse.

I am a bit anal about pulling manes and tails...it's my stress buster. My horses are used to me and my manic tail pulling afternoons now.
 
I wont trim anything except for the heels.
did trim whiskers once - never again.

I used to not trim my boys tail (cut last year) I decided 8 ft 2 was long enough yes his tail was that long:D
my mares went to 7 ft 6


pony i don't trim but it stays just touching the floor.

Wont trim any manes either
 
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It's not the hairy that my laughing at, its the other with the flag in its mouth! Hairy looks slightly embarrassed! :D

Nah that's normal for the daemon pony :cool:

Ha! I think he's gorgeous. I had to sell my lovely hairy cob three years ago... I do miss her pretty feathers and ridiculous mane. I trim mostly because my lot, and the majority of my liveries are warmblood or TB competition horses or hunters, so trimming is the norm. I love a good hairy cob, but equally think some really suit being hogged and featherless... I think it depends on the horse.

I am a bit anal about pulling manes and tails...it's my stress buster. My horses are used to me and my manic tail pulling afternoons now.

Thanks :p I completely agree - some horses just suit being hairy (and I've had J both ways and he looks massively better hairy!), but it really wouldn't work on a wb/tb type - straggly mane :eek:

sorry about your mare though :(
 
No I bl@@dy well don't!!!

:D

Horses have tails, forelocks & manes for a reason and I don't see why I should interfere with that. They have more of a coat in Winter & less in Summer. I can ALMOST see why someone would want to trim a horse that is working a lot & sweating but I really can't get my head around those happy hackers who trim coats then fit rugs or trim forelocks & manes then get them one of those bands with dangly things to keep flies away!!!!

One of my mares has a pretty long mane, it is a mixed blessing, or curse. Sure it keeps the flies away from her neck, well one side of it anyway, but when the temperature consistently reaches 30C she is a foaming mass of sweat and I have to braid her mane to keep her cool.

I trim heels because I really dislike 'goatee' type fetlocks, either naked or hairy, not in between, if I had a hairy he'd have clipped legs anyway. Again, silly temperatures 50C the other way and ice balling up on feathers is awful. Tails are cut short or tied up in winter for the same reason.

If they were working in winter enough to get a sweat each time, then they'd get clipped. Washing down and drying a wet horse off when everything freezes within seconds is impractical.

Trimming, as far as I am concerned is up to the owner/manager and the job a horse does. I'd hate to hunt a hairy horse for instance, not practical for a start.
 
I won't be trimming the oldie, unless I have the time or money to get him out and about or unless his loaner wants to take him out and about, will be the first time he has been untrimmed in about 5years.

He had the whole lot off except mane and tail which was pulled and banged :)

Will be novel to see him with a full set of feathers and full mane and tail :)
 
Shire x Cob was hogged and fully trimmed when we bought him, we grew his mane and feathers out, but this year he has rubbed most of his mane out so I was going to hog his mane but leave the forelock, just to tidy him up as there's hardly any left.

The western girls are as nature intended bar a little bridle path and if they get any long bits on their fetlocks they come off, but only in summer. I leave whiskers/ear hair/moustaches well alone. :D
 
I don't trim mine, but then he's a native and I love his mane. Do keep his tail off the ground though, it's smarter and more practical.
Definitely clip in winter too - I didn't one year (year before last, I think) as I figured he's an oldie, in light work... he probably needs the insulation. He sweated a lot that year :( so it comes off now! And I do then rug up to turn out.


Please don't jump on me here, this is a genuine question - but I had it drummed into me as a little girl at a riding school that whiskers should never, ever be trimmed as horses can't see beneath their noses and so their whiskers are how they determine how close to bumping their noses on the ground they are! Seems like many of you trim their whiskers though - do you trim them so they're short, or actually take the lot off?
 
Everything trimmed pulled and preened! Whiskers, ears, long eye whiskers, tail pulled and short, mane pulled and short, ankles bald and a bridlepath cut in. Hunter clipped all winter.

Can't stand hair!
 
well i trim clip amd pull for a living so its either or! the half and halfs make my skin crawl! so make a choice ..... go fully natural or fully trimmed!
 
i trim mine compleetly - legs are clipped all year round and i hide the clip line in the top of her socks, mane and tail 'pulled' or cut with scissors and raked, forlock and tail banged - currently sporting the bowl fringe :D (see picture) take her whiskers off compleetly and trim the outside of her ears. cant stand half and half - i see it as a job half done - every few saturdays we have a good 'sesh' and eveything comes off - very satisfying!!

bowl fringe . . .

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Post Sesh

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What are clippers again?

I have no idea. All feral, all the way. Haven't been near a set of clippers or scissors since I was last showing. In 2002.
 
Please don't jump on me here, this is a genuine question - but I had it drummed into me as a little girl at a riding school that whiskers should never, ever be trimmed as horses can't see beneath their noses and so their whiskers are how they determine how close to bumping their noses on the ground they are! Seems like many of you trim their whiskers though - do you trim them so they're short, or actually take the lot off?

I take the lot off - first with small clippers and then with a razor so that they're cut as close as possible.

Of all the horses whose whiskers I've lopped off (hundreds) the only one that doesn't cope is my mare, who is almost completely blind. She has hers left on as otherwise she bumps into things and gets her knickers in a twist, but apart from that, they all come off. Even my big lad who is blind in one eye is fine with no whiskers. I think though, as with everything, it depends entirely on the horse.
 
Horse is 99% a nature intended... So that would be full mane to keep his neck warm and dry in winter, full tail to protect his back end from driving rain and swish the flies off, full whiskers to test the electric fence with (and tickle me), full eye whiskers to stop him stabbing himself on the blackthorn hedge in the dark, full beard (because it's manly ;)), full leg hair... he's TBx so doesn't really have feathers but does get lovely blond highlights down the back of his legs in winter). And he's not clipped and is ridden all winter. i love his winter coat in particular, so thick and soft :)

I do trim his hooves though :D
 
I have a native, does everything but mainly I trim him out for showing M&M and Workers. Its hard doing those both because you want a long enough mane for M&M but also a plaitable one for Workers.

He has a lightly pulled mane, tail cut to toop of fetlocks, trimmed ear fluff and trimmed whiskers. His feather is also trimmed and neatened which also prevents the mud fever a bit in this weather.

Slightly shorter mane also looks nice for SJ and anything else.
 
I have a Kwpn, everything off!!! He's not very hairy so doesnt take long, I rake his tail rather than pull and leave some length to it in the summer only as he's very sensitive to fly bites so this helps him splat them!!
 
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