Do you pull your horses mane or cut it with scissors?

Back comb and scissors for the very thick manes. The one horse we have with a thin mane is cut 100% with scissors but I cut with the tips of the scissors vertically not horizontally it gives it the pulled look without thinning at all. More alarmingly I let him have his mane over the "wrong side" as I have given up fighting it... Decided if it is good enough for top SJ horses on the continent then I am going to save a fortune in bands and time trying to train it over any longer!
 
cyberhorse said:
Back comb and scissors for the very thick manes. The one horse we have with a thin mane is cut 100% with scissors but I cut with the tips of the scissors vertically not horizontally it gives it the pulled look without thinning at all. More alarmingly I let him have his mane over the "wrong side" as I have given up fighting it... Decided if it is good enough for top SJ horses on the continent then I am going to save a fortune in bands and time trying to train it over any longer!
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THIS! Daughter offered to pull our hairy beasts mane for me, ready to be plaited by our rather more expert YO... but she did it on the wrong side (it pretty much lies BOTH sides but predominantly on the near side). YO can only plait on the correct/normal side, so she did her best! I am tempted to give up!
 
Auslander said:
Shoot me then! It's perfectly possible to get a really good effect using scissors, if you take a bit of time over it. I back comb, and cut into the mane with the scissors at an angle. Mane doesn't look cut at all.
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This is what I do too, although horse is currently sporting the long haired hipster look.
 
I used to pull manes using the 'Back comb with a metal mane comb and tug quickly method' and would always do this after exercise when the pours are open and to be honest, as long as you do a few sections at a time spread over a couple of weeks, most horses don't even notice it.

I tend to do it a bit differently now and use a tail rake and terrier shedding comb. With the mane thrown onto the near side of the horse's neck I work from poll to withers doing a positive downwards stroke with the rake. I do this after exercise for as many days as it takes to achieve a thinner mane. I then use a shedding blade to tidy up and shorten the length to desired length.
I like doing it this way and it is definitely not a quick fix method!

Some people are very quick fix these days and want a mane pulled in one session, poor horse! I think I'd rather them use scissors in that case!!
 
How times have changed! I used to hide my head in shame when i cut my horse's mane. He hated it being pulled and it was the only time he was ever aggressive. He would pin me up against the wall of his stable! I would never have admitted to cutting it! LOL! The horses that that didn't mind I pulled but now, like others, I pull only to thin the mane. I tried a solocomb but didn't like the result. Maybe I didn't do it properly. I think I use scissors more nowadays but would pull a really thick mane.
 
The fat appaloosa's was pulled by my friend recently (was a professional groom, so does a much better job than me!). Trouble is the short look tends to show off her mahooosive [fat] neck even more. If it would grow to be long and pretty I'd let it - but we get uneven mess .

Not a chance of pulling the mane of the Ardennes. He's not bothered by a thinning comb but you'd be there for ever. So his gets a trim with scissors. Mane looked fine but forelock was a wee bit pudding bowl. I've not got a career as a hairdresser ahead of me.
 
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