Does anyone like hair and feathers???

Caol Ila said:
I spent years (four to be precise -- while at the quite showy barn at my undergraduate uni) telling people to sod off because everyone and their mother at that place was on my case about lopping off my horse's mane and feather. It really drove people a little nuts, seeing her looking the way she looked. It was extraordinary, really. You'd think with all the horse welfare issues in the world, people would have better things to worry about.

My final year, we got a new barn manager, who took it to a new level and among the new barn rules that she decreed, one was that horses must look "neat" and be trimmed according to breed/discipline. Started the term on a bum note; we got these rules in the post and I had been staying with a friend and fellow boarder, who was well into (American) hunters at the time. I went on an angry rant about "how dare the barn manager tell me what I can and cannot do with my horse's freakin' mane," and my friend told me the barn manager was fully in the right in expecting the barn to have a certain "look"and I would never be able to keep my slightly feral looking horse at *her* hunter barn. It's a sign of respect, apparently. The fact that I wasn't involved in hunters, or any kind of showing at the time, was rather immaterial from friend's point of view. We kind of fell out over this. Ridiculous.

Barn manager, on the other hand, did let me keep my horse's mane and feather as I liked. On daft grounds, mind you. When I said to barn manager, "Are you *really* going to insist that I cut her mane? Seriously?" She asked, "Are you showing?" I said no, and she said something like, "Then I'll let you off." I rolled with that, but a few years before, I had been showing dressage, long mane and all! It implied that it would have been a problem if I still was. Crazy East Coast people.

She doesn't have tons of feather, but she has a wee bit and I like it.

My controversial horse!

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eeekkk freaking ridiculous thing I ever heard. A manager telling you how to have your horses mane, good on you to stick to your guns.


I also think its bad management to :

say how your horse should be (mane length etc)
what it should eat brand - quantity etc.
what farrier you must use
what vet you must use
what instructors you must use.


I would never impose these practices. I mean come on she will tell you how to wear your hair no make up etc no tattoo's etc because it looks bad on the yard.
 
I dont mind them, feathers only come off if required for showing, and mane only gets pulled if I need to plait them. I do trim the end of the tail to stop it dragging in mud, getting caught in branches etc. But then I love natives with feather, traditional cobs, and then also hogged and clipped cobs. A bit of everything really.

What I do hate is half done jobs, ie a hogged mane growing back or clipped legs growing back. Yuck
 
I don't like feathers i just think they look scruffy unless its a traditional horse! i like mine trimmed up with nice short manes :)
 
Depends on both. I do love hairy traditional types with full mane and tail, and cobs that are hogged/trimmed, and there are a lot horses who who lovely with pulled manes and trimmed tails.
 
Have a big ginge shire x he doesn't have a huge amount of feather but I like it I love to stroke his furry legs.

My ID is hogged as his mane was just disgusting and have a little hairy monster cob who has the mother of all wind plaits that I'm currently supposed to be fixing instead of sitting on the mounting block on my kindle....

I would hog the furry little cob but he's not mine to do so.
 
Leviathan said:
eeekkk freaking ridiculous thing I ever heard. A manager telling you how to have your horses mane, good on you to stick to your guns.


I also think its bad management to :

say how your horse should be (mane length etc)
what it should eat brand - quantity etc.
what farrier you must use
what vet you must use
what instructors you must use.


I would never impose these practices. I mean come on she will tell you how to wear your hair no make up etc no tattoo's etc because it looks bad on the yard.
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Yes, I also thought it was pretty nuts, but at least I had no hassle over it after that initial conversation. I was, quite frankly, more pissed off by my friend, who would never let these things lie and would harp on endlessly about all the things that her fabulous hunter/jumper trainer would never allow at his barn. Like riding in saddle pads which looked like these:

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I'm glad in the real world (not H/J barns), no one gives a hoot what your saddle pad or your horse's mane looks like.
 
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Feathers really aren't practical for me.
I even trim my clean legged horses because they still get iceballs around their ankles, their tails get a 'winter cut' too, by 6"

Manes, not so fussed about, mine are all longish.

We don't see many cobby types around me, and the drafts are mainly clean legged Percherons and Belgians.

Each to their own though, as in all things :)
 
Yes, I love mane and feathers but they have to be decent. My previous little cob had mane down to his knees.

In the OPs case however I'd have them all off as they're not good enough to be worth it and he'd look smart hogged and clipped. The.mane currently just looks scruffy.
 
Kallibear said:
Yes, I love mane and feathers but they have to be decent. My previous little cob had mane down to his knees.

In the OPs case however I'd have them all off as they're not good enough to be worth it and he'd look smart hogged and clipped. The.mane currently just looks scruffy.
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I wouldn't hog him, I don't think he has the head for it imo. I would pull mane and tail though, he's a smart boy :)

Sorry OP, I'd run the clipper down his legs too :o
 
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risky business said:
I can't stand feathers, I do think they suit some horses though for sure.

Some horses don't look right without them but tbh id be the one chopping them off so I can't talk!
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Pretty much this, I have a cob x tb, I don't know how much feather she'd grow because I whip them off. She's not very cobby tho, so doubt she'd grow a huge amount tho.
 
Loubidy said:
I love them on other peoples horses but I don't have the patience to keep them clean..
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This is my take. I have a properly hairy cob and I tried to grow his feathers out last year. Just as they were beginning to look decent, I gave up the battle as he had bad feather mites, and off they came again. I solo comb his mane short and keep him trimmed up with the clippers.

He was fully hairy when he came over from Ireland, but had been clipped out and hogged when I first saw him. I wish I had a photo of him as a traditional.
 
Thanks to some helpful advice from you folks on here my boy has an intact mane this year. He's managed not to lose it rubbing on his rub thanks to our ludicrously expensive but brilliantly effective "bossy bib". We had to hog last year because it got so bad but the growth since january is amazing. Won't ever rug without it again.
 
We recently bought a very heavy type Irish cob and clipped her out totally, she didn't have so much as a hair left on her anywhere legs off the lot. Looks soooo smart!

I would love for my welsh D to be all natural with a long mane but she gets sweet itch, so she is hogged and has heels trimmed. Also looks very smart.
 
This is my view

Natives = as they should be

Heavy traditionals with lots of hair = nice and should be left alone

Everything else should be trimmed and anything else cobby should be trimmed and hogged
 
WelshD said:
This is my view

Natives = as they should be

Heavy traditionals with lots of hair = nice and should be left alone

Everything else should be trimmed and anything else cobby should be trimmed and hogged
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Natives to where? :p

There are lots of other breeds who look better with their hair on :) A hogged friesian would look daft!
 
alainax said:
Natives to where? :p

There are lots of other breeds who look better with their hair on :) A hogged friesian would look daft!
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oooh good point - recognised breeds left as they should be then. How's that?

Didnt you used to have a big grey? or am I thinking of someone else?
 
I love it... In my opinion my mare looks much better traditional than hogged. Ready made natural neck cover and protection for legs.
They can never have too much :)
 
While I do think that hogged, clipped and trimmed cobs look smart - if I owned one, it would be left hairy.

I love a long, flowing mane and tail as aesthetically it appeals to me, plus I like to grab a handful of mane when I mount. When I rode a hogged cob a while ago, I was surprised how much I missed the horse having a mane.
 
WelshD said:
oooh good point - recognised breeds left as they should be then. How's that?

Didnt you used to have a big grey? or am I thinking of someone else?
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I did - well remembered! :) that was the big hunter type i mentioned in my first post on this thread - he looked much better trimmed :) now have Nero in my sig and avatar :)
 
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I don't mind, I'm just curious :)
personally i think mine would look awful hogged.

people may think hes scruffy, but i love him with his fluff :D
although not so much tonight, he came in with his feathers matted up with sticky burs!!
 
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