Feathers

Which yard would you choose?

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B_2_B

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Yay or neigh? (
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I love Blacky's feathers!
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But i know they can come with problems. In the summer she gets very itchy feet (she has a skin condition, it's not mites) and she needs them clipped off, when the silly woman decides to come and do it even though we had it booked weeks ago!
Here are Blacky's feathers at their best (or worst if you don't like them)
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you can see on this pic how big her feathers are compared to her back foot!
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So...
 
I clip feathers off our cobby type, in fact everything gets clipped off her, I would clip the feathers off the highland too if I could get away with it (BIG no no for showing so have to leave them on)

I can see that they are attractive in some breeds for showing, but at any other time i would take them off without a second thought. Spent too many winters dealing with Rasta like feathers to ever see anything good in them ever again
 
I don't know what kind of mud you have around your way, but round here it is kind of sticky. After a day out, no matter what you have put on the hair when you turned the horses out, they will have a collection of brown balls attached to their heels that look like oversized grapes - these will have set into the consistency of fired pottery over the course of the day, need breaking with pliers and washing off and drying before the sheer weight of them pulls the hair out.
If left for several days they can become quite attractive dreadlocks
 
Feathers look fantastic on shire horses or heavier builds of horses but I generally don't like them, I used to loan a cob x shire and her feathers had to be clipped off because they kept getting clogged up with mud.
 
yeah normally she has them clipped around about now and they don't grow back like they are in the pictures until the start of the summer. She still never has any problem with the mud though.
 
Personally not a fan of excess body hair which is why I have a mostly TB horse, siamese cats and a follicularly challenged husband! They look nice on the right horse though.
 
love them, shaved H's off one year, to see what he looked like, will never to again, got mud fever and looked nobbly kneed.

my opinion is that they are there for a reason.

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I would NEVER clip my boys feathers, love em, hard work and a back killer but they are him through and through. His mane was manically long and thick too and took an hour to wash but alas there is not so much of that now
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Your feathers are awesome, truly fab!
 
I leave my Sec D au natrel and don't trim anything so he has feathers and I leave them alone. Yes he gets muddy in winter but they dry again and touch wood...never had mud fever problems either.
 
Chumley's feathers were very much like Will's, quite nice and fine but I took them off to go hunting (it was very muddy). I think it looks okay both ways
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Just noticed that they both have the exact same three white socks
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I've got a Friesian and a Dales, so you know my answer. They both have natural manes and tails too. Only have problems with tails which take a bit of combing out if they're left.
 
I generaly dont like them, probably because im not a fan of cobs, and i couldnt be fussed with cleaning them if I had a horse with big feathers but the smaller feathers, like on freisians are fine!

For me they are great to look at in the heavy horse ring, but i'd rather not have anymore involvment with them than that!
 
I like feathers and have decided to grow back both Mcfly's and the big lad's too. When we got Mcfly last year he had had his feathers burned off the year before ( I was told by former owner, think mud related?). Anyhow he had mites and so we treated him with frontline and I've wormed them both with an ivermectin wormer and he seems a lot better. I suppose time will tell when they come in for the winter as they only have day turnout then. Last winter he stamped so I'm hoping he doesn't do it in the stable again.
I am growing back his feathers and mane too as I kept looking at pictures of him when we got him and although I liked his spikey mane I want him to go natural. Daughter disagrees lol bit she has weird music taste so cannot expect anymore really lol.
I love to see feathers though and I agree that Blackie and Honeypot's horse look great with them.
I will try and see if I have any of my lads feet on the pc to put on here. They may not be fully feathered though as it depends when I took them.
Cazx
 
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