Help! Friesian/ Traditional breed owners

[Joanna710]

Ok, here goes for my first ever thread!

I've just bought a 4 year old Friesian gelding, with a gorgeous full mane and forelock. According to the previous owner, he was backed as a 3 year old and turned away for a year to mature, during which time the bridle path they clipped in his mane has partly grown out.

I always thought (feel free to correct me if you disagree) that horses with full manes were not meant to have bridle paths trimmed, as this can be frowned upon when showing. As it stands, my horse's bridle path is now around 20 cm long, sticks out in every direction and looks unbelievably scruffy compared to the rest of him.

Looking for advice/ opinions on what anyone thinks I should do? I'm very tempted to just trim off the part-grown bridle path and have it neat and practical (his bridle doesn't sit very well at the moment due to the tuft of "bridle path" pushing it forwards).

On the other hand I also feel like I should just deal with the messy mane and wait for it to grow out. The problem with this would be that, because the bridle path has been cut/ clipped, the grown out part would always be too short/ even against the rest of his mane. I can't really see trimming the rest of his mane to match as being an option, and I'm sure other Friesian owners would call this a form of blasphemy!

Any advice/ opinions would be gratefully received, I'm far too indecisive for this!

 

[Nicnac]

Welcome! I am a lurker in the main.... I always clipped a very small bridle path on my Friesian just under the headpiece and never got marked down when showing. Her forelock started quite high so it really didn't show if that makes sense.

Your bridle path will take a while to grow out but will catch up!

Lucky you with a new Friesian I lost my beautiful girl on 27th April after 19 wonderful years - they are so special.

Good luck with your gelding!

 

[Queenbee]

Horse hair extensions, clip them in and you're away, eventually it will grow down and you can begin to even things out

 

[Joanna710]

I always clipped a very small bridle path on my Friesian just under the headpiece and never got marked down when showing. Her forelock started quite high so it really didn't show if that makes sense.

Oh good, that's just what I wanted to hear! His mane is plaited up at the moment for maintenance sake. Yesterday I took the tuft of fuzzy bridle path and put it in a plaiting band, just to see how he'd look without it... Amazed at how much smarter he looked!

So did you use clippers or scissors on your girl's bridle path? I figured it's be kinder to trim him with scissors, even if it's just for the first few times. Still building up a relationship with him and don't want to rock up with clippers in hand and go straight for his lugs!

I'm so sorry to read about your loss by the way, it must have been heartbreaking for you. I've only had my boy just over two weeks and can barely leave the yard whilst he's still standing at the gate... Looks like this will be his forever home, they're just such lovable horses :')

 

[Nicnac]

Scissors as it was so small unless I had the clippers out anyway. Thanks for your kind words - great memories of a wonderful horse.

Good luck and hope to see photos on here of him soon

 

[Joanna710]

Thanks for your help, the offending lock has now been lopped off... Though it turned out to be a bit bigger than I anticipated :/

But oh well, I guess it'll always grow back.... For now I'm pleased with the results, will try to neaten it up when I have time as it's a bit rough just now!

Here's a picture of my lovely boy's eye... I could just gaze into them all day long

 

[Nicnac]

Beautiful!!