How to tidy up a cob (any videos?)

[canteron]

My little cob has a beard that gets caught in her bridle, a mane that is so thick I need a bridle path and the thickest tail ever which gets itchy so needs raking and trimming (and washing out the scurf).
Are there any YouTube videos which should the correct way to do these things?

 

[Equi]

Depends if you want to keep them looking traditional cobby or show cobby. Personally i don't like all that fluff so i would have it all whacked off lol

 

[AmyMay]

It’s pretty easy to tidy up most horses. Clip the beard, clip the bridle path. Pull the mane very short, or hog it. And bang the tail to just below the hock, pulling the top lightly to give a better shape.

 

[blitznbobs]

This all depends if you want to be correct and are planning on showing. If youre not showing then there aren't any rules, do what makes you happy.

If you are showing you have to decide which way you are going. If you go the show cob route, its everything off including the mane, short pulled tail.

Or traditional dont take any hair off the more the better, but to get anywhere they have to have A LOT of hair.

I have had one of each and the show cob is so much easier to manage tbh. I can have him ready for the show ring in an hour. The traditional guy used to take 3 weeks (and I'm not exaggerating).

 

[Fransurrey]

I thin using thinning scissors (mane and tail). That way he still looks traditional, but it's a lot easier to manage. Tail is banged about 4 inches below the hock. Thinned from underneath (it still looks full!) and at the top either side. For the mane I brush it all to the wrong side and take sections, cutting with thinning scissors and working my way down to the shoulder. Forelock also done, focussing on sides to keep natural shape. For the beard, I clip all year round, so the chin groove gets done when I do that (Irish in winter, Irish plus neck off in summer), using straight cutting scissors to tidy up the jaw line. My tools are a cheap set of dog grooming scissors (includes comb, left and right curve and thinning), plus a thinning blade which takes standard safety razor blades.

ETA I don't show as yet. I figured I'd be ok at low level shows as aside from tail trimming, he still looks full fluffed - not sure how the trimmed tail would be scored at higher levels, but I can't see me going that far anyway!

 

[Auslander]

I would arm myself with a sturdy set of clippers, start at the coronet bands and continue upwards and outwards til I ran out of cob

 

[Shysmum]

Noooo hairy as nature intended! ?

 

[planete]

I must be the odd one out as I just take my cob as I find him. He has a forelock plait and a behind the ears one, makes bridling easy. His tail had a bit chopped off at the beginning of Winter and I brush it once a week. His mane gets brushed with a dandy brush I have liberally soaked with detangler and bis feathers are totally ignored unless they are bone dry when they get the same treatment as the mane and the scaly bits behind his knees get some emollient rubbed into them. He does live out and so far has kept his shiny black coat quite clean, i call him my Teflon pony! The novelty of all that hair has not worn off yet, i am still in awe of all this abundance.

 

[SadKen]

I go for a kind of halfway house with my extremely hairy madam. I leave feathers, tail and mane. Tail and mane spend most of their time in thick loose plaits unless we're out somewhere. Feathers... this time of year, that's enough said about those. Beard and moustache are removed with rechargeable liveryman clippers, along with any ear tufts. She's just been clipped ready to grow in her summer coat. Actually looks quite smart at the moment.

If you are on facebook, the gypsy hair care mane and tail group is pretty good for tips.

 

[meleeka]

I go for a kind of halfway house with my extremely hairy madam. I leave feathers, tail and mane. Tail and mane spend most of their time in thick loose plaits unless we're out somewhere. Feathers... this time of year, that's enough said about those. Beard and moustache are removed with rechargeable liveryman clippers, along with any ear tufts. She's just been clipped ready to grow in her summer coat. Actually looks quite smart at the moment.

If you are on facebook, the gypsy hair care mane and tail group is pretty good for tips.

Same here. Nothing in my field gets to keep the beard, apart from the Shetland because he’d never let me trim it. I’m happy with hairy apart from that.

 

[Roxylola]

I'm.a fan of Auslander's technique

 

[COldNag]

I would arm myself with a sturdy set of clippers, start at the coronet bands and continue upwards and outwards til I ran out of cob

Norty

 

[COldNag]

Is this the place to link to Shilasdair's thread?

 

[canteron]

I go for a kind of halfway house with my extremely hairy madam. I leave feathers, tail and mane. Tail and mane spend most of their time in thick loose plaits unless we're out somewhere. Feathers... this time of year, that's enough said about those. Beard and moustache are removed with rechargeable liveryman clippers, along with any ear tufts. She's just been clipped ready to grow in her summer coat. Actually looks quite smart at the moment.

If you are on facebook, the gypsy hair care mane and tail group is pretty good for tips.

Thank you - I’m on it!!!

 

[COldNag]

Noooo hairy as nature intended! ?View attachment 67077

Absolutely. ^^ #cobgoals

 

[canteron]

Is this the place to link to Shilasdair's thread?

No no noooo - this is quite serious. Really on YouTube there are millions of videos on anything from how to make a pudding in a milk carton to crazy dance videos but I can’t find a single useful one on trimming up a cob correctly ? definitely a gap in the market!!

 

[cauda equina]

Unless you're planning on showing you can do whatever suits her
My current (v hairy but not very cobby) cob has trimmed legs and raked and chopped mane and tail (his mane and tail are ridiculously thick and I hate pulling) and beard trimmed as part of his clip (bib & belly)
Basically I've chopped off/neatened the hairy bits but not in a cob-specific way

 

[PapaverFollis]

Given some of the opinions I've seen flying around on cob Facebook you'd probably get your cob clipping video reported for animal abuse or something! Some people get very irate about how other people present their horses.

'Correct' for a cob seems to be one of two extremes. Clip everything off, pulled and banged tail. Or leave everything alone and spend hours carefully tending to the huge amounts of hair.

At the end of the day, if you aren't showing, you can do whatever suits you and your horse. I have two long but banged tails growing out tail raking at the moment. A hogged mane with forelock left on, a long but only moderately thick mane that has had to be put into plaits because it seemed to be irritating eyes. Legs that need redoing but one set that gets the light feather scissored off and one set that probably should stay clipped but I keep letting the moderate feather grow back. What suits the horse and what suits me.

I like cob-types. Their temperament, attitude, solidness. But I wouldn't want to end up drowning in a whole load of hair all the time. So am glad both the cobby horses I've found are only really moderately adorned. But if the right horse was really hairy then I'd have the horse and get some really good clippers to de-nude it with. So shoot me. All that hairiness has been selectively bred for anyway.

 

[GoldenWillow]

Unless you're showing I'd go with the whatever hair is making either you or your cobs life difficult or uncomfortable cut it off approach. I've a traditional cob but he nearly always has his beard off as it's too annoying with head headcollars and bridles (and I like looking at him better with it off!) His feathers stay on, unless he has a problem with scabs behind his knees then I clip whatever I need to to be able to get to easily. His tail is banged but his mane is left, unfortunately his forelock doesn't grow so doesn't match.

He would probably offend purists or showing people but I do what suits us and the thing with hair is it'll grow back if you trim and don't like it. Tbh if you trim and like it, it grows back even quicker ?

 

[Red-1]

Rigsby is having a half way thing going on, but we have no plans to show. I love the long forelock and am allowing the mane to catch up. But, the legs are clipped as he has mallenders and I can keep onto of it when the hair is short.

Tail is au nautical at the top, cut so it doesn't touch the floor at the bottom.

Beard will likely stay on in summer, but this winter it had to be shaved as it prevented the noseband buckle being visible to do up. I clipped him into a blanket clip too. That got rid of the loooong hairs where his girth was supposed to be while I was at it!

 

[Roxylola]

No no noooo - this is quite serious. Really on YouTube there are millions of videos on anything from how to make a pudding in a milk carton to crazy dance videos but I can’t find a single useful one on trimming up a cob correctly ? definitely a gap in the market!!

Seriously then, what do you mean "correctly"? Correct for what? Hunting, showing, dressage??? As a traditional or as a hogged?
Auslander really wasn't far off with their suggestion to apply clippers until you run out of cob for a hogged cob. The traditional extreme is touch nothing so either a clipping video or do nothing

 

[Tiddlypom]

Legs off, full tail, solo combed short mane. He also suited being hogged, but I prefer to have a grab handle .

I do not like very long manes, as they must be hot and uncomfortable for the horse in summer.

 

[canteron]

Seriously then, what do you mean "correctly"? Correct for what? Hunting, showing, dressage??? As a traditional or as a hogged?
Auslander really wasn't far off with their suggestion to apply clippers until you run out of cob for a hogged cob. The traditional extreme is touch nothing so either a clipping video or do nothing

To save me from the posh shouty women around here .... I already ride a small cob, go barefoot and wear hi-viz, just didn’t want to add to it with the shame of an incorrect tail!! ?
But thank you everyone for your thoughts and knowledge.

 

[Roxylola]

To save me from the posh shouty women around here .... I already ride a small cob, go barefoot and wear hi-viz, just didn’t want to add to it with the shame of an incorrect tail!! ?

I _think_ for a hogged cob you're supposed to clip 2/3 down the dock. However I also think that looks horrid ? so I just fake pull with a rake
Its a bit grown out in the pic I've found but you get the idea.
And a sort of before an after applying clippers til I ran out - coarse blades which is why there's a line still

 

[canteron]

I _think_ for a hogged cob you're supposed to clip 2/3 down the dock. However I also think that looks horrid ? so I just fake pull with a rake
Its a bit grown out in the pic I've found but you get the idea.
And a sort of before an after applying clippers til I ran out - coarse blades which is why there's a line still

Thank you - and what a beautiful horse ?

 

[blitznbobs]

I _think_ for a hogged cob you're supposed to clip 2/3 down the dock. However I also think that looks horrid ? so I just fake pull with a rake
Its a bit grown out in the pic I've found but you get the idea.
And a sort of before an after applying clippers til I ran out - coarse blades which is why there's a line still

No no no... a hogged cob should have a pulled and banged tail - never a clipped tail .

 

[Roxylola]

No no no... a hogged cob should have a pulled and banged tail - never a clipped tail .

Cool, we don't show anyway but good to know

 

[AmyMay]

Legs off, full tail, solo combed short mane. He also suited being hogged, but I prefer to have a grab handle .

I do not like very long manes, as they must be hot and uncomfortable for the horse in summer.

View attachment 67113

This is exactly what I meant in my post ??