Making a lightweight cob neat enough to compete - help?

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maya2008

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She got hot last year even in her summer coat so I have debated clipping her - do I clip all the feathers off too or leave legs on? Do I leave a patch for the saddle? What do I do about the mane? It’s really thick now and long. I don’t want to hog.

When I bought her, two years ago, she was stressed and presented as more trotter than cob - thin scraggly mane that was easy to trim and make neat, hardly any feather, thinner summer coat. We now have a proper cob mane, medium feather and a thicker coat. Help!

The aim is dressage (online or in hackable distance if fuel becomes scarce).
 
You don't need to do anything. Plenty of hairy full feathered horses out competing. No plaiting for online either.

If she's too hot then clip. I leave legs on and a saddle patch in winter and take everything off in summer. I have grown out my hogged when I bought him horse's mane. It's huge, wild and falls both sides but I just thin out to plait and pull over to one side for BD only.
 
Do I just do a massive running plait with her mane? It’s so thick and long now that my fingers sometimes get stuck in it when I’m riding! If I go to adjust little pony’s lead rope or lean down to do a gate I get a handful of hair for my troubles!
 
It may not be 'the Done Thing' now, but years ago we had a little cobby type who we clipped out and she did everything including affiliated dressage. Her legs were clipped right out but we kept the mane and just put a running plait in when required.
She actually looked rather glamorous and was marked as she deserved.
 
I’ve done up to ad medium on a proper hairy complete with flowing mane and feathers - the flying feathers made his extensions look bigger and more flashy - I got really good marks for them … but they do all need to be properly clean tbh - much harder to present than clipping the whole horse out and hogging
 
blitznbobs said:
I’ve done up to ad medium on a proper hairy complete with flowing mane and feathers - the flying feathers made his extensions look bigger and more flashy - I got really good marks for them … but they do all need to be properly clean tbh - much harder to present than clipping the whole horse out and hogging
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Agreed on the leg movement looking more exaggerated, thus obtaining better marks 😎
I've ridden full hairies to decent level too.
In the winter I've fully clipped but stopped at the knee/hock and blended so as to not leave an obvious line.
 
Several options: you could indeed do a running-plait, I've done it with mine and it does keep her cooler. I did hogg her one year; but then almost immediately wished I'd not been so rash (like you do) and the mane took a whole year to grow out, and looked bleddi awful for all of that time.

I've got a thinning tool which I use on mane & tail (sorry can't remember the Brand of it but it has a yellow handle I think) which does a very good job of thinning-out. She's a cow to clip her legs but it is worth doing.

Just a suggestion OP: but why don't you get a professional Groomer/Trimmer and let them advise you??
 
I love a good cob, but have an aversion to hair so clipped out, hogged and no feathers is how mine lives year round
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Several options: you could indeed do a running-plait, I've done it with mine and it does keep her cooler. I did hogg her one year; but then almost immediately wished I'd not been so rash (like you do) and the mane took a whole year to grow out, and looked bleddi awful for all of that time.

I've got a thinning tool which I use on mane & tail (sorry can't remember the Brand of it but it has a yellow handle I think) which does a very good job of thinning-out. She's a cow to clip her legs but it is worth doing.

Just a suggestion OP: but why don't you get a professional Groomer/Trimmer and let them advise you??
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Thanks, cob turnout is a bit of a new area for me (beyond clip it all off and hog). For a more moderate approach I wouldn’t really know what to ask for - hence coming on here first!

So I could thin the mane to make it lie better and then clip with a blend into the legs so the feathers stay on? Then some kind of conditioner (the mane and tail one??) to keep them beautiful and clean and flowing?
 
maya2008 said:
Thanks, cob turnout is a bit of a new area for me (beyond clip it all off and hog). For a more moderate approach I wouldn’t really know what to ask for - hence coming on here first!

So I could thin the mane to make it lie better and then clip with a blend into the legs so the feathers stay on? Then some kind of conditioner (the mane and tail one??) to keep them beautiful and clean and flowing?
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For dressage you can do what you like but if you ever intend to show - it’s all or nothing I’m afraid - all on or all off.
 
So I hog one of mine because he'll itch chunks out of his mane. He's lightweight so if i take his feather off too he doesn't actually look that cob like. I left the feather on last year purely because I need to sedate to clip his left fore and I never got round to it! The whole lot came off when I tried to show him in hand, but for stressage he was just hogged.

The other one grows hair at speed and looks ridiculous clipped so I just brush out her hair with a lot of cowboy magic. Her mane is so thick there's not a chance of me doing a running plait! She shows as a traditional with all the floof
 

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How do you get the mane all on one side if it’s not thinned at all? Train it with long plaits? We have a centre parting 🤣!
 
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