Rescuing a scissor-cut mane?

[kit279]

I took the scissors to a very hairy 4-year old TB who has come to stay for the summer today as his mane was a whopping 18 inches long and he was a little bit reluctant to let me pull it.

Unfortunately I have accidentally managed to make a bit of mess of it and it looks scissored. Is there anyway to rescue it? He's only a baby and we're rebacking him now so I don't want all of his experiences with me to be me yanking out his mane all the time. Is there a good way of rescuing his mane? It doesn't look awful, just like I cut it with scissors, and it's a little bit thick and needs thinning.

Any ideas?

 

[BlizzardBudd]

could you get one of those thing which you back comb through the mane and it thins it? (soory dont know what its called :O) then you could carefully cut up into the mane a little to stop it loooking straight, but so its a little choppy

 

[ELFSBELLS]

Use a pair of thinning scissors on it, then use a normal pair of scissors along the ends, but just snipping into the mane upwards, might make it look like it's not been cut straight across.

 

[stencilface]

Cut upwards into the hair, worked ok when I did a similar effort on my sisters 2yo yesterday. If you pick a warm day, or rub some clove oil into the base (with gloves on!) can you pull a few bits out that soon neatens them up

 

[PapaFrita]

Cut upwards. I Always cut PF's mane as she hates it being pulled.

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

give him some sedalin and pull it!

 

[SophieLouBee]

as others have said, cut upwards into the hair, makes it look less blunt, and if you have made a raggedy mess of it, it somewhat hides it...

Or solo-comb it if its long enough to take a bit more off.

 

[Jesstickle]

flip it on to the wrong side and use a solo rake or an oster rake on it. Will thin it out a bit and then it'll look less hacked

Or if you're handy with thinning scissors you'll be able to do the same thing but the scissors take a knack where as the rake is as easy as pie.

 

[muddypony]

a thinning rake! one of these: http://www.farmway.co.uk/equine-2/f.../thinning-undercoat-medium-6353-2953_zoom.jpg
brush the mane over to the wrong side (because you don't want to pull hairs out of the top) and just run it through. it pulls some hairs out but cuts most. we use it on all of ours before pulling - means we don't have to pull as much because this gets most of the excess and should disguise the scissor effect

 

[Jesstickle]

muddypony did you read my mind?? !!

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

the regrowth from using a rake is a real sticky up problem! esp on a thick maned horse.

 

[Jesstickle]

I've never had a problem with raked manes. Find them absolutely fine to plait as well. As long as you rake the wrong side not the side you want on top. I can see how it could be a problem if you did the side you wanted to look at.

 

[Puppy]

a thinning rake! one of these: http://www.farmway.co.uk/equine-2/f.../thinning-undercoat-medium-6353-2953_zoom.jpg

I have one of these somewhere, if you'd like to try it

Otherwise, I ditto the advice of cutting up into the mane. That's how I do Star's as she's never let me pull it

Very glad to hear you had such fun with the little monster Let me know if you want a helper next time

 

[muddypony]

muddypony did you read my mind?? !!

quite possibly. great minds...

i've never had a problem with them either, but yes definitely only rake on the underside. I think we even have the kind that people use on dogs, it's not a solocomb or oster one or anything. it does a good job.

 

[YorksG]

have I got this right? Someone sends their horse to you for the summer and the first thing you do is take the scissors to its mane? Why on earth did you do that? Unless they asked you to tidy it up you should have left it alone, never mind making a mess of it with a pair of scissors.

 

[kit279]

have I got this right? Someone sends their horse to you for the summer and the first thing you do is take the scissors to its mane? Why on earth did you do that? Unless they asked you to tidy it up you should have left it alone, never mind making a mess of it with a pair of scissors.

Thanks for that , you must think I am a complete idiot! The horse is an ex-racehorse that the owners want rid of and asked me to smarten him up, reback him and get him going again. That's why he's at mine for the summer. His mane was so long that it was getting snarled in his tack so it had to go...

 

[Tickles]

kit279 don't worry, what YorksG said is what I thought too... There was a post on here recently abt someone being furious her horse had been hogged on short-term loan. When you explained they want to sell it makes much more sense.

I do like TB types with proper manes though... (however 'wrong' it is for showing etc) theirs can be just as nice long as Arabs' and cobs... I'd have tidied (with jagged upwards cuts) and left it long if keeping the horse but what you've done doesn't sound *too* bad and should be tidy-able for selling nicely.

 

[night_mare]

My pony doesn't like having his mane pulled so I always cut it with scissors. However, after cutting I use a Smart Tails comb - http://www.smartgrooming.co.uk/smart-tails.html - to thin it. I use it to thin out the underneath (pull the mane over the wrong way and comb), then push some mane back over and thin it a little in the middle if more is needed.