Ridiculously thick mane !!!

[Happy Bird]

My mare has the thickest mane I have ever seen ! She will not let me pull her mane in any shape or form (presume they'd try to yank it out at the horse sales before I bought as she had twitch scars). She used to be headshy so I don't want to upset her further as she has improved sooooo much.

I have gone down the route of solo comb, oster rake, thinning comb, thinning scissors but nothing works as it's so thick. It looks truly terrible. I have considered hogging but I don't think this would suit her.

Has anyone tried clipping the mane from underneath ??? I was thinking if I clipped, say and inch into her mane that I could still plait up for shows ??

To make matters worse, I am just rubbish at this kind of thing and would be happy to pay someone to do it ! PM me if anyone interested !!

Any suggestions ???

 

[Enfys]

Pictures please.

I don't have any other suggestions as you seem to have worked your way through mine. Good Luck.

 

[LouHardwick]

Hi

I may be stating the obvious but have you tried sedating her?
we have one on our yard that HATES it- we too tried all the above but no luck- we explained all to our vet who sedated her so we could get the worst out, and then we began the ardous job of plucking pretty much ONE hair a day to desensitise her.It worked and a year on we can pull her mane- think the reason being that we did the worst whilst she was under sedation then everyday the lttle bit we took she couldnt feel.

Its a long slog but worth it!! Good Luck xx

 

[Chex]

I ended up doing that with Chex mane (clipping the underneath). It worked as long as his mane was down, but you could see I'd clipped it when I plaited it. I ended ud up hogging him for sweetitch anyway, much easier to look after

 

[serena2005]

i was going say the clipping thing, although you would have to do it reguarly. my boys mane is thick at the top, iv let it grow a bit and it looks much neater.. its about 6 inches long.maybe a little more but it looks much better than when it was shorter

 

[Happy Bird]

Thanks all. I will try to get pics. TBH, I am not keen on the idea of sedating her. I have sedated her in the past for vet and dentist and she needs A LOT of sedalin to make her anywhere near controllable and also because of the headshyness. She even complains about solo comb and rake.

Serena - did you actually clip your boys mane ? I couldn't let hers grow anymore - my plaits are already the size of pumpkins !

Chex - did it look OK plaited even though you could tell it was clipped ?? I just want it to look neat when plaited for dressage really - no other purpose.