Sedation for pulling manes ...... At my wits end

I think IV sedation is your only option. I had one similar and just had to do as much as possible when he was sedated for his dental. I used to get the vet to give him a top up of ACP on top of whatever he used for the dental and I would clean his sheath then let rip on the mane whilst pony was "asleep" on his double dose.
 
From experience I'd cut your loses and just cut it with scissors.

Vet sadating - Well Spider had more then my vets ever given a horse, for anything, twiched and basicly pinned still with little effect. Short of completely knocking Spider out, a wee bit dramatic, Spiders mane won't be pulled! I have mastered cutting it nicely though.

Cross tieing - Too likely horse will rear and your likely to get hit with a flying hoof or under the little bugger. Jesse does some cracking rears and has kicked me.

Just checking you've tried food!?
 
ive always used a razor-type comb with jack, had same problem as you even though hes 13hh!

i highly recommend it, but can't think of the name lol

hanna
 
Mine hates having his pulled but i just keep at him! Every time I comb it done and get a bit he shakes his head. I stand on a crate and he'll try push me off. He was at college for a year and they cross-tied him so that seemed o work. i don't bother i just persevere and keep pulling and ignore his behaviour. He doesn't go up though just shakes and moves about.

My sister's a bit better at pulling his mane than I am - she's more sadistic! hehe. i give in once my arms start hurting. Little and often though, that's my feel about it. Also some nice treats after. Don't try pulling loads out at once either cos this will make them sore.

trick is also to make sure the neck is warm first so do it when straight out of the stable or on a nice warm(ish) sunny day. I was told (think by some lady at college) that when you pull the mane, the nerves attached to the hairs do actually run straight to the brain and some horses are more sensitive than others. I have NOOO idea how true this is but maybe bear it in mind. it could be causing her a bit of a headache each time you pull some hairs out!
 
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Quite honestly speaking from experience all this cross tieing, working them first, sedalin etc does not work if a horse really hates have its mane pulled nothing you can do will work. The only thing is to get it sedated iv by the vet with Domosedan & Torbagisic and have done with it, whats the point of potentially getting yourself injured and upseting the horse thats going to fight you. If you give it a real good do you could possibly get away with only having to sedate her twice a year then just in between keep on top of ot with the solo comb.

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I think your spot on .

Its not even a case of working her, or tying her up .

If I even lift a piece of the mane or even go to back comb it she goes nuts .

So I think an IV sedative is the only way .

Thanks folks for all your info .

Col x
 
You need a smart comb........the fine one is for manes. They're basically a smaller version of a tail rake. The instructions say to lay the mane on the 'wrong' side & comb from top to bottom. That worksreally well, but I have found that if you keep the mane on the correct side, place the comb underneath & lay your hand flat on the top (so that tghe mane is sandwiched between the comb & your hand) the results are even better. I have a mare who's mane you can't touch if she thinks you're trying to pull it. She doesn't even know I'm doing anything with the smart comb. Mine need to be ok to plait for county level showing, & as a bonus the manes grow out nicely without going bristly too. I've never had any decent results using a solo comb - they just don't thin properly & the regrowth can be quite diffiicult to deal with.
 
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My thoughts are...........would you like your hair pulled out by the root?
Anita
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Well, actually, I don't mind; I wax all the time/pluck my eyebrows
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Antifaz doesn't mind AT ALL but PF hates it. luckily she has a very fine mane, so it looks fine cut upwards.
 
sounds like she's decided she doesnt like pulling, I'm afraid to say it but you're looking at a long road to get her used to it, no point in trying to pull until you can backcomb and lift mane as you like
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You need a smart comb........the fine one is for manes. They're basically a smaller version of a tail rake. The instructions say to lay the mane on the 'wrong' side & comb from top to bottom. That worksreally well, but I have found that if you keep the mane on the correct side, place the comb underneath & lay your hand flat on the top (so that tghe mane is sandwiched between the comb & your hand) the results are even better. I have a mare who's mane you can't touch if she thinks you're trying to pull it. She doesn't even know I'm doing anything with the smart comb. Mine need to be ok to plait for county level showing, & as a bonus the manes grow out nicely without going bristly too. I've never had any decent results using a solo comb - they just don't thin properly & the regrowth can be quite diffiicult to deal with.

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I have a smart tail rake/ comb , it still cuts the hair and leaves it awkward to plait to be honest, I did this last year for balmoral and it was a nightmare .

If you dont need to plait I agree they are great . I have 2 of them .
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sounds like she's decided she doesnt like pulling, I'm afraid to say it but you're looking at a long road to get her used to it, no point in trying to pull until you can backcomb and lift mane as you like
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Totally K .

Unfortunate , Will keep practising with her but in the mean time scissors ( evil things I know
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)
 
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My thoughts are...........would you like your hair pulled out by the root?
Anita
x

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Well, actually, I don't mind; I wax all the time/pluck my eyebrows
tongue.gif

Antifaz doesn't mind AT ALL but PF hates it. luckily she has a very fine mane, so it looks fine cut upwards.

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I dont mine either , A little sting and its all over
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Well I do have to plait. A LOT. All season for county shows (I have seven horses in total)...& since getting a smart comb have never pulled a mane or tail. I've said goodbye to sore fingers & fractious horses !! As I said regrowth is good as well. I don't think they do cut.......certainly not in the same way as a solo comb does anyway.
So as TS&H says the only option left for you now is to keep handling her mane, making sure that you NEVER pull so much as a hair & hopefully she begin to accept you doing that so that you can progress from there.
Good luck with your showing season - hope you have a good one.
 
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Zeb , this is what I used last time , I have the one with the plastic (smart tail rake) and Im afraid it still leaves little bits of the mane sticking up or it leaves it too short to put into the plait .

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Try using it as I have described above, because I honestly haven't had ANY of those problems using the comb. The manes plait beautifully & grow out again tidily.
I have pulled manes under sedation (the horses not me.........
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) in the past, & when I've finished I've always had some Aloe Gel or similar to rub in to the roots to take away the soreness. I also find it's best to sort out the length first with whichever implement you'r happiest with then thin what's left......it makes for less pulling hence less soreness of crest & fingers !!
 
Mine hates her mane being pulled with a vengeance and will try to crush me too.

I've tried the Solo Comb - mane grows back bristly
Thinning scissors - mane grows back bristly
Mane rake - mane grows back bristly
Thinning knife - mane grows back bristly!!!!

So I've now given up and 'bang' her mane straight across and then 'mess up' the edges with the thinning scissors to make it look pulled.

And now I've just chopped a bit of the underside of her mane off between the guard hairs and the mane proper.

Because she's still relatively hairy, it looks great. But probably won't when her summer coat comes out.

Because I don't show, it doesn't matter all that much. I make an effort to plait to the best of my ability, and if it looks shite, then so be it !
 
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