Tangent thread - are long manes dangerous in your opinion?

I keep my horses long mane plaited to keep it from getting damaged and tangled. The plaits are not tight they are done in the same way as in JJS picture of her riding Mary in her lovely update thread. Can't say my horse have ever got hot and sweaty underneath her mane.

eta- quote fail, meant to have quoted sandstone asking why people have long manes if the are going to keep them plaited.
 
Red-1 said:
I have a pair of Stubben ones, they are not the normal rubber, no dimples, but they are rubber covered and very grippy. They have a kind of square print on them IIRC, very faint, hardly any print at all, but the texture of the rubber does grip. Not cheap but beautiful quality.
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Thanks for the tip! I found Libby's webbing reins work really well for for us & I don't have to worry about leather tack getting sweaty or rained on, which is a double bonus for us!
 
My fjord had a wild mane when I first had her. I refused to cut it until I realised how awful it was to deal with during the winter on heavy clay. How do those of you with really long manes cope with the mud?

I cut my girl's mane years ago and won't go back now. ?
 
SatansLittleHelper said:
Genuine question, how do you keep them tidy without pulling..??
My cob x Connie doesn't suit a long mane but I hate pulling, and the look of it. I'm at a loss as I'm also horrendously cack handed with scissors ???
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Smart grooming have a thinning knife (I think it’s called?) but with it you can trim a mane without getting the harsh scissory look. ?
 
I’m not a fan of long manes personally, but that’s just because I love a trimmed look. I guess an overly long mane could be dangerous, but as none of mine have one then it’s not really my place to say. I do however have a shetland with a long mane, but she’d look even more ridiculous if I trimmed it ? but it keeps the flies off of her face mostly!
 
Dangerous in what way? Your general natural look long mane no. As others have said, a mane can be useful for the rider to hang on to in an emergency. I do however see an increasing trend to treat certain hairy types as "barbie" horses as I think of them and to encourage their manes and tails to grow so long they are trailing on the ground (when loose although to achieve that look seems to require that they are actually kept plaited up most of the time). Apparently this is a desirable look. Personally I hate it and would want the mane and tail to be kept in a workmanlike manner so as not to risk impeding horse or rider. It does strike me that literally trailing manes and tails are a trip hazard at the least and also possibly a hazard for the horses to get caught up on on fencing etc even when plaited up. Generally hair pulls out in an emergency but where there is an awful lot of it I can see it being a danger. So if the amount of hair is in danger of actually impeding the horse it seems to me it becomes a welfare issue. I did see a pony at a dressage competition the other week with mane down to its knees, clearly a look they were trying to cultivate, but there was literally so much mane I couldn't see how the judge was going to judge it from that side as you literally could not see what the head or neck was doing at all and I'm sure it must have impaired the animal's vision on that side also.
 
Fjord said:
My fjord had a wild mane when I first had her. I refused to cut it until I realised how awful it was to deal with during the winter on heavy clay. How do those of you with really long manes cope with the mud?

I cut my girl's mane years ago and won't go back now. ?
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We have clay soil and although my horses have long manes, they don't compare to the cob posted earlier. I'll put a pic on this post to show the kind of mane I deal with. I don't do any special care apart from getting wind tangles out (I just use my fingers to untwist them) whenever I spot one forming and this usually coincides with high winds. Apart from that I don't brush, trim, plait or do anything with the manes and for some reason this works even with them living out in winter. They just don't really get that muddy... I do wonder if all the rain helps as it just showers off mud before any clumps form?

I do remember that I had an incident with my chestnut mare once where overnight her mane got so tangled (how she did it I don't know as the other two had no issue) that I had to cut some off to get it untangled. A weird one but it grew back and hasn't tangled like that again.
 

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Cortez said:
Lots of things can happen - I've seen a horse get a stirrup iron caught on it's canine tooth and rip out half it's jaw, freak accidents are just that, but that's no justification for calling stirrups dangerous, or advocating tooth extraction.
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Totally off on another tangent - A woman was walking her dog in the park on a wet, windy day. A tree branch broke off, fell down and killed the dog as it ran underneath the tree - totally freak accident, 1 in 10,000,000 chance of that happening. What did the woman do? Start a petition to have all of the trees removed from the park so no other dogs would be killed by falling branches. Just because of one freak accident she wanted all trees gone! Some people just want to blame someone or something else rather than admit that sometiimes shit does just happen.
 
Well my Fell pony's mane is longer and thicker than JJS's lovely girl, as are most Fell manes.

Breed standard says no trimming at all. And no plaiting either because mane and tail should be straight not wavy.

So far my only issue is the endless wind knots I have to tease out! ?

A good spritz with detangler a couple of times a week seems to prevent anything getting caught up in it.
 
I had a crazy risk assessment type groom who always plaited my horses mane, because of the 'risk'. But then, she spent her life putting the fear of god into me about any little bit of rough, boggy ground or a slight camber on the road, or a zillion other things, tbh I think it was just that she was trying to 'control' me by making out how much more knowledgeable she was about everything than me. It turned me into a nervous wreck.

Having moved on, I am a lot happier and happy to take small risks in life - like riding a horse with a long mane over rough or boggy ground!!!!
 
My PRE has a massively long mane - it's just above his knees now and still going . I keep it in long 'loosish' braids (his Pocahontas look...) to negate the need to brush it every day and stop it getting tangled. Every few weeks I'll take the braids out, give a very gentle brush and just enjoy the beauty of it for a few days before braiding again. Its never caused any problems, and Ive got used to riding with a lot of hair flapping about. I'm kind of interested to find out just how long its going to get.....
 
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Cortez said:
Lots of things can happen - I've seen a horse get a stirrup iron caught on it's canine tooth and rip out half it's jaw, freak accidents are just that, but that's no justification for calling stirrups dangerous, or advocating tooth extraction.
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:):) My OH once found, having got off his young horse to open a gate that she had managed to stick one her fulmer long cheeks up inside his helmet on the side of his head... Both were distinctly spooked by this but thankfully OH cut the chin strap on his hat so he could escape. It could have been literally seconds before OH had been horribly injured or potentially killed. Totally freak accident but OH still wears a helmet, horse still happy with her fulmer!! We've never known this happen before or since and could not have predicted it. Lots of hill ponies have incredibly long manes and our hill pony herd, to our knowledge has never had a hair related injury...
 
Sandstone1 said:
Good, im sure they will be interested and of course you would know the entire Spanish breeding industry, Just to be clear, when talking about long manes I am talking about ridiculously long manes here not the average native or arab mane. I am not saying all horses have to have hogged or very short pulled manes at all. I am talking about really long manes that go past the shoulder etc. IN MY OPINION, they are uncomfortable and hot for the horse, dangerous when riding as the risk of getting caught up in tack and fencing etc. They also look awful. I am very sorry I forgot people on here are not allowed to have a individual opinion. I really should know better. Bad me;)
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I absolutely LOVE long manes but yes, I suppose if you are looking at the excessively long like in the cob pic someone posted then I can see how that could have the potential to be dangerous. I think accidents would be in the minority though..?? I couldn't handle trying to keep that kind of mane tidy ??
My cob has his mane plaited alot as I'm (trying ) training it to all sit on the same side, for my sins...loose long plaits but his isn't excessive.
 
palo1 said:
It could have been literally seconds before OH had been horribly injured or potentially killed. Totally freak accident but OH still wears a helmet, horse still happy with her fulmer!!
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I do know of several very nasty accidents caused by fulmer snaffle cheeks getting hooked up on things, such as gate latches.

As s0ds law dictates, my IDx much prefers a fulmer snaffle without bit loops :oops:.
 
Sandstone1 said:
Im not pretending they are dangerous, they are in my opinion. Just because you do not agree does not make my opinion any less valid than yours.
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And I am allowed to call your opinion ridiculous. Particularly when given in its original context which was rude, unnecessary and hurtful. Don't say something if you're not willing to be called out on it.

(and yes, I am aware I am being a bit rude myself, but I found the original post about the topic on the other thread to be inappropriate so I'm a bit riled.)
 
In western a short banded mane is correct for some classes and a longer free flowing mane is more common in other types of competition like reining.

So there isn't a breed rule and they arent again pulling/trimming manes. Therefore if there was a danger I'd hazard a guess that all manes would be short.

That made sense in my head not so sure it has now I've attempted to write it down.

Basically long manes are fairly common in certain western events...including events where stuff could get caught like roping and steer wrestling... but QH peeps arent against cutting manes, for example Pleasure classes, so if they were a danger there is already a precedent of short manes.

I dont think I've explained that any better on my second attempt ?
 
Tiddlypom said:
If we're talking western, what is the fad for overly long tails that have to be kept bagged up, even when the horse is ridden? I've seen a western trainer giving a demo like this.

What's that all about ?‍♀️.
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I used to have a few horses in for training in the US that had bagged tails, Arabs, Saddlebreds and the like. Pain in the rear (mine) as they had to be taken down and teased out regularly or else they'd turn into the world's biggest dreadlock. Not sure what it's about, other than having a tail that trails on the ground. But you know, 'murica.
 
Tiddlypom said:
If we're talking western, what is the fad for overly long tails that have to be kept bagged up, even when the horse is ridden? I've seen a western trainer giving a demo like this.

What's that all about ?‍♀️.
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Bagging the bottom section up stops all the challenges of keeping them clean and stopping the ends splitting, especially with the lighter coloured ones and the horses don't seem to mind. There's also the figure 8 knots approach which keeps the ends up out of the dirt and mud but leaves the horse with a nice free swishy end of their tail still.

I've got one Quarter horse with a great full tail and the other barely grows any (see profile pick there's less now and it's gone white) ; a full tail is seen as desirable in the show ring so people go to varying levels of effort to maintain them. But they must be short enough that horse doesn't risk stepping on them when they back up.
 
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Tiddlypom said:
If we're talking western, what is the fad for overly long tails that have to be kept bagged up, even when the horse is ridden? I've seen a western trainer giving a demo like this.

What's that all about ?‍♀️.
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My understanding is that they are plaited and/or bagged to minimise damage to the hair, keep hair clean and not to knock confidence when training.

Depending on what event of course but there are quite few maneuvers where the risk of standing on a long tail are increased like the spins, rein backs, roll backs and sliding stops. If a horse was constantly yanking its tail it's not a great incentive to perform the movement well. I

The aesthetic of reining is generally long manes and tails so manes and tails are bagged to look good for the show ring too. It's not specific to western either because I know arab and native producers who also bag manes and tails, even more so in winter.
 
Enfys said:
There was a video floating around a while ago of the rescue of a Welsh mare with foal at foot on the marshes ( which are tidal, she would have drowned) She had got a back foot tangled in her long and knotted mane, probably not a one off scenario with wild/ ferals.
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I’ve also seen a mare with her long mane wound around an electric wire from a pylon, she was well and truly stuck but thankfully did get rescued.
 
paddi22 said:
that's funny, two of my horses absolutely love having their mane pulled:p. it really relaxes them and the harder you pull the better. it's their absolute favourite thing for me to do to them. I've other ones that hate it though
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I had one like that! Isn’t it weird! I loved it as I like a smart horse and I hate doing anything nasty to them ? win win
 
Re the bagging of tails to look good and protect them, I'd just keep the tail short enough so that the horse can't step on it, and then it's also easier to keep it clean and tangle free.

The sound of the constant banging of the bagged tail against the horse's hocks was loud enough to give me a headache. Goodness knows what the horse thought.
 
I bag my Connemara's white tail in winter, but only when he's tuned out in wet weather, and never when ridden or stabled, or if there are flies about (as he needs to swish his tail). I made the bags I use and they have velcro built in so that they will come away from the horse if he gets caught. He has a cut tail, 4" below hocks, so not long, I just bag it to prevent staining in the orange clay mud. I can't imagine it's comfortable for them to be ridden in one or have to wear it for most/all of the time though, and what's the point of having a tail so long that it drags on the ground? Surely aside from the risk of standing on it, the bottom of it would look filthy pretty quickly? A lot of the really long tails I've seen are thin and straggly at the end which looks a bit odd- not like a full, healthy tail.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Re the bagging of tails to look good and protect them, I'd just keep the tail short enough so that the horse can't step on it, and then it's also easier to keep it clean and tangle free.
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It's always going to be easier to maintain a silky soft tail by bagging it to keep it tangle free than have it blowing in the wind. Of all the lengths that some showing people have been known to go to a tail bags seems pretty harmless!

Tiddlypom said:
The sound of the constant banging of the bagged tail against the horse's hocks was loud enough to give me a headache. Goodness knows what the horse thought.
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You can get soft cotton and lycra bags for tails too so that solves the noise problem. The waterproof ones for the field will be made of "noisier" materials; normally nylon AFAIK.
 
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