Trimming Whiskers

sussexbythesea said:
My friend "helpfully" trimmed my boys whiskers once and it totally upset him. He obviously couldn't judge the distance to anything and when he went to eat his hay he leapt backwards like he'd had an electric shock and wouldn't eat his dinner. His life obsession is food so you can imagine how distraught he was :( He got used to it but not before he had cut and scraped his nose on a few things working out the distances. I've never trimmed them since and never will.
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This is exactly what happened to my home bred. I trimmed his whiskers as we were going to do some showing. Looked lovely but whenever he went to put his nose in his feed bucket he shot violently back as though he was getting an electric shock. I have never seen that reaction before and as a result have not trimmed any horse whiskers since. I thought he was turning into a head shaker and it took him a long time to recover.
Bearing in mind I bred him and know him inside out and the reaction was immediately after I trimmed him. I can quite confidently say the reaction was attributed to taking his whiskers off. Never again!
 
When my lad was on working livery he was used for an end of riding camp show and the girls tried to shave off his whiskers, he wouldn't let them, just kept lifting his head up so they couldn't reach ha ha! Clever boy ;)
I've never understood why it's supposed to make a horse look "prettier", I rather like the au-naturel face look ;)
 
amandap said:
The anecdotes on this thread are very striking. Anyone not convinced taking whiskers off is unfair and unwise?
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Me.
Will probably get shot down for this but all of my horses have their whiskers taken off. I'm at a SJ yard and it's standard practice.
My lot don't seem bothered about it if I'm honest.
 
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Faracat said:
I've had one comment RE trimming whiskers but it came about because I was talking about showing my grey. I was told that I should shave her whiskers off as part of a list of tips for smartening her up in readiness for the show. I replied that it was against AHS rules to do so, so that was the end of the topic.
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I had the same comment re my welsh sec D at a affiliated show.
if that is the only way to get placed higher......... I prefer not to.
 
blood_magik said:
Me.
Will probably get shot down for this but all of my horses have their whiskers taken off. I'm at a SJ yard and it's standard practice.
My lot don't seem bothered about it if I'm honest.
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And me. I have always taken my horses whiskers off and that goes for the yard i work at, again a SJ yard and it is standard in preparing them for shows and none of mine have shown any of these extreme signs of electric shocks, standing on there own lips etc!
 
In USA it is normal to completely remove all extra hair from the face - inside ears, all whiskers and the long hairs around the eyes. All seem to survive.
 
Feeling a bit nervous about posting this, but my horses have their whiskers trimmed off ... They live out most of the time in a large area with woodland and a brook to drink from. They honestly show no different behaviour to my friend's horse who has whiskers. Never had a single injury in years! My ISH has a full clip, I trim the outside of the ears and sticky out fluff but leave the inside on, legs off and all whiskers off. He can navigate perfectly well and never looks upset about it. I believe many people on here use muzzles to restrict grazing and control weight, how do you think they cope? Particularly if they have full whiskers that are constantly pressed against a muzzle. Just a thought.
 
Gosh, whiskers on, whiskers off...... if I have time I take them off, looks smart and my horse does not seem to notice...... Believe me my horse is the apple of my eye and if I thought he was distressed I simply would not do it!
 
No need to feel embarrassed or uneasy about replying,
It's a really interesting thread.
I've had horses for over 40 years and worked on SJ yards in the UK and across Europe. Most of my charges would have had the equivalent of a 'Brazilian' in equine terms!
I was amazed at my chaps reaction (17.2hh ISH who lives to eat - as opposed to eats to live!). First time I'd ever seen it. His reaction was so immediate and violent. Just minutes after I trimmed his whiskers he almost hit the back of his box shooting backwards as he stuck his nose into his feed bucket he had eaten out of every day of his 5 years.
I then had problems with him for a couple of months, the only way I could get him to eat comfortably was to get a large garden tub for him.
When I mentioned what had happened to others it was then that I heard about similar incidents.
Just know that I won't be trimming my horses whiskers again. Purely from my own experience.
 
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