Whiskers or not!

Forgot to add - it does depend on their living conditions. If they are stabled and rugged up, yes I'd clip their whiskers. If they're out 24/7, living on fresh air, then no - leave them as natural as possible.
 
I leave them on. I used to trim Blaze's when I showed her but I don't anymore, these days she has a long mane, thick tail, beard, whiskers and 'tache and I love them! Besides, mine use their whiskers to determine whether the electric fencing is on or off! :D
 
Of course whiskers have a function. They are to test whether the electric fencing is on. How else would fat cob know when it is safe to break into the hay field? :D

Leave them on. Germany has got it right.
 
I can't stand long tails on my horses as I think they look untidy. I cut them as short as possible. They're stabled so flies aren't a problem. Anyway, I'm the one who pays the bills so they can like it or lump it and they are my property after all! :) There's nothing worse than a horse with a long tail!!! Grrr!!! Or a forelock! I'm sure horses are happier without forelocks. At least without all that unnecessary (and untidy! :() hair, they can see where they're going for heaven's sake! Or feather - don't get me started on that! Nothing worse than a horse with feathers (well, apart from a horse with long tail and feathers obviously)!! :mad: They don't need them, so off they come. Why are people so keen on "the natural look"?? Bah! There's nothing natural about keeping a horse, is there? "Natural" is so unsightly. :( Still, each to their own I suppose! :rolleyes:
 
Moomince Pie said:
You keep your cob clipped all year round because you don't admire hairy cobs?!! Or have I read that wrong? Sorry if I have. Plus, I am confused by the comment onf they need to sweat effectively, and they are groomed to remove grease. It's important horses have grease in their coat, plus what is classed as 'sweating effectively'?
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No I keep my cob clipped all year round because hes very heavy coated, ATM he's in light work but even light work is impossibly uncomfortable for him in his own hair the whole of his bottom half is clipped including legs.
He arrived with feather mites so the first thing I did was whip off the feathers with clippers ( hie previous owner would have cried ) and treat him with ivermectin lotion the red thickened skin on his legs looked as if it must have been very unpleasant for him for a long time he's now kept with quite closely clipped legs all year round
In January he will come into full work and be fully clipped and will be clipped every month to three weeks while he's working hard .
The grooming thing that's the old fashioned way grease waterproofs the coat but also stops the sweat evaporating as quickly and effectively you groom it out a body brush and considerable muscle power , great on a cold day for warming up you can get a good pile of grease out every day.
On the first yard I worked on you had to tap the grease dead skin etc out of your metal curry comb in one place by the door and the head groom or yard owner checked them to make sure you where grooming properly .
We rarely ever bathed a horse on that yard but each horse was allocated forty five minutes per day just for this.
I have my cob bacause of the job he does he's a good horse bought ready to do that job if I was making a horse for the job I would never have bought a cob they are not my thing at all I would have got a kwpn .
 
I do like my horse to look smart however I find whiskers so incredibly inoffensive it just doesn't occur to me to trim them.

I don't think anyone could see them from more than 6 feet away so I can't see how they could detract too much from his overall appearance. I have certainly never found my attention drawn to other horses whiskers (or lack of).
 
To include feathers in this discussion is a bit of a red herring I feel.

Whiskers are part of the horses sensory system, all horses have them.

Ridiculous amounts of feather though are bred into certain types of horse, a man made bit of freakish breeding, as we are prone to do.
 
I used to have to trim whiskers and inside the ears when working in the USA, and I hated doing it (though TBH the horses didn't seem to mind). Here, I have shown to a high level and never trimmed whiskers or ears (other than obvious pokey-out bits), and used to win a bit too, so it doesn't seem to be the make-or-break criterion.
 
Mine are all whiskery.

But I have
a retired mare
a welsh d x who has a long mane, feathers ect so would be silly to trim whiskers without pulling mane ect which I don't wanna do as it suits her
and an eventer BUT he only has 1 eye so think it would be unfair to trim his whiskers as he can't see on one side so needs to feel. Plus whiskers have grown longer on that side so he is obviously compensating!

When I used to show the retired mare she had her whiskers off, ears trimmed ect, never did her any harm.

If I had another horse, like the eventer but with 2 eyes, I think I'd still leave them on unless I went to do a showing class. I like them :) but I don't think its cruel to trim them if horse has 2 eyes
 
Ahrena said:
Mine are all whiskery.

But I have
a retired mare
a welsh d x who has a long mane, feathers ect so would be silly to trim whiskers without pulling mane ect which I don't wanna do as it suits her
and an eventer BUT he only has 1 eye so think it would be unfair to trim his whiskers as he can't see on one side so needs to feel. Plus whiskers have grown longer on that side so he is obviously compensating!

When I used to show the retired mare she had her whiskers off, ears trimmed ect, never did her any harm.

If I had another horse, like the eventer but with 2 eyes, I think I'd still leave them on unless I went to do a showing class. I like them :) but I don't think its cruel to trim them if horse has 2 eyes
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Doesn't your post demonstrate that whiskers are there for a reason? Not only for the benefit of horses that lack an eye I suppose... or they'd only sprout when a horse went blind I guess. Whiskers are so useful to horses that they will even grow longer if the horse loses the sight in one eye to compensate, and yet it's still OK to chop them off just for appearance sake.
 
Pale Rider said:
A friend of mine is obsessed with keeping her horse 'smart'. She insists on clipping off her horses whiskers as she says they are untidy. I think this is wrong as the horse needs its whiskers and clipping them is uncomfortable for the horse as they grow back, only to be cut again.
Anyone care to comment?
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I can see no reason to want to take them off , so they look smart?? twoddle they can still look smart with them on!!
 
lcharles said:
I take them off, he's fully clipped and even in the summer I shave them off with human hair clippers x Keeps him smart and I don't think they do have a purpose, like a cat has them to stop it getting its head stuck! x
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Saw a freshly-whisker-trimmed horse at a waterbucket once. Bobbing its head up and down trying to work out where on earth the water level once.

SURE they don't have a purpose, Charles.
 
I never trim whiskers and if I did decide to show the arabs, it's in the rules that the whiskers have to stay on anyway. :)

http://www.midlandarabgroup.org/Documents/AHS RULES FOR SHOWING 2012.pdf

14. TRIMMING AND CLIPPING
Pure Bred Arabians - Tactile hair must not be
removed. Hair must not be shaved or otherwise
removed from around horse’s eyes. Eyelashes
must be left uncut. Removal of hair from inside
the ear is forbidden. Forelocks must be left free.
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Both my boys are natives so I leave whiskers on. My welsh boy has his ear tufts and beard trimmed and both have slightly pulled manes but other than that they are both natural.
 
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