Whiskers

Hello
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I take both my horses whiskers off, No main reason really but in my opinion it tidies them up, I also think it makes my 2 look old when they have them.
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I prefer to leave them on. They're 'feelers' that help the horse gauge how close his chin is to the floor when he's grazing / browsing.

Altho my clipping lady totally disagrees with me & removes them if I forget to tell her. But then again, the vet agrees with me...

Personal preference?
 
IMO removing them is cruel. They are necessary for the horse to find it's way around and not damage itself. The only reason they are removed is for our vanity.

Also applies for the hair inside the ears, I trim off the hairy tufts after pressing the ear together but would never remove the inner hair.

The long whiskers round the eyes are also important for the horse
 
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IMO removing them is cruel

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I'm not sure that I'd go as far as that. And certainly there's no scientific proof to back that statement up. All the show horses on the yard have theirs removed, as do the competition horse.

Amy May is neither though - so I've never removed them.
 
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I prefer to leave them on. They're 'feelers' that help the horse gauge how close his chin is to the floor when he's grazing / browsing

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really?
 
I leave them on except for showing, where a clean cut profile is needed. (Feel a bit mean doing it though!)
 
I have to say I leave them on too, although I prefer the look without them, I hate actually taking them off. Most people on my yard (mainly dressage) take them off and think I'm a bit soft!
 
I leave them on as it means the horses wont, in theory, eat too close to the ground and take on sand and dirt etc.

I am constantly having to battle the razor out of the YOs hand tho as she hates them and they all come off hers!
 
Well Im on a competition yard and we don't touch them at all.

Some horses don't travel well if they have them removed (its hard for them to judge distances directly infront of their heads without them!) So for the sake of reduced bumps and bangs round the head, we leave them all on.

Whilst I agree that taking them off can look tidier, to be fair, you generally don't see them until you're quite close to the horse so imo, ours all look perfectly presentable for competitions.

Then again, we are rather soft, we don't pull our manes either.
 
When I was working in showing they always came off!
Now I take them off, but mainly for cosmetic reasons. So over the winter i will trim them down to about 1" long or i take them off completely when i first clip them and then let them grow out a little. In the summer I take them off along with feather and chin hair.
 
I leave them on now, occasionally I have taken them off for big shows but I do feel guilty doing it. I don't think they really notice anyway.

I learnt the hard way clipping out ears- I clipped Chess' ears out completely one summer and she was virtually un rideable- anytime the midges were out etc she would head shake really violently. She was also much more sensitive to load noise. I only trim the fluff now!

Without sounding really hippy- I also don't like bridle paths and when I clip I leave a saddle patch.

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when I worked at a racing/showing/hunting yard they always came off!

Mind stay on, my friend cut her geldings off last year and he woudlnt eat for 6 hours, kept scaring himself when he put his head down, wouldnt even graze!

Beards come off though LOL.
 
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Off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off, off ,off

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PMSL! my YO is just the same!
Even when my boys have 1/2 a cm of growth she says GET THOSE OFF lol
 
Couple of my trainers clients remove the long ones around the eyes also (her horse also banged his eye quite badly in the box on the way to a show directly after she did this and her vet attributed it to this). She still cuts them off! The thought of cutting the ones round the eyes off makes me shudder :P
 
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rambo you sound as if you are at a strip club :P

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My horses would do well at one of those
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Everything comes off.....coat, legs, feathers, ears, whiskers, bridle paths, withers....you name it....if the clippers fit they get used there
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Couple of my trainers clients remove the long ones around the eyes also (her horse also banged his eye quite badly in the box on the way to a show directly after she did this and her vet attributed it to this). She still cuts them off! The thought of cutting the ones round the eyes off makes me shudder :P

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Ah.....okay.....not QUITE everything comes off mine....i've never trimmed those....although i have contemplated standardising the odd stray one
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rambo you sound as if you are at a strip club :P

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My horses would do well at one of those
grin.gif


Everything comes off.....coat, legs, feathers, ears, whiskers, bridle paths, withers....you name it....if the clippers fit they get used there
shocked.gif


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Same here. However, I do not touch around the eyes and I only trim the whiskers from the lower lip.
 
All the ones aroud Barons nose and chin are clipped off with the trimmer.

Many things we can say are there for a reason but we still remove or tamper with them
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Just my thoughts
 
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