Who trims whiskers?

_GG_ said:
I've not read the whole thread so not sure what others have said...but no, no need to make a person feel guilty at all. Yes, they are different, but if you look at it that way, it's probably kinder to the horse to have a few moments of pain for a mane pull than to totally remove a part of their sensory system?

Anyway, it's personal choice. I don't want to make anyone feel guilty, but I do think we should all stop and think sometimes...is appearance more important that what's best for our horses. What I mean by best is that yes, they can make do without whiskers, but they are better off with them.
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Fair point, I don't even know why I'm arguing the point so much since I don't even trim my own horse's whiskers and never would! I think I'm just being pedantic to distract myself from what I should really be doing...writing my dissertation :D

Although I disagree about whisker trimming potentially being worse than mane pulling.
 
HashRouge said:
Fair point, I don't even know why I'm arguing the point so much since I don't even trim my own horse's whiskers and never would! I think I'm just being pedantic to distract myself from what I should really be doing...writing my dissertation :D
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This forum is brilliant for that sort of procrastination :lol:
 
I show my mare, she is all trimmed, beard off mane and tail pulled, feathers off etc, but I do leave the whiskers on, just don't bother doing best turned out classes now as it would probably go against us. I don't think it has affected how she is placed in the show ring. I do trim around the outside of her ears to get a neat look.

What I find awful is that here I know of several people who use hair remover cream to remove the hair from the insides of the ears. I cannot imagine how they don't realise that the hair is there to prevent debris getting down into the ear canal.
 
I've clipped them off my cob and I've left them on. She's told me she doesn't care either way as long as she has ad lib forage at all times and never has to wear a grazing muzzle, eat out of a trickle net, have shoes nailed onto her feet or have her mane or tail ripped out by the roots.

Plenty of worse things done to horses than trimming off whiskers I should think!
 
FfionWinnie said:
Plenty of worse things done to horses than trimming off whiskers I should think!
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Oh yes, for sure!

General question, not specifically directed at you FW because lots of people mention the "worse things" argument... Does the fact that worse things are done than x make x less bad, or does it just make it seem that way by putting it "into perspective"?

ETA: I do think "worse things" matters when there's limited resources, and you want to direct efforts (or money) into tackling the most pressing problems.
 
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fburton said:
Oh yes, for sure!

General question, not specifically directed at you FW because lots of people mention the "worse things" argument... Does the fact that worse things are done than x make x less bad, or does it just make it seem that way by putting it "into perspective"?

ETA: I do think "worse things" matters when there's limited resources, and you want to direct efforts (or money) into tackling the most pressing problems.
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It means I was attempting in a light hearted way to point out, I personally believe, that the things I listed are bigger "crimes" done to horses every day "for their own good", probably by many of the people on this thread castigating anyone who trims off a whisker.

If cutting off whiskers is cruel, I raise you restricting forage on a grazing animal every day of its life is far worse, yet people do it as a routine. Making horses eat out of those flaming trickle nets is cruel and unnatural. Letting them get fat by keeping them in unnatural situations is cruel. Obviously there are some horses who are not fit to exercise so keeping them healthy is harder but the day I need to do those things is the day I give up. Do I preach that to people asking for opinions, probably not, you have to work with what you've got.

In the scheme of things, no whiskers on a beautifully kept horse with absolutely everything it can possibly need or desire with no stereotypical or stress behaviours is not cruel.

To sum up, I don't believe cutting off whiskers is cruel, I do believe the things I listed are cruel, I expect many will disagree, does that make me right and them wrong, no, it's about perspective. I'm sure people might think the way I keep my horses is cruel, the majority of the poor things have to live outside all year round with only hay to eat in the winter and hardly even get a bucket feed, for instance. Some people would think stabling them at least 12 hours a day would be kinder. Again, perspective.
 
F says he isn't restricted every day of his life ;) and it just makes him pick as he would have to if he didn't have an acre of verdant pasture and lived in the wild :D. Still miss having the track at home though but here it would mean turning him out on his own and I'd rather he had a mate (who still runs away even if F can't bite him). I can also leave him without for a couple of hours and then go down later of an evening and he doesn't even run away, so maybe he likes the bondage look? :eek3:
His native unrestricted field mate seems to have no ribs at all, as in I honestly cannot find them :eek3: which I think is worse.

I actually when I was younger never realised that anyone trimmed whiskers as the bookworm that I was everything said, (well mostly my mother's ancient BHS manuals at the time) that they needed them for sensory purposes so it was fait accompli as far as I was concerned :p. I can seen why people might feel they have to come off for showing but don't really get it if you are doing any other activity.
 
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I don't think I said fat was acceptable or natural either ;). If he wears it in the dark tho how does he use his whiskers to see where he's going ;)

It's quite hard to clip out a face and leave them on without strange hairy patches hence when I clip her face out (probably once a year, maybe twice) they might get it too.

I was really just trying to make the point that everyone has different opinions on what is acceptable.

Whiskers, in my opinion are at the low end of the scale of what folk should be worrying about others doing. Unless it's a cat cos we all know if you cut the whiskers off a cat it will drop dead or something.

(Had one singe them off on the woodburner once, possible they were malfunctioning whiskers anyway as surely they should have alerted it to the intense heat before this occurred. It did not appear to cause it any issues while they regrew! Cat that is not horse).
 
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I guess whiskers are poor heat conductors :D even if they are usually quite good at telling you when the electric fence is on :D

I guess I am just saying that restricting intake at least has a positive associated with it (better overall health) but I can't see what that is for whisker shaving.
 
I shave off whiskers if we are competing, imo it looks smarter. Like pulling mane/tail, trimming ears, cutting heels off etc. I really don't like hairy horses like traditional cobs, hate hate hate all that feather and mane! But that's me, if I had one it would be hogged and clipped out! :)

However if horse is out (like now) or we are just hacking in winter then they are left au natural. As is everything else!
He lives out normally 24/7 and has never had any differences between whiskers shaved v whiskers natural, winter or summer.

It's a personal choice though - I don't think you can blast anyone for doing it tbh. Just because you disagree doesn't mean you have to share that opinion :p
 
only_me do you think the illegality on the continent puts a different slant on it at all?

It does amuse me slightly as I do think there are other issues they should be dealing with first :D
 
ester said:
only_me do you think the illegality on the continent puts a different slant on it at all?

It does amuse me slightly as I do think there are other issues they should be dealing with first :D
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Not really, although interesting but they also have different takes on a lot of horsecare, eg. Majority of their competition horses would be stabled most of day which we wouldn't like!

I agree, obesity and no turnout are far higher welfare concerns lol. Actually the one I'm most concerned with personally is the rise of hugely obese riders riding small lightweight horses/ponies. I'm no lightweight but at least the horses I ride are suitable height/bone! I saw one woman recently who must have been towards 22 stone riding a riding horse type 15.2. Not fair on horse!
 
Nope, shown to county/championship level with success without touching them. Not worth guessing if it is/isn't important to them when there's no actual benefit to doing it in the first place other than vanity. There's bigger welfare issues out there for sure but I work to ensure those in my care have the best welfare I can provide, they don't think about his well off they are compared to others!
 
So, would a judge with a German horse in a class, who has to keep his whiskers, be instructed to imagine the whiskers were not there in the interest of global competition fairness? If so we can all leave them on with no penalty :-)
 
I don't, and I wouldn't. But I am interested in the argument that it's all right to do it now and again. If I was going to do it, I would do it all the time, otherwise the horse is constantly having to adapt to no whiskers/growing whiskers/grown whiskers/no whiskers. That feels completely wrong to me.
 
I don't trim them but I'm planning on doing a show soon and was assuming I'd have to? As well as the general trim of ears, leg fluff etc. I'd rather not though. Anyone know how much of a no no it is for showing to leave whiskers on? We'll need all the help we can get in terms of turnout!
 
Well I went to the show, didn't trim whiskers, didn't do well but I think the whiskers were the least of my worries! My horse completely ran out of petrol in the ring despite going really well beforehand. It was a BSPS open class and everything else looked trimmed within an inch of its life.
 
As a clueless kid I always trimmed them, but now as more experienced & knowledgeable horse owner I personally don't as I'd rather my horses look a bit hairy round the mouth than trim a necessary sensory tool just because it 'looks smarter'
 
I personally prefer the look of no whiskers, but I want my horse out at night and I leave him in a mask due to his ERU. Therefore, he gets to keep his whiskers!
 
Bernster said:
I don't trim them but I'm planning on doing a show soon and was assuming I'd have to? As well as the general trim of ears, leg fluff etc. I'd rather not though. Anyone know how much of a no no it is for showing to leave whiskers on? We'll need all the help we can get in terms of turnout!
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I never trimmed whiskers and showed up to county level and never had a comment or have it affect my placings. Trimmed does give a neater look but I would never do it for the sake of a rosette :).
 
AlexHyde said:
I never trimmed whiskers and showed up to county level and never had a comment or have it affect my placings. Trimmed does give a neater look but I would never do it for the sake of a rosette :).
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Hah, given that we will be nowhere near rosette territory then I don't think I need to worry. Whilst I have no desire to come last, if we do I can always blame my terrible black tack and beardy horse ;-)
 
Bernster said:
Hah, given that we will be nowhere near rosette territory then I don't think I need to worry. Whilst I have no desire to come last, if we do I can always blame my terrible black tack and beardy horse ;-)
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:D Oh yes always good to have those excuses in first ;), Doodle is so pretty if she wasn't placed it MUST have been her whiskery muzzle, splint and windgalls, nothing to do with as she got older the naughtier she got :D.
 
I don't trim whiskers as I was told that each whisker has its own sensory area in the cortex. I am not a big fan of lots of hair but never trim whiskers or insides of ears
 
I do! The hunters at the moment are turned out so are all whiskery, hairy and tufty but in the winter are clipped and whiskers trimmed with clippers too. Ears trimmed inside too......I like my horses to look smart and so far they have not suffered for it.

Cob was clipped a few weeks ago......everything off head, legs, feathers, whiskers and hogged! She will be kept like that all summer and winter. Not rugged either, but is in the winter obviously.
 
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