Why do showjumpers cut their horses manes with scissors?

It's like confession time on here this morning! I'm a traditionalist in most things - sewing plaits, pulling manes and tails etc but then had to use a) a main rake and b) some scissors to help with daughter's gonk of a pony - now I'm a convert (albeit secret) to the scissors followed by a bit of pulling to make it 'au naturel'

There, I've said it [she says, shuffling off backwards looking sheepish] !!
 
My horse has a really thick mane, so I pull I pull it, to where I guess it would be accepable to leave it but then I cut it I make it look neat and straight and also makes it look nice and thick. It just suits him, I don't want to lose the effect of his nice full mane, but I do need it to be neat.
 
I cut my boys with scissors. Hes no showjumper, but I find I get a better finish and he can be a nuisance if I pull it. Not following the fashion trend at all, I just do what suits me and him :) I hate a cut forelock though!
 
I'm another guilty scissor user. My. mare really hates having her mane pulled and can get her head waaay higher than I can reach :o So I use opened out scissors with a comb ( mane on wrong side and scrape) then flip mane back to right side and trim the ends (upwards so it looks natural). She actually seems to enjoy this method, it makes her bottom lip all floppy :)
 
i'd love my mare to actually grow a mane worth cutting!!! she has the most pathetic mane i have ever seen, :o you'd have to put extensions in if you wanted to plait it, it's that thin and short:rolleyes:
The boys do manage to grow a rather impressive set of tresses though and yes i use a combination of scissors and solo comb to shorten it :eek: may the god of BHS strike me down;):D
 
Easier :) I do SJ, but also dressage and some showing and I'll cut my horse's mane rather than pull. Partly because he particularly hates his mane being pulled, and partly because I'm useless at pulling it. If I cut it while it's wet it comes out nice and neat and level.

And I sometimes neaten it with hairdressers thinning scissors. Easy :)
 
Possibly because showjempers tend not to be stuck in the past and worried about tradition/what people think. Reputation stands or falls on the comp results, not how the mane was produced ;)
 
* Goes and finds mane rake and scissors and drags poor 3 yr old in from field... *
:o

I suppose he can learn to cope with pulling another time, at the moment the mane is doing my head in!! :p
 
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