A Question of Hair

[lantairvlea]

First time poster, short time lurker. Hi all.

Anyway, I have a problem. It's a problem most people would probably like to have, but it's a new one for me and I'm trying to figure out how to manage it without going insane.

I have this filly:

Comments

[wastedrock]

She can have an English mane. Pull it and shorten it if you don't want the hassle. If you don't do that then it will have to be braided up and washed and dried a heck of a lot more than every 2 weeks if you don't want it all to mold off.

I used to do SS (Saddleseat) and am well versed in long well kept hair. It's a hassle.

[lantairvlea]

I make sure it's dry before I rebraid it (living in Arizona dry time isn't too bad and we don't get mich rain). I had asked her sire's owner what she did and she was in the two week routine plus stuffed it in socks. That boy had mane down to his knees (don't quite want it that long myself!).

[quietann]

Feronia gets her long mane put in pigtails every summer, mostly to keep her cool. I will unbraid it periodically and leave it that way for 1-2 days, wash it if it seems really grotty, and rebraid it the next day when it's dry. I'm not trying to maintain a "show mane" so I'm not that fussed if she loses a little hair.

Her tail was long until she started rubbing it (I think I have that under control now, maybe), and I'd just bang it a few inches above the ground when it started dragging.

[lantairvlea]

I would like to show her as she gets older, but since my focus is Dressage and driving it'll be running braids or loose when competing I think. She has so much hair I'm not afraid of losing a few strands here and there.

I am definitely in the banging camp with her tail. Yea they kindof look impressive, but tails dragging the ground just get stepped on, especially if you ever ask a horse to back up. And on the driving side again I don't think ground-dragging tails are pracrical or safe.

[acoustic11]

Running braids if you do dressage. Don't want all that loose - it's a huge distraction and hides exactly what the judge should be looking at.

[lantairvlea]

Definitely, the driving competitions tend to go either way, seems to be personal preference.

[trigger_happy01]

To be honest.... with my Friesian (and some extent my Friesian Sporthorse), I do nothing.... The Friesian sporthorse has a little finer hair on her mane which is definitely more prone to tangling and matting, so I use "Canter" conditioner spray for it which is absolutely fantastic and I do (saddleseat people cover your eyes a moment), brush it out. The Friesian has a thicker hair to begin with, both in volume and follicle thickness and it doesn't seem to tangle into the wind braids as her do. They are somewhat wavy and kind of in tendrils of sorts, but I don't think it looks bad at all and I've had him over a month and have yet to even get near it with a brush or even go through it with my fingers.... Here's a picture of his maned beauty (apparently a pasture mate at his last home felt the need to chew some of the mane off though).

[lantairvlea]

What a handsome boy.

I think part of my problem is that she is very social and will groom with pretty much every other horse in the herd, so even if the hair doesn't tangle much on its own it does get some help and can end up quite the mess, though it does take some time for it to get REALLY bad.

[trigger_happy01]

Thanks! And as others have said, with braiding, you must be absolutely diligent with it. I once braided the sporthorse's mane and I believe it was only in for a week when either a pasture mate bit the braid clean off, or the hair simply broke and she lost a large chunk of hair. Ever since then, I only do what I detailed above. At some point, I will likely attack the friesian with the canter spray and hair brush, but it will definitely be a task when I do!

[lantairvlea]

That's tragic! At least ir is just hair after all, but I'm sure it looked funny until it grew back.

The braids do make it a littke easier when I work with her as I'm not fighting an unruly mass that wraps itself around the reins and things, but apparently there are hazards too!

[thefigureouter]

My mare has a similar amount of hair; her dam has more. I was forever bemoaning the distinct lack of hair my girl had until sometime this last year it turned into a Real Haflinger Mane. I'm dead set on keeping her mane intact

[lantairvlea]

Maybe I ran into some bad information, but I thought running braids can pull out bits of mane because it doesn't really move with the neck. I guess it depends on how loose you braid it?

Thanks for the advise!

[thefigureouter]

I actually braid mine really tight & close to the neck. When I get close to the withers, that is definitely a problem, so I won't braid that far.

I generally braid with the pony in crossties and her head relatively still. She gets to dive for grass soon after I'm done. I check then to make sure everything is staying in place.. if the braid moves, I'll either loosen it or take it out and redo it entirely. Within my sample size of two, I don't think the running braid is causing problems with hair breakage/pulling -- but I think you're probably right, and maybe it depends on the neck shape/conformation/movement of the individual horse and these two are just anomalies.

[lantairvlea]

Maybe it's avoiding braiding all the way down to the wither. I think that area sees more stretch and compression than the rest of the neck. Of course Haflingers don't always have the longest of necks. Ihave one too. Her hair doesn't get quite so crazy as Z's because it's straight.

[vtgypsy]

For my Friesian mare, I just wash her mane and put it in 4-5 straight braids. I rebraid her mane every 3 or so days, whenever it needs it. I don't wash it every time. I brush her mane, even though it seems to be "frowned upon" to do that.

[lantairvlea]

Supposedly brushing too much thins out the hair so those with less well-endowed horses try to use brushes as little as possible.

[vtgypsy]

Oh, I know all the reasons people use for brushing. lol

I figure if I brush my hair every day and it's long and I'm not bald, why not use a brush on my horse? She has SO much more hair than I have. lol

[creseis_acicula]

Brushing removes dead hair and makes the hair look healthier and shinier.