The Mane Dilemma: Haircut

Harley has thick, fairy tale horse hair.  I love long hair and try my best to keep his mane and tail as natural as possible, which includes not cutting a bridle path behind his ears and letting his mane just grow and grow.  I purchase bottles of detangler and conditioner to keep his locks manageable and always try to brush starting at the bottom to prevent breakage.  Even though Harley used to be a rough and tumble horse (i.e. his previous owner was of the male persuasion), he seems to enjoy the primping and preening, which was a cool way to pass the time during our three-day heat wave last week.  He also very clearly appreciates his long mane and forelock when the flies are biting.  They serve as effective fly masks just as nature intended.

Unfortunately, I decided that practicality had to win over vanity last week.  Harley's hair is so thick, that he sweats quite a lot under his mane.  The hair will hold a nice french braid, which I employ for shows, but he dislikes having his mane constantly done up.  I think that it must pull, because he will toss his neck from side to side in an annoyed way.  After a horse show, he always licks and chews when I undo the braid and gives his mane a really good, satisfied shake.

So out came the clippers.  I was hoping clippers would give a rougher cut then scissors.  I did not want to pull his mane as it was just way too long for that, but I also did not want to do the dreaded straight cut.  I really like the way his mane had thinned out at the bottom of the hairs, so I was sad to see that part go, but his health and comfort are more important.

The round pen is a nice touch to the "mustang look" he has going.  The shortest section of his mane by the withers is just catching up with the rest of his mane.  I have not trimmed his mane in over a year.

I love the soft edge of his mane, frayed by hundreds of combings, the sun, and the elements.

The Haircut: I tried to follow the bottom of his neck, remove some bulk, but keep it legitimately long.  I also evened out the shorter section coming from the withers.

Even though I am going through a little bit of regret at losing the edges of his wild mane, I am glad that his pretty neck is no longer completely hidden.  Thankfully, there is much better airflow under there now and with enough mane left to shake off flies.  I am looking forward to the edges softening with time.

Since I had the clippers out, his fetlocks also received a trim.

He stands like a champ for this stuff.

I just barely nipped the edges off of his forelock.  He enjoyed the shower as it was in the upper nineties!

Harley got all dolled up, so now he just needed somewhere to go.
Thankfully, we had a special event on Saturday!  More to follow.

Related Post: The (Original) Mane Dilemma