# cut mane off all together?



## creepalurkin (Oct 8, 2008)

My gelding has rubbed his mane off from sticking his head in fences too much. He had a small patch of hair by the poll so I cut that off because it looked ridiculous and now he basically just has his forelock and half a mane... do you think I should just cut it off? It WAS long and pretty and I wish he hadn't rubbed it off but now it looks funny. What do you think?


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## KANSAS_TWISTER (Feb 23, 2007)

is it posable to take of pic of how bad the main is?


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

A pic would be nice, but maybe try some MTG?


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## FGRanch (Feb 9, 2008)

I would roach, MTG everyday and start over! I've been doing that with Tana.


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## Angel_Leaguer (Jun 13, 2008)

if you do roach just make sure to leave the forelock...Yes I have seen people take it all and it looks really bad.


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## creepalurkin (Oct 8, 2008)




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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

I posted this picture of a roached mane on another thread. I think it looks really nice. Something to think about :wink:


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## FGRanch (Feb 9, 2008)

Yeah I would definatly roach, but yes be sure to leave the forlock. Tana doesn't grow onw, well very little anyways, and her few strands look pretty darn stupid!


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## NoFear526 (Sep 4, 2008)

I'd go with roaching it!
He's already got it started for you =)

But yes, leave the forelock. You never really want to mess with the forelock when roaching. At least, we never have. 

He's cute!


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## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

My show gelding does that. I didn't roach his mane. And i regret it to this day, he had an amazing mane, now its all choppy and nasty.


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

ROACH IT!!!  You're horse has a nice thick neck and would look great like that!!!

but I have to disclose that I'm a roachaholic!!! I want to roach my horses manes so bad!!! Bill is against it though. (darn hubby)


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

NO .... (did I say that loud enough?)


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

Can you imagine roaching this?:


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

So, I'm guessing that you don't like roached manes???? :razz:


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

I want to roach this... Sorry.... I can't get the pics to load. My darn comp.


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

Whatever gave you that idea? .... but, NO.

(btw, it won't load because it's evil)


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## Gingerrrrr (Feb 12, 2008)

i say roach it....


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## creepalurkin (Oct 8, 2008)

Okay, I roached it... but there's nowhere to plug my clippers into so I had to use scissors lol don't worry, I'm a cosmetologist so he's in good hands haha. I left his forelock. So his mane is gonna stick up when it starts to grow out, huh? Oh boy :roll:


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## creepalurkin (Oct 8, 2008)

sorry iridehorses, but no mane looks better than half a mane, imo.


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## FGRanch (Feb 9, 2008)

Goodness I hate those realllllly long manes, looks sick!


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## creepalurkin (Oct 8, 2008)

Oh I agree. The longest I like is a little past their neck... like what would look good on a Friesian or Andalusian... never that long.


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

Can ya put up a picture so I can get my roach fix???? I just showed my husband this thread and he still won't let me roach Dumas or Twister?!


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## creepalurkin (Oct 8, 2008)

Yep, I'll get one!


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## Gingerrrrr (Feb 12, 2008)

FehrGroundRanch said:


> Goodness I hate those realllllly long manes, looks sick!



imagine all the mud and poo they gotta clean out of that! :shock::shock:

they should cut that horses mane and donate it to like locks of love or something...


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

creepalurkin said:


> Yep, I'll get one!


WONDERFUL!!!  *doing the "she roached it" happy dance with the "I get pictures" boogie * ahahaha


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

I'd roach and use MTG everyday, like FGR said.

Working on that with my stallion because the nerd brain did the same thing.


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## ArabianAmor (Aug 20, 2008)

Yeah, I would have done the same, cant wait to see the pictures tho!

Oh and Dumas Grrrl: My trainer just rescued a horse named Dumas and I've heard she's got weight on him and he's a wonderful horse...  Made me think of you.

Sorry to get off topic.


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## creepalurkin (Oct 8, 2008)

Well it decided to be freezing and rainy out today so I probably won't get the pictures today... keep in mind that there are no outlets by where I groom him so I had to cut it off with these really really cheap scissors that don't even really work... so it's a little funny looking right now until I get it cleaned up :wink:

will have pics tomorrow


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

I love it when manes are roached. So much of it is gone, I would cut the rest off and let it regrow all even again


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

That's ok that you did it with scissors... I will have to do the same. My horses would flat out ding-dong-ditch me if I pulled out a pair of electric clippers. :lol:

Sorry your weather is so crappy. I hope it warms up and the sun comes out for you!


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## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

I don't mean to turn this post around. But after Roaching, how long do you figure will it take the mane to grow back with correct feeding and using MTG everyday?

I want to Roach my QH's mane, but i also want to sell him in the spring. I need it back by spring.


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

thought that you guys would like to see how long my horse's mane is now. Last year, in August 2006 I was forced to roach her mane. Now it is finally long and I have been using MTG ever since. Her mane ended up growing nearly 17 inches in one year in a few places, I guess MTG does help... And I just bought my second bottle a few weeks ago!!

August 2006

​ 
November 2007

​ 




I googled for the answer to this and found this info from a "real person" (not an advertisement) on another website. Hope this gives you some real world info to maybe judge the growth on. ​ 
To me I would guess you'd have half that amount of mane by spring, if you roached it now. I would also guess that banding it as soon as it's long enough will give you a "polished" looking mane.​ 
Hope I helped.​


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## jazzyrider (Sep 16, 2007)

my old standardbred messed his mane up last summer and he had a huge patch missing right in the middle so i decided to roach it. it really suits him. suits him so much that we keep it like that now. 

the only time it looks really bad is if the horse has a long skinny neck.

this is the best pic i can find of my standies mane. this was the first day it was done and it wasnt all neatened up yet but you get the idea


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## Delregans Way (Sep 11, 2007)

It does suit most horses - i agree. I dont usually let my thoroughbreds manes grow past 4 inches.. Long mane makes them look - lets just say -scabby.. 
That andies mane on page 2 is beautiful.. but then again i think i could only handle one photo - too many and i will be coughing up hair balls lol :-|


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## irisheyes12 (May 19, 2008)

I would just leave it alone the way it is. I used to cut my geldings mane very short (i'm taking halter show length) but my barn owner brought it to my attention that horses use their mane's as a form of defense against cold and flies as well.


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## Delregans Way (Sep 11, 2007)

Yeh.. well basically everything on a horse serves a purpose..


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## rocky pony (Oct 5, 2007)

yeah I agree you should definitely roach it
I'd recommend roaching it and then maybe leaving it short if you think it could happen again because I can imagine that must be really frustrating


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

I did it to Crow  I loved it.. but I'm hoping he'll have a ''real'' neck soon so I'll let it grow out.. xD Agonizing since I just hate the ''dressage'' length!

If you leave it at some length, I thnk it looks good on horses with too thin neck, makes it look broader and so.. :3 at least it did on him..


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## minihorse927 (Aug 11, 2008)

his mane did not look that bad to me, but it is common to cut off half or more of a mane to make a neck appear thinner in miniatures. If you want it to grow back even roaching it was the best idea. Just soak the crap out of it once weekly in mtg. It will take about a year to get a good long mane back. It may take less if he is like my one mare whose tail was eaten off by goats (I mean a heck of a tail now, it was dragging behind her by about 2 feet). Those stupid goats ate it to the tail bone pretty much over night and since then it has doubled in length. Check out the before and after photos of MTG and there is a current pic of her tail there, I just did not have a before. It looked so bad with no tail that I would not take one.

Here is the link to my mares tail now. It was eaten off in July, and I sold the hoats in august and that is when I started using MTG. It is now november and this is the result I have gotten. She had almost no hair left on her tail bone to give you a starting point.
http://www.horseforum.com/horse-grooming/lets-see-your-mtg-before-afters-14833/page3/


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## hhadavis (May 3, 2008)

My 3 year old paint gelding is terrible, everytime I would finally get his mane grown out, he would rub a huge hunk out of it again...finally decided he wanted his mane gone.? I would help him...I cut it off...my daughters were horrified..and I could tell cochise couldnt figure out why I did that to him..LOL But now I think he likes it...he is the only horse I know that doesnt want to be groomed...my others will stand anywhere I want and Cochise goes out of his way to get away from me if I come anywhere near him with a brush...the only thing he tolerates is brushing his tail...he has absolutely hands down the most fantastic tail Ive ever seen and his mane is the same...but I guess Ill just have to live with the fact he only likes his tail...weird horse...but now that we are getting used to it he looks good with no mane because he does have a nice neck...


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