# Cutting my horse's mane for the first time tomorrow....



## Wildfire89 (May 18, 2013)

I'm finally doing it. I'm cutting Wildfire's mane. When his mane is cooperating, it is beautiful. He has really long, wavy/borderline curly thick blonde hair. His mane gets knotted in the same spot and stays knotted for about 9 months out of the year and it is impossible to untangle and he looks like a hobo horse who isn't taken care of. 
So tomorrow I am going to cut it. My other horse Luka has a short mane and it looks good on him (I bought him on June 20th of this year and his previous owner kept his mane cut). I don't want Wildfire to look stupid tho. His bangs get long and I have to cut them frequently and they always look silly. Poor guy. He is so handsome and his crazy Afro hair takes away from that.
Any tips on cutting his mane and bangs so that he won't look goofy??


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## alexischristina (Jun 30, 2009)

Pull, don't cut. A cut mane will ALWAYS look dumb unless you spend hours perfecting it, and even then it's obviously cut and not pulled.


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## Crossescowgirl (Apr 29, 2013)

yeah i agree a cut maje looks bad
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## xJumperx (Feb 19, 2012)

If his mane is as long and thick as you say, you might be alright to cut it about halfway, then pull the rest. I don't know if you guys have pulled a long, thick mane 100% of the way through, but it takes a true soldier to hang in that long. So I don't see anything wrong with maybe taking off a few inches, then pulling the rest; but yes, you MUST finish the mane with a pull.


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## CandyCanes (Jul 1, 2013)

Ahhh! Disaster waiting to happen. Never go near a horses mane with a scissors unless its for the bridle path. Otherwise leave the scissors at home!

Pulled mane:









Cut mane:










Pulled looks much more natural. And that cut mane isn't as bad as many I've seen.


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## Wildfire89 (May 18, 2013)

Well I went ahead and cut it. I don't have the patience (or the heart) to PULL his hair out, and since he isn't a show horse it doesn't need to look perfect. I just wanted the knots out. 
I took before and after pics. Hopefully it doesn't look too horrible!

Before:





The longest part reached past his shoulders!


After:


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## JustWingIt (Jul 29, 2012)

I think it looks perfectly fine!

And just for the record, I _would not _pull a mane like that, its much too thin. 
I'd cut it to a half inch longer than desired length, then turn the scissors vertical and trim, carefully, to make it look more natural.


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## Wildfire89 (May 18, 2013)

JustWingIt said:


> And just for the record, I _would not _pull a mane like that, its much too thin.
> QUOTE]
> 
> His mane is considered thin? I always thought it was thick...well i'm glad I didn't pull it then!


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

It doesn't look bad. I bet its cooler for him now too!

I have a horse with a very thin mane and I cut his, then turn the scissors and kinda score the bottom. It looks very natural and has a pulled appearance to it. So with a thin mane, it can be pulled off...no pun intended...thicker manes are a mess though with scissors. Yuck.
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## crimsonsky (Feb 18, 2011)

i cut and then razor my horses' manes. i do not have the patience for pulling (plus i just can't believe it doesn't hurt). cutting is fast (relatively speaking) but if you razor it after it will take a bit however it DOES look like a pulled mane when you're done. the best recommendation i have on that count is to brush the mane to the opposite side that it normally lays on, cut it, razor it and then brush it back over to the normal side. it will NOT look cut if done right. and if it's still a little off, either razor more on the "correct" side or flip it back over, razor again and then flip back to see how it looks.


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## OutOfTheLoop (Apr 1, 2012)

It doesnt look bad at all. I second taking a razor to the bottom to make it look like it is natural.
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## njpetservicesdirectory (Jun 20, 2013)

Well, this is your decision. But I think you should not cut the mane of a horse because with the mane horse really look impressive. You can wash the mane and also brush them to keep good.


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## njpetservicesdirectory (Jun 20, 2013)

Well, this is your decision. But I think you should not cut the mane of a horse because with the mane horse really look impressive. You can wash the mane and also brush them to keep well.


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

I don't think it looks to bad. I think you lucked out because his mane looks like its fairly thin to begin with. Had he had a thick mane, it likely would have looked terrible.
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## RiverBelle (Dec 11, 2012)

I think his mane looks wonderful cut! Besides, unless you're going to be doing any kind of shows, I wouldn't worry about making it look 'perfect' anyways!

When I would cut my old mares mane, I would cut it about once a week, just about 5 cm off at a time. I never got it as short as your horses mane, but I cut off a good 5 inches off once time doing about 5 cm at a time, once a week. It always looked natural that way. lol. I'm unconventional!


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## crimsonsky (Feb 18, 2011)

i don't have the patience to trim every week so i end up letting it get long and then cutting anywhere from 6-12" off. i'd guess i took a good 8-10" off this past weekend and won't have to do so again for a few months (his last cut was January i think). of course, maybe i SHOULD trim more often and it won't be so annoying.


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## crimsonsky (Feb 18, 2011)

not the most clear picture (sorry) but this is my gelding's mane after i cut and razored it. i don't think it looks bad.


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## MsLady (Apr 18, 2013)

To be honest I do not like cut manes, they do not look natural ( they remind me of Jim Carry in the movie Dumb and Dumber...lol). But this doesn't look too bad, you knew when to stop.
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