With skill and patience, trimming a horse's mane to look natural and well-groomed while maintaining its overall appearance is an achievable feat. Our following advice is for a long mane on a native cob as these are the most difficult to trim while maintaining a natural look. But the same process can be used on a thinner smaller mane
Many equestrians will have heard someone say ‘you should NEVER trim a mane with scissors or it will look awful, it MUST be pulled to look natural!’
Traditionally horse's manes and tails are ‘pulled’ this involves, sharply tugging hair out by the roots. There are tools on the market like coat kings that cut the hair but this still involves some tugging.
Our Otto, a traditional cob, gets upset if you accidentally tug on a tangle so we could never 'pull' his mane. so I’m sharing with you how I trim his mane with scissors to keep it looking natural
You may have seen a post recently about our lime stonework on the house. We need to lime render around the windows which needs horse hair, hence Ottos getting a haircut!
Follow these steps below to unlock your potential and master the art of horse grooming! Or click the button to watch our video
1. Clean and prepare the mane with berries and leaves shampoo and detangling conditioner
2. Brush through the mane to remove all tangles while the conditioner is working its magic, this will help prevent damage and breakages to the hair and ensure the conditioner is spread evenly
3. use straight sharp scissors to cut to the length you want making sure it is even along the mane
4. Then, taking one section of hair at a time twist the hair and take some thinning scissors, cut the hair at a 45c angle but don't cut all the way through. Do this a number of times in different places along the section of hair.
If scissoring a thin short mane like on a sports horse, take smaller sections the less hair you have to work with the smaller the sections
5. repeat until you have done the whole mane
6. Comb out and admire your work! follow our social media for more great grooming tips!
