A Left-Maned mare in a Right-Brained world

[ecileh]

My new mare’s mane is somewhat…expansive and it wants to be on the left side of her neck. I combed it all over to the right and pulled it so that it looks nice when over there, but in it’s natural state (on the left) it looks pretty wild, still. She lives outside and I only need to braid it once or twice a year, so I’m not overly concerned about it, but I’m wondering what the “correct” thing to do is re pulling/keeping it under control.

Do I leave it as-is so that it looks like it’s supposed to when on the right side, or do I accept the fact that she is left-maned and pull it so it looks neat over there?

[Training_Cupid]

Mane on the right is a tradition not a rule, so it really depends whether you care yourself or care if anyone else might think it’s “wrong.” My horse’s mane lies on the left, and I let it stay there probably to my trainer’s chagrin. But I only do the occasional schooling show.

[coloredhorse]

One of my mares has a mane that lies beautifully to the left. Since it lies so nice and neat on that side, I figured why mess with it. I showed her fairly extensively in hunters, baby eventing, and dressage and always pulled and braided to the left. The bare handful of criticisms I got came from self-important newbie railbirds. As already stated, there are no rules about which side the mane should fall … and most competent people are not going to care.

Herself is now semi-retired at 28 and her unpulled mane still lies very neatly on the left.

[ecileh]

@coloredhorse so you just pulled it so it looked nice on the left? Any tricks to that, or is it the same as pulling on the right side?

[PNWjumper]

I bought two black horses this year, one mare and one gelding. The gelding had a perfect right-side mane. The mare had a perfect left-side mane. I made one half-assed attempt at moving hers to the right and then gave up. So she still has a mane that lays to the left. Funny story, that was my “tell” when I was looking at pictures and trying to figure out which horse is which. So I’m really not all that sad, lol!

I pull hers to the left exactly like I pull my other horses’ manes to the right. No difference and much easier than trying to swap sides!
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[Hunter_Mom]

Both of our mares have left manes. Older mare, when pulled short will have a mohawk. I really don’t care any more.

[ArabDiva]

It really doesn’t matter.
However, if you want to tame it to the other direction, here’s how:

Comb it to the right, make sure it’s tangle-free
slick it down with water
band it down into small ponytails (like you somehow see in western pleasure show horses) – the trick is to make the ponytails small, tight, and pull DOWN not OUT

leave it for a couple of weeks (no this won’t harm your horse)

when you remove the bands, or when they fall out, the mane will be trained to the other side.

another way to do this is by braiding it – depending on mane length, the bands look tidier.

[coloredhorse]

@ecileh

@coloredhorse so you just pulled it so it looked nice on the left? Any tricks to that, or is it the same as pulling on the right side?

Exactly the same. No special tricks or techniques required.

[Texarkana]

YOU WILL NEVER FIX IT. :lol:

Signed,

Someone who spent the better part of the first 30 years of her life trying to train her show horse’s mane to lay on the right side.

[ecileh]

Thanks, everyone!

I am going to pull it so it looks neat on the left and call it good.

[chillydc]

My horse’s mane lies to the left as well, I keep it neat looking on that side, no one has said anything to me about it. We do the jumpers. I say if it looks nice and neat, who cares?

[walktrot]

I don’t show now, did very little years ago, so I don’t care. But I do have a sorrel sabino Paint gelding whose wispy blonde-highlighted mane hangs on the left side. He has 2 whorls on each side too, so he has cowlicks when it is short. I cut it once a year. I don’t pull, because if I pulled it he’d having nothing left. He has virtually no forelock that someone insisted once on braiding for a dressage schooling show. It looked stupid. I’ve seen people band manes hoping to flip them to the other side. I can’t understand why the “tradition” ever got established to begin with. It is what it is.

[RedHorses]

If you want to braid it to the right it should be pulled on the right, and you just have to accept that it will flip back and look like crap in between braid jobs.

Been there, done that, and was unreasonably happy when I realized that I could pull/trim my recently retired left maned horse to the left and have him looking tidy all the time. :lol:

[Magicboy]

One of our PRE geldings has a gigantic mane that will only go left. We do one running braid for shows so it really doesn’t matter much. One vet told me it was related to the horses stiff side…

[Dr_Doolittle]

I used to obsess about this. Doing some hunters (but mostly eventing, and little straight dressage), it just felt “wrong” to have the mane on the left. In the case of my retired mare, I would try to “train” the mane to the right - though gave up when it didn’t “stick” - but would wet the mane and braid it over to the right before shows, clinics, etc. where I wasn’t going to braid, but where I wanted a neat, tidy mane that lay flat. ON THE CORRECT SIDE :lol: I would remove the braids the morning of, wet the mane and comb it down, and it usually stayed there. For a day or two.

When I did braid her mane (recognized HTs, and for her inspection with her filly) it was always to the right; I also pulled and trimmed it on the right. Luckily she has a reasonably fine mane and allows me to pull it - despite the fact that she’s a sensitive redhead.

Her daughter - now 5 - has the same mane on the left thing going on (when her mane started growing in, I was hopeful! that she would “avoid the curse.” but…no. :sigh:) I took her to her foal inspection when she was 2 1/2 months old, and braided the wispy mane to the right. Heehee! That will probably be the last time she’s braided, since my goals with her are modest: local, unrecognized shows and eventing to BN, where I don’t feel the need to braid

She is a Diva and DO NOT PULL MY MANE, WTH are you DOING!!! :eek:, so I use a Solo comb or scissor the mane creatively, keep it short, and at this stage of the game am not going to sweat which side it falls on. This is what happens when you finally grow old enough not to care what people whisper about you behind your back…

[Foxtrot_s]

The banding might help with an easy mane, but in my view, parts will always want to go over to the other side.
I’ve done the banding when a mane is predominantly right handed, but with the top piece wanting to go over to the ‘wrong’ side. It will need quite consistent attention.

Frankly, a nice mane is a nice mane, whichever side it falls. Some are just stubborn and split, or hang out with the wrong crowd.

[Dr_Doolittle]

A question: what was the origin of this “tradition?”

When I watch footage (or see pictures) of horses in Europe, the braids are often on the left; odd that we in the States have a different viewpoint. How this might be practical? (like the whole mounting, leading, tacking from the near side thing because riders used to carry swords on the right - or guns.)

I figure the mane thing probably originated with foxhunting if it crept into the show hunter tradition (and we all know how hidebound those two disciplines can be :lol:)

Anyone know?

[ecileh]

@Dr. Doolittle

A question: what was the origin of this “tradition?”

When I watch footage (or see pictures) of horses in Europe, the braids are often on the left; odd that we in the States have a different viewpoint. How this might be practical? (like the whole mounting, leading, tacking from the near side thing because riders used to carry swords on the right - or guns.)

I figure the mane thing probably originated with foxhunting if it crept into the show hunter tradition (and we all know how hidebound those two disciplines can be :lol:)

Anyone know?

One of my fox hunting masters just told me the other day that she heard it was because of the cavalry days–so you would not get your (right) hand caught in the mane while drawing your sword from the left hip. That said, she also did not seem to care which side my mare’s mane laid on in the field so long as it is neat, so…left it is.

[Foxtrot_s]

I heard that, too - also why we mount, lead and dismount from the left - so the sword will not get hung up on the saddle.