I don’t clip my horses ears or whiskers. I show hunter/jumper and everyone just thinks I am a hillbilly. Sorry but my horses live out all day and if they didn’t have whiskers they would be hurting their face all the time. It’s not worth it to me.
[QUOTE=sascha;8712484]
I did catch it, it’s just that I thought it was, er, ridiculous. I mean really, if you don’t want to trim the whiskers why are you here looking for justification TO trim the whiskers. It’s kind of baffling.[/QUOTE]
Just exactly as I said in the title. This is the first recognized dressage show my horse has done. I didn’t know if it was common to see untrimmed whiskers. Now I know! And I wasn’t looking for justification TO trim, but if it was acceptable NOT to trim. Thank you all for your help.
Why shorten them at all? It’s not necessary, does nothing to benefit the horse, and takes away something that actually has a purpose.
Tons and tons of unclipped whiskers at the rated shows in my area.
For me it came down to priorities. Is my priority the horse? Or the show? Easy answer for me.
Leave them how you like, Judges don’t care. I make my trainer deal with my hillbilly ways, but my horse lives out so I figure she grew the hair for a reason. Although I might trim one of her eye whiskers because it is nearly a foot long and drives me bonkers.
Legend has it…If you shave a pony’s wiskers the pony can NOT smelll the fairies. Choose your demons.
I never really understood clipping them- we are going a nice pace- do you really think the judges are going to say that your whiskers are interfering with their perception of the ride? I absolutely do not touch the whiskers… Nor eyelashes… If I lost a class because the judge didn’t like that I didn’t clip whiskers then I would say the judge didn’t know much. That doesn’t mean that the rest of my horse isn’t impeccable and I do clip his legs with a #30 or #40 blade up to his knees, clean bridle path, trimmed mane- always well braided in the ring. In my mind, that conveys a message that I am serious about my appearance. Whiskers? Not so much.
I actually think long whiskers look super!
I don’t trim whiskers or eyelashes. Guard hairs for the early spring shows, yes, so my horse doesn’t look like a goat, and I clean up his legs, dock and bridle path.
This year I roached his mane clean off. He looks great and I LOVE not braiding!
He wears a full-neck fly sheet, so it’s not like he misses his mane in the summer.
[QUOTE=ThreeFigs;8713042]
I don’t trim whiskers or eyelashes. Guard hairs for the early spring shows, yes, so my horse doesn’t look like a goat, and I clean up his legs, dock and bridle path.
This year I roached his mane clean off. He looks great and I LOVE not braiding!
He wears a full-neck fly sheet, so it’s not like he misses his mane in the summer.[/QUOTE]
I think a photo is required! 
My trainer has ridden under German pros and does not clip whiskers. A light trimming to tidy up any errant hairs, but they stay au naturale.
I just trim the outside tufts of hair from my mare’s ears and clean up the jawline. Never touch the whiskers or above the eyes. She has a white muzzle and chin and I don’t think anyone would really notice one way or another. Leave them be. It can’t hurt to leave them and it can hurt to take them. Just my opinion!
Shown mine training through GP, multiple year end championships, never EVER trimmed a whisker on this horse. Whisker trimming, IMO, is an animal welfare issue–they are sensory organs.
whiskers on!
used to remove them, plus the long eye whiskers and never had a horse bang its head but grew to love the whiskered effect so no longer trim them at all.
chin,bridlepath,legs,tail are all trimmed up and the boys are always plaited. i also DO remove all the hair from inside the ears because personally i think fuzzy ears does look messy but they have ear covers on in the summer to keep bugs out and cute little waterproof face covers in winter to keep them warm. i am happy to compromise on ears because its not affecting them in any way having them trimmed (as i then provide bug and rain protection for the field) but you cant provide false whiskers, so they stay!!!
Whiskers are there for a reason. So are ear hairs. I don’t touch my horse’s whiskers or shell out her ears. I do squeeze the ears closed and trim any hair sticking out and shave the edges for a clean line. I also only trim the fetlock hair never shave it. Those hairs direct water away from the dip at the back of the pastern so water doesn’t pool there.
i do agree with you Hafling re whiskers BUT in competition horses stabled overnight and rugged to protect from the weather/heat/flies etc i dont think trimming out ears or close shaving legs etc makes that much difference.
in field kept horses it would have more of an impact but if you are lucky to have washing and drying facilities at the barn, clean dry stables etc you can compensate for the lack of hair and have the best of both worlds- neat trimming and horse comfort.
I don’t trim whiskers or ears. Never have, never will! And I show recognised… No one has ever mentioned a thing about it to me.
Whiskers have appeared on the front cover of Dressage Today. I would never trim them because they are a sensory organ, not a hair.
Whiskers stay put. For ears, I do the pony club “taco fold” (fold ear in half lengthwise, like the shell of a taco) and trim what sticks out. Mare also has a short bridlepath trimmed.
There is a horse at my barn who not only has whiskers, but has an old-fashioned handlebar mustache on his upper lip. It very much fits his personality; he is an older, stolid draft cross.
[QUOTE=walktrot;8714141]
Whiskers have appeared on the front cover of Dressage Today. I would never trim them because they are a sensory organ, not a hair.[/QUOTE]
Wiskers are tactile hairs, which is a modified hair. They have not been classified as an organ.
Ha ha, my 4 year old has really long eye whiskers too. He got into a spider web the other day and I really wish I had taked a picture!! :lol:
He is clumsy so I wouldn’t dare trim his eye whiskers!!
